Lola Ridge offers a bitter image of older generations sacrificing the young, as in war. The old men build a fire to warm themselves, then shove young men into it, burning them like green branches. If one tries to escape, they drag him back. The repeated line “green withes burn slow” stresses drawn-out pain: fresh wood burns slowly, so the torment lasts. The smoke rises so thick and dark that it blots out the sky. The speaker is angry and grieving, clearly siding with the young victims while the old men sit comfortably rubbing their hands. The mood is grim and almost apocalyptic, and the final “for ever and ever” suggests this sacrifice keeps repeating through history.
The Fire — Summary
The old men of the world have made a fire To warm their trembling hands. They poke the young men in. The young men burn like withes.
If one run a little way, The old men are wrath. They catch him and bind him and throw him again to the flames. Green withes burn slow... And the smoke of the young men's torment Rises round and sheer as the trunk of a pillared oak, And the darkness thereof spreads over the sky....
Green withes burn slow... And the old men of the world sit round the fire And rub their hands.... But the smoke of the young men's torment Ascends up for ever and ever.