Ashes denote that fire was - Emily Dickinson

"Ashes denote that fire was" is a poem by Emily Dickinson that in my mind is very respectful to the elder people or the people who passed away of the world who have retired, or have just gotten old. It tells of how they once lived well, and had the fire inside, but now they are just ashes after the fire has burned. They had lived, but now are just old, or passed away looking back on the life that was once theirs. "Ashes denote that fire was;/ Respect the grayest pile/ For the departed creature’s sake/ That hovered there awhile./ Fire exists the first in light;/ And then consolidates,—/ Only the chemist can disclose/ Into what carbonates" (Dickinson). When we look at the literal meaning, we see that Dickinson is talking about ashes. She says that ashes give us the reason to believe that there was once a fire in place of the ashes. She tells us to respect these ashes that was designated a fire. Respect it for the dead animal's reason that was around the once present fire. Fire is first during the light, because fire is light; it sheds light as the fire burns. Dickinson then tells us that the fire comes together to be one force. One may think that fire is already a unified substance/ thing/ object/ whatever you want to call it. But if you think harder about how fire works, it really is not one substance. There are several licks of the fire that are all working separately to burn. Then, in the poem, Dickinson tells us that only a chemist can release the information about what the fire burns into. When we look at this poem from a deeper meaning, we can see that Emily Dickinson deeply respect the dead and elder people. We could say that the ashes are death and the fire is life. Then the chemist is God. We live, we shed light or life. We then die and only God can tell us who you were in your life with your death.




Dickinson, Emily. "Ashes Denota That Fire Was." Bartleby.com. 2011. Web. 22 Mar. 2011. .