Analysis of But Most Thy Light
John Frederick Freeman 1880 – 1929
I know how fire burns,
How from the wrangling fumes
Rose and amber blooms,
And slowly dies.
Nothing's so swift as fire,
There's nothing alive so fierce.
The lifted lances pierce,
Sink, and upspring.
Like an Indian sword it leaps
Out of the smoking sheath.
Even the winged feet of death
Learn speed from fire;
And pain its cunning learns;
Languor its sweet
From the decaying heat
That never dies.
I know how fire burns
Unguessed, save for tears,
When the thousand-fanged flame spears
The body's guard;
Or when the mind, the mind
Is ever-glowing wood,
And fire runs in the blood
Lunatic, blind;
When remorse burns and burns
And burns always, always--
The fire that surest slays
Or surest numbs.
I know how fire burns
But how I cannot tell.
And Heaven burns like Hell
Yet the Heart endures.
'Tis the immortal Flame
In mortal life that's bitter,
Or than all sweet sweeter
Though life burns down.
Teach me, fire, but this,
Nor alone destroying burn:--
Of thy warmth let me learn,
But most thy light.
Scheme | Abbc deex xxxd affc Axxx gxxg axaa Ahhx xddx xiix |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (35%) Tetractys (23%) |
Metre | 111101 1101001 10101 0101 1011110 1100111 01011 101 11100111 110101 1001111 11110 011101 111 100101 1101 111101 1111 1010111 0101 110101 110101 0101001 101 101101 0111 0101101 1101 111101 111101 010111 10101 100101 0101110 111110 1111 111011 1010101 111111 1111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 982 |
Words | 187 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 19 |
Words per line (avg) | 4 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 78 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 18 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 57 sec read
- 8 Views
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"But Most Thy Light" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/55902/but-most-thy-light>.
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