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Poet: Emily Dickinson
Poem: 530.
You cannot put a Fire out --
Volume: Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
Year: Published/Written in 1955
Comment 4 of 4, added on April 1st, 2008 at 5:02 AM.
I feel like this poem is Dickinson's best neglected poem. It is a perfect example of Romantic poetry, showing the heightened interest in nature. This poem shows how powerful nature is, and that nothing humans do can change its actions. A fire that can ignite can extinguish without the help of other forces. There is no explanation other than nature's power. This poem hints that nature is all connected in the last stanza. Dickinson uses her imagination when she writes about putting a flood into a dresser drawer.
Jessica Thivierge
Comment 3 of 4, added on March 27th, 2008 at 12:49 PM.
I really thought this poem should be included in the more popular canon because it is highly representational of Dickinson's views on humanity, the natural world, and levels of personal consciousness. The idea that nature can not be tamed is a romantic ideal tha Dickinson embraces in this poem with lines such as "you cannot fold a Flood-and put in in a drawer." Althought Dickinson holds true to some romantic ideals, she represents nature as forceful, unpredictable, and full of disaster, which is more like poe-ish dark romanticism.
Levels of consciousness are also suggested in this poem by metaphorically using the 4 elements as thoughts, memories, emotions, etc. A fire that cannot be put out is like a memory that cannot truly be erased from the mind, and a flood that cannot be stashed in a drawer, or corner represents emotions that cannot be covered up or hidden. The natural world is always there...omnipresent just like our thoughts. Conformity isn't so easy!
Danelle Faw from United States
Comment 2 of 4, added on December 25th, 2005 at 8:13 PM.
This is one of my 2 favorite poems. The other is "a word is dead" also by Emily Dickinson. Dickinson was a wonderful writer of poetry, and her poetry has a depth to it that is not easily compared to.
Charisse Powell from United States
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Comments
I feel like this poem is Dickinson's best neglected poem. It is a perfect example of Romantic poetry, showing the heightened interest in nature. This poem shows how powerful nature is, and that nothing humans do can change its actions. A fire that can ignite can extinguish without the help of other forces. There is no explanation other than nature's power. This poem hints that nature is all connected in the last stanza. Dickinson uses her imagination when she writes about putting a flood into a dresser drawer.
Jessica Thivierge