An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge

"As he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon - then all is darkness and silence! Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timers of the Owl Creek Bridge (Short Fiction, Bierce, 139)."
I chose these last two sentences of the story to write about for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that I found it ironic. While reading the story the reader is left to believe that Peyton had escaped and had this adventure-filled journey back to his home. The escape is detailed throughout all of Part 3. Finally at the end of Part 3, the reader is just left with two sentences saying, "You thought wrong - Peyton is dead. End of story." I don't like when stories do this because throughout the story, the climax keeps building and then when you least expect it, the entire mood changes and you're left going, "Wait - how did this happen?"
The second reason I chose to write about these sentences was because there is such a contrast in them. The first sentence uses such strong words such as, "stunning blow", "blinding", "blazes" and "shock of a cannon". These words are so descriptive and forcefull, it really shows the reader how Peyton is feeling. Then the next sentence uses peaceful words such as, "swung gently", and "beneath the timbers". I liked how Bierce changed the mood so quickly like that, it made the reader feel at peace that Peyton had to die like that.
I had read this story back in the 8th grade, and I liked it then but reading it again in college made me understand more of the "Fictional elements" in the story and I got a better understanding of what Bierce was writing about.