Fire
Ashes denote that fire was;Respect the grayest pileFor the departed creature's sakeThat hovered there awhile.
Fire exists the first in light,And then consolidates, --Only the chemist can discloseInto what carbonates.
Words in this poem
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Fire is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by Emily Dickinson, Three Series, Complete, Project Gutenberg ebook #12242; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Emily Dickinson, Fire, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/fire.html, id L03752.
Form and metre
Fire is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 -A-A was · pileA · sake · awhileA
- 2 -A-A light · consolidatesA · disclose · carbonatesA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Ashes denote that fire was; | 8 | /˘˘/·/˘· |
| Respect the grayest pile | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| For the departed creature's sake | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| That hovered there awhile. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Fire exists the first in light, | 8 | /˘˘/···· |
| And then consolidates, -- | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Only the chemist can disclose | 8 | /˘·/˘·˘/ |
| Into what carbonates. | 6 | ···/˘· |
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.