An Incident of the Fire at Hamburg
The tower of old Saint Nicholas soared upward to the skies,Like some huge piece of Nature's make, the growth of centuries;You could not deem its crowding spires a work of human art,They seemed to struggle lightward from a sturdy living heart.
Not Nature's self more freely speaks in crystal or in oak,Than, through the pious builder's hand, in that gray pile she spoke;And as from acorn springs the oak, so, freely and alone,Sprang from his heart this hymn to God, sung in obedient stone.
It seemed a wondrous freak of chance, so perfect, yet so rough,A whim of Nature crystallized slowly in granite tough;The thick spires yearned towards the sky in quaint, harmonious lines,And in broad sunlight basked and slept, like a grove of blasted pines.
Never did rock or stream or tree lay claim with better rightTo all the adorning sympathies of shadow and of light;And, in that forest petrified, as forester there dwellsStout Herman, the old sacristan, sole lord of all its bells.
Surge leaping after surge, the fire roared onward red as blood,Till half of Hamburg lay engulfed beneath the eddying flood;For miles away, the fiery spray poured down its deadly rain,And back and forth the billows sucked, and paused, and burst again.
From square to square with tiger leaps panted the lustful fire,The air to leeward shuddered with the gasps of its desire;And church and palace, which even now stood whelmed but to the knee,Lift their black roofs like breakers lone amid the whirling sea.
Up in his tower old Herman sat and watched with quiet look;His soul had trusted God too long to be at last forsook;He could not fear, for surely God a pathway would unfoldThrough this red sea for faithful hearts, as once he did of old.
But scarcely can he cross himself, or on his good saint call,Before the sacrilegious flood o'erleaped the churchyard wall;And, ere a pater half was said, mid smoke and crackling glare,His island tower scarce juts its head above the wide despair.
Upon the peril's desperate peak his heart stood up sublime;His first thought was for God above, his next was for his chime;"Sing now and make your voices heard in hymns of praise," cried he,"As did the Israelites of old, safe walking through the sea!
"Through this red sea our God hath made the pathway safe to shore;Our promised land stands full in sight; shout now as ne'er before!"And as the tower came crushing down, the bells, in clear accord,Pealed forth the grand old German hymn,--"All good souls, praise theLord!"
Words in this poem 17
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- quaint a.
- Prudent; wise; hence, crafty; artful; wily. [OE. queint, queynte, coint, prudent, wise, cunning, pretty, odd, OF. cointe cultivated, amiable, agreeable, neat, fr. L. cognitus known, p. p. of cognoscere to ]
- blasted a.
- Blighted; withered.
- forester n.
- One who has charge of the growing timber on an estate; an officer appointed to watch a forest and preserve the game. [F. forestier, LL. forestarius.]
- sacristan n.
- An officer of the church who has the care of the utensils or movables, and of the church in general; a sexton. [F. sacristian, LL. sacrista, fr. L. sacer. See Sacred, and cf. Sexton.]
- hamburg n.
- A commercial city of Germany, near the mouth of the Elbe. Black Hamburg grape. See under Black.
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- pathway n.
- A footpath; a beaten track; any path or course. Also used figuratively.
- sacrilegious a.
- Violating sacred things; polluted with sacrilege; involving sacrilege; profane; impious. [From sacrilege: cf. L. sacrilegus.]
- churchyard n.
- The ground adjoining a church, in which the dead are buried; a cemetery.
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- desperate a.
- Without hope; given to despair; hopeless. [L. desperatus, p. p. of desperare. See Despair, and cf. Desperado.]
- chime n.
- The harmonious sound of bells, or of musical instruments. [OE. chimbe, prop., cymbal, OF. cymbe, cymble, in a dialectic form, chymble, F. cymbale, L. cymbalum, fr. Gr. Cymbal.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
An Incident of the Fire at Hamburg is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of James Russell Lowell With biographical sketch by Nathan Haskell Dole, Project Gutenberg ebook #38520; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: James Russell Lowell, An Incident of the Fire at Hamburg, in Poems (1844–1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38520, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lowell-james-russell-poems/an-incident-of-the-fire-at-hamburg.html, id L13696.
Form and metre
An Incident of the Fire at Hamburg is 41 lines in 10 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 9 of its 10 stanzas. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.5 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 10% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic heptameter.
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 AABB skiesA · centuriesA · artB · heartB
- 2 AABB oakA · spokeA · aloneB · stoneB
- 3 AABB roughA · toughA · linesB · pinesB
- 4 AABB rightA · lightA · dwellsB · bellsB
- 5 AABB bloodA · floodA · rainB · againB
- 6 AABB fireA · desireA · kneeB · seaB
- 7 AABB lookA · forsookA · unfoldB · oldB
- 8 AABB callA · wallA · glareB · despairB
- 9 AABB sublimeA · chimeA · heB · seaB
- 10 AAB-B shoreA · beforeA · accordB · the · lordB
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 heptameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The tower of old Saint Nicholas soared upward to the skies, | 13 | ·/···/˘·/˘··· |
| Like some huge piece of Nature's make, the growth of centuries; | 13 | ·····/˘····/˘ |
| You could not deem its crowding spires a work of human art, | 14 | ·····/˘····/˘· |
| They seemed to struggle lightward from a sturdy living heart. | 14 | ···/˘····/˘/˘· |
| Not Nature's self more freely speaks in crystal or in oak, | 14 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘··· |
| Than, through the pious builder's hand, in that gray pile she spoke; | 13 | ···//˘······· |
| And as from acorn springs the oak, so, freely and alone, | 14 | ···/˘····/˘·˘/ |
| Sprang from his heart this hymn to God, sung in obedient stone. | 14 | ··········˘/˘· |
| It seemed a wondrous freak of chance, so perfect, yet so rough, | 14 | ···/˘····/···· |
| A whim of Nature crystallized slowly in granite tough; | 14 | ···/˘/˘·/˘·/˘· |
| The thick spires yearned towards the sky in quaint, harmonious lines, | 13 | ·········˘/˘· |
| And in broad sunlight basked and slept, like a grove of blasted pines. | 15 | ···/········/˘· |
| Never did rock or stream or tree lay claim with better right | 13 | /·········/˘· |
| To all the adorning sympathies of shadow and of light; | 14 | ···˘/˘/˘·/···· |
| And, in that forest petrified, as forester there dwells | 13 | ···/˘/˘··/˘·· |
| Stout Herman, the old sacristan, sole lord of all its bells. | 14 | ·/˘··/˘˘······ |
| Surge leaping after surge, the fire roared onward red as blood, | 14 | ·/˘····/·/˘··· |
| Till half of Hamburg lay engulfed beneath the eddying flood; | 14 | ···/˘·˘/···/˘· |
| For miles away, the fiery spray poured down its deadly rain, | 14 | ··˘/·/˘····/˘· |
| And back and forth the billows sucked, and paused, and burst again. | 14 | ·····/˘·····˘/ |
| From square to square with tiger leaps panted the lustful fire, | 13 | ·····/·/˘·/˘/ |
| The air to leeward shuddered with the gasps of its desire; | 14 | ···/˘/˘·····˘/ |
| And church and palace, which even now stood whelmed but to the knee, | 14 | ···/˘·/······· |
| Lift their black roofs like breakers lone amid the whirling sea. | 14 | ·····/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| Up in his tower old Herman sat and watched with quiet look; | 13 | ···/·/˘····/· |
| His soul had trusted God too long to be at last forsook; | 14 | ···/˘·······˘/ |
| He could not fear, for surely God a pathway would unfold | 14 | ·····/˘··/··˘/ |
| Through this red sea for faithful hearts, as once he did of old. | 14 | ·····/˘······· |
| But scarcely can he cross himself, or on his good saint call, | 14 | ·/˘···˘/······ |
| Before the sacrilegious flood o'erleaped the churchyard wall; | 14 | ····˘/˘····/·· |
| And, ere a pater half was said, mid smoke and crackling glare, | 14 | ···/˘······/˘· |
| His island tower scarce juts its head above the wide despair. | 14 | ·/˘/········˘/ |
| Upon the peril's desperate peak his heart stood up sublime; | 14 | ···/˘/˘·····˘/ |
| His first thought was for God above, his next was for his chime; | 14 | ·············· |
| "Sing now and make your voices heard in hymns of praise," cried he, | 14 | ·····/˘······· |
| "As did the Israelites of old, safe walking through the sea! | 14 | ···/˘····/˘··· |
| "Through this red sea our God hath made the pathway safe to shore; | 14 | ····/····/···· |
| Our promised land stands full in sight; shout now as ne'er before!" | 14 | //˘··········· |
| And as the tower came crushing down, the bells, in clear accord, | 14 | ···/·/˘·····˘/ |
| Pealed forth the grand old German hymn,--"All good souls, praise the | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| Lord!" | 1 | · |
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