Forest Fires

Myrtle Barber Carpenter


About Myrtle Barber Carpenter

Myrtle Barber Carpenter (March 15, 1927- December 2, 2005): She was a twentieth- century poet and author. She was widely involved in writing for children. Other than poems, she has written two plays for children,Her Uncle's Bootsand Three Wise Old owls: A Play For The Younger Children.

Someone dropped a burning match
Unheeded by the way
It caught in fire some underbrush;
Its user did not stay.
From grass to brush, from brush to tree,
So stealthily it ran,
That no one ever guessed or knew
Just where that fire began.

Someone built a campfire
And failed to put it out.
A breeze came and quickened;
The embers spread about;
And soon the woods were blazing.
The fire spread took long years to grow
Stand blackened now and dead.

Someone saw a little fire
As he was passing by.
He did not stop to put it out;
He did not even try.
He had not started it, of course;
He had no time to spare;
That it might start a forest fire
He did not even care.

Available Answers

  1. 1.

    According to the poet, what are the possible origins of a forest fire?

  2. 2.
    What shows that the person who threw the matchstick was careless?
  3. 3.
    What had caused the forest fire to spread and burn the woods?
  4. 4.

    Write what the following lines mean:

    'Someone built a campfire
    And failed to put it out.
    A breeze came and quickened;
    The embers spread about;'

  5. 5.

    Write what the following lines mean:

    'He had not started it, of course;
    He had no time to spare;
    That it might start a forest fire
    He did not even care.'

  6. 6.
    Why did someone who saw the fire not put it out? Mention the reasons as conveyed by the poet.
8 more answer(s) available.

Please login to post your comments.