Fire
Not without fire can any workman mouldThe iron to his preconceived design,Nor can the artist without fire refineAnd purify from all its dross the gold;Nor can revive the phoenix, we are told,Except by fire. Hence if such death be mineI hope to rise again with the divine,Whom death augments, and time cannot make old.O sweet, sweet death! O fortunate fire that burnsWithin me still to renovate my days,Though I am almost numbered with the dead!If by its nature unto heaven returnsThis element, me, kindled in its blaze,Will it bear upward when my life is fled.
Words in this poem
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
- artist n.
- One who practices some mechanic art or craft; an artisan. [F. artiste, LL. artista, fr. L. ars. See Art, n., and cf. Artiste.]
- renovate v. t.
- To make over again; to restore to freshness or vigor; to renew. [L. renovatus, p. p. of renovare;pref. re- re- + novare to make new, fr. novus new. See New, and Renew.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Fire is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Fire, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/fire.html, id L18093.
Form and metre
Fire is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDECDE, the pattern of the Italian sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other Italian sonnets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABBAABBACDECDE mouldA · designB · refineB · goldA · toldA · mineB · divineB · oldA · burnsC · daysD · deadE · returnsC · blazeD · fledE
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Not without fire can any workman mould | 10 | ···/·/˘/˘· |
| The iron to his preconceived design, | 9 | ·/···˘/˘/ |
| Nor can the artist without fire refine | 10 | ···/˘··/˘/ |
| And purify from all its dross the gold; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Nor can revive the phoenix, we are told, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Except by fire. Hence if such death be mine | 10 | ···/······ |
| I hope to rise again with the divine, | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| Whom death augments, and time cannot make old. | 10 | ··˘/··˘/·· |
| O sweet, sweet death! O fortunate fire that burns | 10 | ·····/˘/·· |
| Within me still to renovate my days, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Though I am almost numbered with the dead! | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| If by its nature unto heaven returns | 10 | ···/˘··/˘/ |
| This element, me, kindled in its blaze, | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| Will it bear upward when my life is fled. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
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.