Ballade by the Fire by Edwin Arlington Robinson
The speaker sits smoking by the fire, hugging his knee, watching a "witless masquerade" of childhood memories and imagined figures drift through the mingled light and shadow of the flames. These fancies pass in a thin, flimsy procession, and as the embers fall and fade with a last, reminding glow, the phantoms depart one by one. With a melancholy pleasure he recalls where his imagination once wandered, and turns to musing on what future years may hold, their stories still untold. As he muses, the fireside tongs and shovel, resting quietly in their shadowed niches, seem by slow degrees to take on the likeness of a pick and spade—tools of the grave—while the phantoms continue their departure one by one. He then reflects that though the "mystic Three" (the fates) ply their busy trade around him, and though Charon may soon ferry him across the gloomy Stygian glade, his soul should rouse itself and not fear whatever an unborn year may bring. Instead he charges himself to mind that his human debts are paid, even as, one by one, the phantoms go. In the envoy, addressed to "good friends," the poem states its moral plainly: life is a game that must be played, and this truth at least is known to all; therefore one should live and laugh, and not be dismayed, as one by one the phantoms go.
By Edwin Arlington Robinson · First published 1896 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Ballade, Philosophical Poetry · 236 words
First lines
SLOWLY I smoke and hug my knee, / The while a witless masquerade
Of things that only children see
Floats in a mist of light and shade:
They pass, a flimsy cavalcade,
What this Textopian page supports
Ballade by the Fire is listed on Textopian as a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson, dated 1896 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Edwin Arlington Robinson
- Date: 1896 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Ballade, Philosophical Poetry, Meditative Poetry, Memento Mori Poetry
- Length: 236 words
- Structure: 1 section, 22 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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- Work identity for Ballade by the Fire by Edwin Arlington Robinson
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Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The work is a short, reflective poem centered on a speaker's inward meditation, emotional mood, and philosophical response to memory, aging, and mortality.
- Ballade — It uses the traditional ballade form: three eight-line stanzas, a recurring refrain ('As one by one the phantoms go'), and a concluding four-line envoy.
- Philosophical Poetry — The poem considers time, the inevitability of death, human obligations, courage, and the proper attitude toward life's uncertainties.
- Meditative Poetry — Its action consists chiefly of quiet contemplation beside a fire, as the speaker reflects on childhood imaginings, future years, and approaching death.
Tags
poetry · ballade · lyric poem · American literature · early twentieth century · melancholy · mortality · reflection · solitude · memory · time · loss