Love Is a Refiner's Fire
It is with fire that blacksmiths iron subdueUnto fair form, the image of their thought:Nor without fire hath any artist wroughtGold to its utmost purity of hue.Nay, nor the unmatched phoenix lives anew,Unless she burn: if then I am distraughtBy fire, I may to better life be broughtLike those whom death restores nor years undo.The fire whereof I speak, is my great cheer;Such power it hath to renovate and raiseMe who was almost numbered with the dead;And since by nature fire doth find its sphereSoaring aloft, and I am all ablaze,Heavenward with it my flight must needs be sped.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- distraught p. p.
- Torn asunder; separated. [OE. distract, distrauht. See Distract, a.]
- whereof adv.
- Of which; of whom; formerly, also, with which; -- used relatively.
- 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.]
- ablaze adv.
- On fire; in a blaze, gleaming. Milman. [Pref. a- + blaze.]
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Love Is a Refiner's Fire is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sonnets, Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, the John Addington Symonds translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Michelangelo Buonarroti, Love Is a Refiner's Fire, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/love-is-a-refiner-s-fire.html, id L15201.
Form and metre
Love Is a Refiner's 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 86%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 43% 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 subdueA · thoughtB · wroughtB · hueA · anewA · distraughtB · broughtB · undoA · cheerC · raiseD · deadE · sphereC · ablazeD · spedE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| It is with fire that blacksmiths iron subdue | 10 | ···/·/·/˘/ |
| Unto fair form, the image of their thought: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Nor without fire hath any artist wrought | 10 | ···/·/˘/˘· |
| Gold to its utmost purity of hue. | 10 | ···/·/˘˘·· |
| Nay, nor the unmatched phoenix lives anew, | 10 | ···˘//˘·˘/ |
| Unless she burn: if then I am distraught | 10 | ········˘/ |
| By fire, I may to better life be brought | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| Like those whom death restores nor years undo. | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| The fire whereof I speak, is my great cheer; | 10 | ·/········ |
| Such power it hath to renovate and raise | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| Me who was almost numbered with the dead; | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| And since by nature fire doth find its sphere | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| Soaring aloft, and I am all ablaze, | 10 | /˘˘/····˘/ |
| Heavenward with it my flight must needs be sped. | 11 | /˘˘········ |
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.