The Tale of Fire (Poem)

[Soran]

The Tale of Fire

By Soran

 

"Burdened with power, bringer of ill,

Fueled by hate and destruction of will.

Crackling high, burning desire,

This is the core of that which is fire."

 

"But this is not all that is brought by the flames.

So despite the sayings and despite the claims,

Fire can be of virtue, protective and sane.

Though even the brightest fall victim to rain."

 

“But even in storms the flames are alive,

As cinders and embers fight to survive.

Biding time and igniting at the touch,

In the end, for fire, nothing is too much.”

 

“For fire is everywhere, bringing life to us all,

But just as a flame brings life, a death may befall.

In sacrifice or confusion, fire will strive on,

To continue to survive; to see that new dawn.”

 

“So be like an ember, be like a flame.

The world is full of life and fire's the same.

Burst into glory; leave doubt at the door.

So strive to be fire or be something more.” 

 

--------------

Author s notes'

Howdy,

 

Soran here. This is a random poem that I wrote based off of the tales and trials faced by the many Toa of Fire that take place in the story. Each stanza goes over the basic premise of a certain Toa of Fire's story. I tried to make this poem work for someone who was unfamiliar with BIONICLE but still reference certain aspects of the BIONICLE Story. For those who couldn't figure out which stanza is talking about which toa, here's the grouping.

 

Stanza 1: Toa Tahu

Stanza 2: Toa Lhikan and Toa Tahu Nuva/Toa Nuva

Stanza 3: Toa Vakama/Toa Metru, Toa Jaller/Toa Inika

Stanza 4: Toa Mistika Tahu/Toa Mistika/Phantoka, Toa Mahri Jaller/Toa Mahri

Stanza 5: Toa Tahu (golden armor)

 

Stanza Breakdown

Stanza Breakdown

 

Stanza 1:

• "Burdened with power, bringer of ill,

This references Toa Tahu when we first see him. Burdened with this tremendous strength but it's doubled with his naturally surely and aggressive attitude.

• Fueled by hate and destruction of will.

This references the stereotype of fire and (unintentionally) references Toa Tahu Nuva's descent due to the poison in MoL. Fire is often represented in literary works as being aggressive and fueled by hate, rage and destruction.

• Crackling high, burning desire,

This mainly is to set up the scene with the fact that the poem is talking about fire.

• This is the core of that which is fire."

Fire in this case references both the Toa of fire and fire itself, with the specific Toa in mind being Toa Tahu.

 

 

Stanza 2:

• "But this is not all that is brought by the flames.
• So despite the sayings and despite the claims,

This is to provide contrast to the stereotypes involving how fire is often treated in stories. It also goes on to say that not every Toa of fire is similar to Tahu.

• Fire can be of virtue, protective and sane

This specifically is referencing Toa Lhikan and the Toa Nuva and their roles as mentors for other toa present in the story.

• Though even the brightest fall victim to rain."

This references the idea that it doesn't matter how impressive or 'superhuman' a character may seem, they too may fail. This references Toa Lhikan's death and the Toa Nuva's capture by the Piraka, the "rain" references the antagonists/evil/darkness.

 

 

Stanza 3:

• "But even in storms the flames are alive,

"Storms" references once again, antagonists/evil/darkness, specifically a large scale of them whether in quantity or simply power. "Flames," "Fire," or anything similar represent the Toa (Specifically the Toa of fire). This line points out that even though the original flames are gone (Toa Lhikan and Toa Nuva), their legacy remains with their protégés.

• As cinders and embers fight to survive.

"cinders and embers" represents the Toa Metru and the Toa Inika and their fight to survive against the evil forces.

• Biding time and igniting at the touch,

"Biding time" references the Toa Metru, specifically Toa Vakama and his quest involving the Mask of Time. "igniting at the touch," references the Toa Inika, the 'ignition' series and the Kanohi Ignika.

• In the end, for fire, nothing is too much.

This simply references the fact that in both their stories, their goals were survival and they were successful.

 

 

Stanza 4:

• "For fire is everywhere, bringing life to us all,

This references the goals of the Toa Mistika/Phantoka and Toa Mahri for bringing life back to the world through the Mask of life.

• But just as a flame brings life, a death may befall.

This references the fact that on their search for life (Ignika) they were met with death (Matoro/Mata-Nui).

• In sacrifice or confusion, fire will strive on,
• To continue to survive; to see that new dawn"

Neither team held themselves back despite the situations going on. They continued to press on even when hopes were dashed. They still sought out to complete their mission.

 

 

Stanza 5:

• "So be like an ember, be like a flame.

References specifically to be like those represented in the poem.

• The world is full of life and fire's the same.

References Spherus Magna's state thanks to the toa. It also goes to talk about how these brave Toa of Fire went against the stereotypes held often by beings of fire.

• Burst into glory; leave doubt at the door.
• So strive to be fire or be something more."

Once again, referencing Toa Tahu's actions during the revival of Spherus Magna. Also goes on to continue saying that it (the poem) urges the reader to be like the attributes of fire presented in the poem or something greater.

 

This concludes the Stanza Breakdown.

 

Comments and critiques are appreciated,

 

~Soran

Edited May 25, 2016 by Black Six

[Click]

Beautiful. Simply beautiful. It's a great depiction of the Toa of FIre we all know so well. And the line by line breakdown, showing just how much thought went into each and every word, only makes it all the better.

[aldero]

This is... great. I absolutely adore the attention to detail and the complexity of each of the stanzas, yet they are such simplistic encapsulations of these memorable hotheads. 

[FrozenPancake_]

*sniff* That. Was. Beautiful.

 

I find this poem very symbolic and philosophical, and I can tell that a lot of thought went in to it. Well done, Soran.

[Gonel]

That is amazing. I'm left speechless.

 

Is it too much to hope there will be more elemental poetry?

[Toa Imrukii]

This was great. Now add me! (jk)

 

Nah but seriously this is a true piece of poetic art right here, and I am very impressed by it.

[Soran]

Hey, apparently this got featured. Neat.

 

Beautiful. Simply beautiful. It's a great depiction of the Toa of FIre we all know so well. And the line by line breakdown, showing just how much thought went into each and every word, only makes it all the better.

 

Thank you. I figured that most poems allude to certain concepts that might not seem obvious to the reader, with this poem being a prime case of that. Thus I felt it would be appropriate to give the line-by-line breakdown of the poem, in case people were confused as to why it was posted in a BIONICLE forum.

 

This is... great. I absolutely adore the attention to detail and the complexity of each of the stanzas, yet they are such simplistic encapsulations of these memorable hotheads. 

 

Thanks, I tried to fit as many references as I could while still maintaining a coherent idea. Seems I did well at it.

 

*sniff* That. Was. Beautiful.

 

I find this poem very symbolic and philosophical, and I can tell that a lot of thought went in to it. Well done, Soran.

 

Thank you very much. I had the idea of making a poem about fire for a while now, but I hadn't really given too much thought into how I would make it. This poem took about… 3-5 hours I believe. Something like that. 

 

That is amazing. I'm left speechless.

 

Is it too much to hope there will be more elemental poetry?

 

Thanks. If there's a desire for more poems related to the different elements I could make more. I would just need to figure out situations of how certain element's characters can fit with the overall theme of the element in question. It was much easier to do this with fire since the Toa of Fire were often the leaders of the story.

 

This was great. Now add me! (jk)

Nah but seriously this is a true piece of poetic art right here, and I am very impressed by it.

 

I'll try to next time. Thank you.

 

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone and thanks for the feature,

 

~Soran

Edited May 25, 2016 by Soran

[MrSciFiGuy]

Amazing poem. I've tried something similar but have not gotten the beauty and eloquence you captured in these stanzas. Never stop writing

[Wiriamu]

An excellent piece indeed. I think the second stanza-and maybe the fifth-could be applied to Norik as well.

[-Windrider-]

This is some excellent writing. If I may, I'll offer a suggestion - to try to keep a more consistent rhythm within each stanza. For instance,

 

"But this is not all that is brought by the flames.
So despite the sayings and despite the claims,
Fire can be of virtue, protective and sane.
Though even the brightest fall victim to rain"

 

The first line has a kind of "in three" feel/rhythm. First stress on "this," second on "all," etc. The second line breaks this a bit, so I'd recommend adding something to keep the same stress pattern (bold would be stress):

 

"So despite all the sayings and despite all of the claims"

 

Like that, I think. Same for the third line (the fourth reads well). It helps to read it aloud sometimes. This may be nitpicking a gorgeous set of stanzas, but I did find myself stumbling in places when reading.

 

Otherwise, good work as always.

Edited May 28, 2016 by -Windrider-

[Soran]

Amazing poem. I've tried something similar but have not gotten the beauty and eloquence you captured in these stanzas. Never stop writing

 

Thank you, I'll try not t

 

An excellent piece indeed. I think the second stanza-and maybe the fifth-could be applied to Norik as well.

 

You're right that it definitely could, although it wasn't intentional. It really just depends on the opinions of the characteristics of the character.

 

This is some excellent writing. If I may, I'll offer a suggestion - to try to keep a more consistent rhythm within each stanza. For instance,

 

"But this is not all that is brought by the flames.

So despite the sayings and despite the claims,

Fire can be of virtue, protective and sane.

Though even the brightest fall victim to rain"

 

The first line has a kind of "in three" feel/rhythm. First stress on "this," second on "all," etc. The second line breaks this a bit, so I'd recommend adding something to keep the same stress pattern (bold would be stress):

 

"So despite all the sayings and despite all of the claims"

 

Like that, I think. Same for the third line (the fourth reads well). It helps to read it aloud sometimes. This may be nitpicking a gorgeous set of stanzas, but I did find myself stumbling in places when reading.

 

Otherwise, good work as always.

 

Oh, some advice. 

 

I'll admit that when I was writing this poem, I wasn't focusing on the rhythm at all. My main focus was maintaining the same amount of syllables per stanza. 

 

I can see what you mean by keeping it consistent in that format, especially with the edit you provided. It definitely works well and possibly better than what I had come up with, but the way I was reading it aloud is rather different it seems than the traditional way of doing it. 

 

So in the line you provided (the second line), the emphasis I put on it (as I was saying it aloud) is like so: "So despite the saying and despite the claims," where the emphasis is on the entire word of despite as it is used twice in the line. The line is meant to be more rapidly read.

 

The way I envisioned it when I was writing it was that the second stanza was meant to start off quicker than the first and end on a somber note. The way how I had wrote it is in a manner similar to this.

 

Second Stanza Line Explanation:

1. Brings Notice to the idea that the topic isn't nearly as simple. 
2. Tries to quickly transition to the explanation
3. This is the explanation of the complexity of the subject.
4. This ends on a somber note.

 

You're absolutely correct though, that possibly in the traditional way of reading the poem, there are some stumbling blocks within the poem that may trip up the reader. I may not be the best person to identify those though, as I wrote it in a way that differs from traditional and I may read aloud the poem differently, as I emphasize certain words to get more feeling or emotion throughout the poem. I'll see if I can properly analyze any future poems I may write so that the rhythm stays consistent during the poem. 

 

Thanks for the analysis, I appreciate it! Also, rhythm is a very annoying word to spell; I should use it more in hangman. 

 

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone,

 

~Soran

[-Windrider-]

Rhythm is totally annoying to spell. Also, I should have given the disclaimer that it's totally okay to mess around with rhythm and make your readers stumble if you'd like. In many cases how the poem is read can affect its interpretation and reading. You can have two stressed syllables close together in order to give emphasis or to deliberately make your reader slow down.

 

I highlighted the second line because I got tripped up on "saying and despite" after having read the first line's smooth flow. But hey, such a thing can be powerful. Don't let my being a music nerd/French lit grad student get in your way!

Edited May 29, 2016 by -Windrider-