Fire and Ice
Aaron Huxford
Fire and Ice by Robert Frost
1 Some say the world will end in fire,
2 Some say in ice.
3 From what I've tasted of desire
4 I hold with those who favor fire.
5 But if it had to perish twice,
6 I think I know enough of hate
7 To say that for destruction ice
8 Is also great
9 And would suffice.
2 Some say in ice.
3 From what I've tasted of desire
4 I hold with those who favor fire.
5 But if it had to perish twice,
6 I think I know enough of hate
7 To say that for destruction ice
8 Is also great
9 And would suffice.
Theme
The world will most likely end due to the human trait of desire, but Frost would not be surprised if hate destroyed the world.
Symbolism
"Fire" 1
Fire symbolizes desire because Frost directly relates fire to desire in line two.
"Ice" 2
Ice symbolizes hate because Frost directly relates ice to hate in line six.
"Destruction" 7
Destruction symbolizes the end of the world because the poem is referring to how the world will end.
Imagery
"Fire" 1
Fires portrays the "burning" desire within people.
"Ice" 2
Ice portrays how people refer to hatred as "cold."
"Destruction" 7
Destruction portrays how the world would be completely obliterated by either desire or ice.
Metonymy
"Fire" 1 and "Desire" 3
Frost replaces fire with desire in line three to directly show how fire represents desire.
"Ice" 2 and "Hate" 6
Frost replaces ice with hate in line six to directly correlate ice with hatred.
"Perish" 5 and "Destruction"7
Frost replaces perish with destruction to show how the world would be completed destroyed, and everybody would perish.
Why I liked this poem
I believe the world will end due to both desire and hate because there have been close calls more than once due to these human traits. One example is the Cold War because the United States wanted democracy to rule the world, and Russia wanted communism. However, they started fighting based on hatred of each other, and, as a result, the Cuban missile crisis occurred. Humans will not exist when the sun burns out; they will come to their demise from desire and hate.