Analysis of An Olive Fire
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
An olive fire's a lovely thing;
Somehow it makes me think of Spring
As in my grate it over-spills
With dancing flames like daffodils.
They flirt and frolic, twist and twine,
The brassy fire-irons wink and shine. . . .
Leap gold, you flamelets! Laugh and sing:
An olive fire's a lovely thing.
An olive fire's a household shrine:
A crusty loaf, a jug of wine,
An apple and a chunk of cheese -
Oh I could be content with these.
But if my curse of oil is there,
To fry a fresh-caught fish, I swear
I do not envy any king,
As sitting by my hearth I sing:
An olive fire's a lovely thing.
When old and worn, of life I tire,
I'll sit before an olive fire,
And watch the feather ash like snow
As softly as a rose heart glow;
The tawny roots will loose their hoard
Of sunbeams centuries have stored,
And flames like yellow chicken's cheep,
Till in my heart Peace is so deep:
With hands prayer-clasped I sleep . . . and sleep.
Scheme | AabbccaA ccddeeaaA ffgghhiii |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110100101 1111111 10111101 1101110 11010101 0101010101 1111101 110100101 11010011 01010111 11000111 11111011 11111111 11011111 11110101 11011111 110100101 110111110 110111010 01010111 11010111 01011111 1110011 01110101 10111111 11111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 898 |
Words | 175 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 9, 9 |
Lines Amount | 26 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 231 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 60 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 29, 2023
- 54 sec read
- 367 Views
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"An Olive Fire" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/31981/an-olive-fire>.
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