"Dare you see a soul at the white heat?"
— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
Boston
Publisher
Robert Brothers
Date
1892
Metaphor
"Dare you see a soul at the white heat?"
Metaphor in Context
[VII. THE WHITE HEAT.]
Dare you see a soul at the white heat?
Then crouch within the door.
Red is the fire's common tint;
But when the vivid ore
Has sated flame's conditions,
Its quivering substance plays
Without a color but the light
Of unanointed blaze.
Least village boasts its blacksmith,
Whose anvil's even din
Stands symbol for the finer forge
That soundless tugs within,
Refining these impatient ores
With hammer and with blaze,
Until the designated light
Repudiate the forge.
(p. 28)
Dare you see a soul at the white heat?
Then crouch within the door.
Red is the fire's common tint;
But when the vivid ore
Has sated flame's conditions,
Its quivering substance plays
Without a color but the light
Of unanointed blaze.
Least village boasts its blacksmith,
Whose anvil's even din
Stands symbol for the finer forge
That soundless tugs within,
Refining these impatient ores
With hammer and with blaze,
Until the designated light
Repudiate the forge.
(p. 28)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Dickinson, Emily. Poems by Emily Dickinson: Second Series Ed. Mabel Loomis Todd and T. W. Higginson (Robert Brothers: Boston, 1892). <Link to UVA e-Text Center><Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
12/31/2010
