Ashes
I SAW the gardener bring and strewGray ashes where blush roses grew.The fair, still roses bent them low,Their pink cheeks dimpled all with dew,And seemed to view with pitying airThe dim gray atoms lying there.Ah, bonny rose, all fragrances,And life and hope and quick desires,What can you need or gain from thesePoor ghosts of long-forgotten fires?The rose-tree leans, the rose-tree sighs,And wafts this answer subtly wise:“All death, all life are mixed and blent,Out of dead lives fresh life is sent,Sorrow to these is growth for me,And who shall question God’s decree?”
Ah, dreary life, whose gladsome sparkNo longer leaps in song and fire,But lies in ashes gray and stark,Defeated hopes and dead desire,Useless and dull and all bereft,—Take courage, this one thing is left:Some happier life may use thee so,Some flower bloom fairer on its tree,Some sweet or tender thing may growTo stronger life because of thee;Content to play a humble part,Give of the ashes of thy heart,And haply God, whose dear decreesTaketh from those to give to these,Who draws the snow-drop from the snowsMay from those ashes feed a rose.
Words in this poem
- gardener n.
- One who makes and tends a garden; a horticulturist.
- pitying a.
- Expressing pity; as, a pitying eye, glance, or word.
- bonny a.
- Handsome; beautiful; pretty; attractively lively and graceful. [OE. boni, prob. fr. F. bon, fem. bonne, good, fr. L. bonus good. See Bounty, and cf. Bonus, Boon.]
- subtly adv.
- In a subtle manner; slyly; artfully; cunningly.
- blent p. p.
- Blinded. Also (Chaucer), 3d sing. pres. Blindeth.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
- gladsome a.
- Pleased; joyful; cheerful.
- stark adv.
- Wholly; entirely; absolutely; quite; as, stark mind.
- haply adv.
- By hap, chance, luck, or accident; perhaps; it may be.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ashes is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Few More Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #49518; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Susan Coolidge, Ashes, in A Few More Verses (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49518, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coolidge-few-more-verses/ashes.html, id L23430.
Form and metre
Ashes is 32 lines in 2 stanzas of 16 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AA-ABBCDCDEEFFGG strewA · grewA · low · dewA · airB · thereB · fragrancesC · desiresD · theseC · firesD · sighsE · wiseE · blentF · sentF · meG · decreeG
- 2 ABABCCDEDEFFGGHH sparkA · fireB · starkA · desireB · bereftC · leftC · soD · treeE · growD · theeE · partF · heartF · decreesG · theseG · snowsH · roseH
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I SAW the gardener bring and strew | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Gray ashes where blush roses grew. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The fair, still roses bent them low, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Their pink cheeks dimpled all with dew, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And seemed to view with pitying air | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The dim gray atoms lying there. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Ah, bonny rose, all fragrances, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| And life and hope and quick desires, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| What can you need or gain from these | 8 | ········ |
| Poor ghosts of long-forgotten fires? | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| The rose-tree leans, the rose-tree sighs, | 8 | ········ |
| And wafts this answer subtly wise: | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| “All death, all life are mixed and blent, | 8 | ········ |
| Out of dead lives fresh life is sent, | 8 | ········ |
| Sorrow to these is growth for me, | 8 | /˘······ |
| And who shall question God’s decree?” | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Ah, dreary life, whose gladsome spark | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| No longer leaps in song and fire, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| But lies in ashes gray and stark, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Defeated hopes and dead desire, | 9 | ˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| Useless and dull and all bereft,— | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| Take courage, this one thing is left: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Some happier life may use thee so, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Some flower bloom fairer on its tree, | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| Some sweet or tender thing may grow | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To stronger life because of thee; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Content to play a humble part, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Give of the ashes of thy heart, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And haply God, whose dear decrees | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Taketh from those to give to these, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Who draws the snow-drop from the snows | 8 | ········ |
| May from those ashes feed a rose. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.