The Kitchen Chimney Poem by Robert Frost

The Kitchen Chimney

Rating: 5.0


Builder, in building the little house,
In every way you may please yourself;
But please please me in the kitchen chimney:
Don't build me a chimney upon a shelf.

However far you must go for bricks,
Whatever they cost a-piece or a pound,
But me enough for a full-length chimney,
And build the chimney clear from the ground.

It's not that I'm greatly afraid of fire,
But I never heard of a house that throve
(And I know of one that didn't thrive)
Where the chimney started above the stove.

And I dread the ominous stain of tar
That there always is on the papered walls,
And the smell of fire drowned in rain
That there always is when the chimney's false.

A shelf's for a clock or vase or picture,
But I don't see why it should have to bear
A chimney that only would serve to remind me
Of castles I used to build in air.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Varsha M 08 January 2021

Chimney is to exhaust the fumes. Not a showpiece of delight. Dont make it too close it serves no purpose...just place it right and thrive...good poetry.

0 0 Reply
Malabika Ray Choudhury 25 March 2018

Amazing! A Kitchen Chimney can inspire such a great poem!

2 1 Reply
Tom Allport 26 December 2016

you can't beat getting what you want for peace of mind

2 2 Reply
Rajnish Manga 27 January 2016

Wonderful description of the place around a chimney built for burning of fire in the house as against the shelf where decorative things were kept as per tradition. Amazing poem. A chimney that only would serve to remind me Of castles I used to build in air.

3 3 Reply
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Robert Frost

Robert Frost

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