As by Fire
Sometimes I feel so passionate a yearningFor spiritual perfection here below,This vigorous frame, with healthful fervor burning,Seems my determined foe,
So actively it makes a stern resistance,So cruelly sometimes it wages warAgainst a wholly spiritual existenceWhich I am striving for.
It interrupts my soul's intense devotions;Some hope it strangles, of divinest birth,With a swift rush of violent emotionsWhich link me to the earth.
It is as if two mortal foes contendedWithin my bosom in a deadly strife,One for the loftier aims for souls intended,One for the earthly life.
And yet I know this very war within me,Which brings out all my will-power and control,This very conflict at the last shall win meThe loved and longed-for goal.
The very fire which seems sometimes so cruelIs the white light that shows me my own strength.A furnace, fed by the divinest fuel,It may become at length.
Ah! when in the immortal ranks enlisted,I sometimes wonder if we shall not findThat not by deeds, but by what we've resisted,Our places are assigned.
Words in this poem
- fervor n.
- Heat; excessive warmth. [OF. fervor, fervour, F. ferveur, L. fervor, fr. fervere. See Fervent.]
- strangles n.
- A disease in horses and swine, in which the upper part of the throat, or groups of lymphatic glands elsewhere, swells.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
As by Fire is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Passion, Project Gutenberg ebook #16776; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ella Wheeler Wilcox, As by Fire, in Poems of Passion (1883), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16776, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wilcox-passion/as-by-fire.html, id L22185.
Form and metre
As by Fire is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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 ABAB yearningA · belowB · burningA · foeB
- 2 ABAB resistanceA · warB · existenceA · forB
- 3 ABAB devotionsA · birthB · emotionsA · earthB
- 4 ABAB contendedA · strifeB · intendedA · lifeB
- 5 ABAB meA · controlB · meA · goalB
- 6 ABAB cruelA · strengthB · fuelA · lengthB
- 7 ABAB enlistedA · findB · resistedA · assignedB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sometimes I feel so passionate a yearning | 11 | ˘/···/˘˘·/˘ |
| For spiritual perfection here below, | 10 | ·/˘˘˘/˘··· |
| This vigorous frame, with healthful fervor burning, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Seems my determined foe, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| So actively it makes a stern resistance, | 11 | ·/˘˘····˘/˘ |
| So cruelly sometimes it wages war | 9 | ·/˘˘/·/˘· |
| Against a wholly spiritual existence | 11 | ···/˘/˘˘˘/˘ |
| Which I am striving for. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| It interrupts my soul's intense devotions; | 11 | ··˘/··˘/˘/˘ |
| Some hope it strangles, of divinest birth, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| With a swift rush of violent emotions | 11 | ·····/˘˘˘/˘ |
| Which link me to the earth. | 6 | ······ |
| It is as if two mortal foes contended | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| Within my bosom in a deadly strife, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| One for the loftier aims for souls intended, | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| One for the earthly life. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And yet I know this very war within me, | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| Which brings out all my will-power and control, | 10 | ······/·˘/ |
| This very conflict at the last shall win me | 11 | ·/˘/˘······ |
| The loved and longed-for goal. | 6 | ······ |
| The very fire which seems sometimes so cruel | 11 | ·/˘/··˘/·/˘ |
| Is the white light that shows me my own strength. | 10 | ·········· |
| A furnace, fed by the divinest fuel, | 11 | ·/˘···˘/˘/˘ |
| It may become at length. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Ah! when in the immortal ranks enlisted, | 11 | ····˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| I sometimes wonder if we shall not find | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| That not by deeds, but by what we've resisted, | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Our places are assigned. | 7 | /˘/˘·˘/ |
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.