"The smouldering embers blush --"

By Emily Dickinson
[Analysis]
The smouldering embers blush -- [1]
Oh Hearts within the Coal [2]
Hast thou survived so many years? [3]
The smouldering embers smile -- [4]
Soft stirs the news of Light [5]
The stolid seconds glow [6]
One requisite has Fire that lasts [7]
Prometheus never knew -- [8]
Poem 1132 [F1143]
"The smouldering embers blush"
Analysis by David Preest
[Poem]
As in poem 1383, Emily discovers that the fire of love in a lover's heart can survive the absence of the loved one over 'many years.' At the
news of his coming the embers turn red and 'blush.' They 'smile' as the news stirs and lights them. The passing 'seconds,' which had been
'stolid' and cold for so long, now 'glow.' Such a fire has 'one requisite [that] Prometheus never knew,' namely that it lasts.
When Prometheus in the Greek myth created men and contrived fire for them, the fire was taken away by Zeus, so that Prometheus had to
steal it back for them. 'Hearts' in line 2 in Johnson is a misprint for 'Heart.
Top