The Story of the Ashes and the Flame
No matter why, nor whence, nor when she came,There was her place. No matter what men said,No matter what she was; living or dead,Faithful or not, he loved her all the same.The story was as old as human shame,But ever since that lonely night she fled,With books to blind him, he had only readThe story of the ashes and the flame.
There she was always coming pretty soonTo fool him back, with penitent scared eyesThat had in them the laughter of the moonFor baffled lovers, and to make him think --Before she gave him time enough to wink --Sin's kisses were the keys to Paradise.
About this text
The Story of the Ashes and the Flame is in the public domain. This text is taken from Children of the Night, Project Gutenberg ebook #313; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edwin Arlington Robinson, The Story of the Ashes and the Flame, in The Children of the Night (1897), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #313, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/robinson-children-of-night/the-story-of-the-ashes-and-the-flame.html, id L07992.
Form and metre
The Story of the Ashes and the Flame is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 ABBAABBA cameA · saidB · deadB · sameA · shameA · fledB · readB · flameA
- 2 A-ABB- soonA · eyes · moonA · thinkB · winkB · paradise
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 |
|---|---|---|
| No matter why, nor whence, nor when she came, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| There was her place. No matter what men said, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| No matter what she was; living or dead, | 10 | ·/˘···/˘·· |
| Faithful or not, he loved her all the same. | 10 | /˘········ |
| The story was as old as human shame, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| But ever since that lonely night she fled, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| With books to blind him, he had only read | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The story of the ashes and the flame. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| There she was always coming pretty soon | 10 | ···/·/˘/˘· |
| To fool him back, with penitent scared eyes | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| That had in them the laughter of the moon | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For baffled lovers, and to make him think -- | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Before she gave him time enough to wink -- | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Sin's kisses were the keys to Paradise. | 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.