Meaning & Analysis
The proverb describes a counter-intuitive phenomenon observed in a blacksmith's forge, where casting a small amount of water onto the hot coals does not extinguish the fire but instead causes it to burn more fiercely and intensely.
Insights
The Paradox of Suppression
This proverb serves as a metaphor for the paradox of suppression, where a minor or inadequate attempt to control a powerful force—such as a rebellion, a strong opinion, or a passionate desire—backfires and instead strengthens it.
Strengthening through Opposition
It illustrates how facing minor challenges or opposition can invigorate and intensify one's resolve. The obstacle, intended to dampen enthusiasm, ironically fuels greater determination and passion.
Unintended Consequences
The saying warns of unintended consequences, where an action taken to solve a problem produces the opposite of the desired effect. It highlights the danger of misjudging the nature of a situation, especially when dealing with volatile emotions or conflicts.
Historical and Scientific Observation
Rooted in the practical, pre-industrial craft of blacksmithing, the proverb captures a real-world chemical reaction where a small amount of water on hot coals intensifies the fire. This grounding in observable physics gives its metaphorical applications a powerful, tangible basis.
Psychological Reactance
The proverb masterfully illustrates the psychological principle of reactance, where attempts to control or suppress a strong emotion like love or anger with insufficient force can paradoxically strengthen it. The effort to 'quench' the feeling serves only to 'kindle' it further.
Literary and Dramatic Catalyst
As evidenced by its frequent use in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama, the proverb serves as a potent literary device to explain how obstacles, delays, or tears can escalate passion and conflict rather than diminish them, adding dramatic tension.
Rhetorical Devices
Paradox
The proverb is built on a paradox where water, a natural extinguisher of fire, becomes an accelerant. This inherent contradiction makes the saying memorable and thought-provoking.
Simile
It functions as an explicit simile ('As WATER...'), drawing a direct comparison between the forge phenomenon and a situation in human affairs, making the abstract concept concrete.
Elemental Imagery
The proverb uses powerful, elemental imagery of fire, water, and the forge to create a vivid and intense mental picture, enhancing the force of its metaphorical meaning.
Antithesis
It employs a sharp antithesis between the expected action ('quench') and the actual result ('kindle'), highlighting the ironic reversal at the heart of the proverb's wisdom.
Transcription
Quotations
The colde water when it is cast into the Fyer, causeth the Fyer to be much more fearse and violent.
But as the smith his forge, by casting on cold water, burneth more fiercely, so their love by these delays increased more vehemently.
Hast thou not redde .. that he that casteth water on the fire in the Smiths forge, maketh it to flame fiercer?
Provoke me not too much, that I throw water into the fire.
Looke how Cold water Cast on burninge Coles doth make the fier more fervently to flame. Even so your tears doth adde vnto my rage.
Like fire, a little sprinkled o'r with water Makes the desires burn clear, and ten times hotter.
But tears Were spilt like water in the forge, only T'enrage the fire.
Cross References
- See T. 667, p. 320.
- W110 To mix water with fire.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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