Embers
I said, "My youth is goneLike a fire beaten out by the rain,That will never sway and singOr play with the wind again."
I said, "It is no great sorrowThat quenched my youth in me,But only little sorrowsBeating ceaselessly."
I thought my youth was gone,But you returned--Like a flame at the call of the windIt leaped and burned;
Threw off its ashen cloak,And gowned anewGave itself like a brideOnce more to you.
Words in this poem
- ashen a.
- Of or pertaining to the ash tree. [See Ash, the tree.]
- gowned p. a.
- Dressed in a gown; clad.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Embers is in the public domain. This text is taken from Love Songs, Project Gutenberg ebook #442; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sara Teasdale, Embers, in Love Songs (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #442, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/teasdale-love-songs/embers.html, id L08097.
Form and metre
Embers is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 44% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 gone · rainA · sing · againA
- 3 -A-A gone · returnedA · wind · burnedA
- 4 -A-A cloak · anewA · bride · youA
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I said, "My youth is gone | 6 | ······ |
| Like a fire beaten out by the rain, | 9 | ··//˘···· |
| That will never sway and sing | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Or play with the wind again." | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| I said, "It is no great sorrow | 8 | ······/˘ |
| That quenched my youth in me, | 6 | ······ |
| But only little sorrows | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Beating ceaselessly." | 5 | /˘/˘˘ |
| I thought my youth was gone, | 6 | ······ |
| But you returned-- | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Like a flame at the call of the wind | 9 | ········· |
| It leaped and burned; | 4 | ···· |
| Threw off its ashen cloak, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And gowned anew | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Gave itself like a bride | 6 | ·˘/··· |
| Once more to you. | 4 | ···· |
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.