Fire and ice summary

In this nine-line poem, Frost's speaker states his opinion that the world will end because of human emotion, not natural disaster. The two emotions that are in contention to destroy the earth are desire (which could also be understood as greed) and hate. Frost's speaker puts his money on desire, which he likens to a fire, as what will bring on the earth's demise, saying: Frost's speaker puts the safety and well-being of the earth in human hands, saying we are responsible for preserving it. To do so, we need to control our more destructive emotions. The speaker shows that he has an intimate knowledge of the dangers of both hate and desire, implying that these are feelings that reside in every human heart, much as we might wish to deny them in ourselves. One of the main strengths of the poem is its ambiguity, which is reflected in its suggestive Frost seems to suggest that the question is all rather academic and shouldn't concern us for a moment longer. We have wide experience of intense emotions and the human relationships they taint and destroy. Perhaps it would be better for us if we concentrated on our emotional lives and their consequences instead of engaging in idle speculation on the end of days. In this poem, Frost points out that humans will be the agents of our own destruction, one way or another. He compares "desire" to "fire" and "hate" to "ice." Both desire and hate are represented by physical forces that could lead to our extinction. We might imagine desire to ...

Fire and Ice Summary The speaker brings us into the middle of an argument between people who think the world will come to a fiery end and people who think the world will freeze. He could be talking about the literal end of the world, but he's also talking about the power that human beings have to harm or "destroy" one another. The speaker's experience with romantic desire has taught him that passionate or "hot" emotions like love and lust would probably have the power to turn the earth into a big fireball. But he has also experienced the other extreme, and he knows that colder emotions like hate have great destructive power. Love gets all the publicity, but hate is the silent killer. It may not have the same grandeur as the fireball ending, but it'll do the trick.

" Fire and Ice" is a popular poem by Inspiration According to one of Frost's biographers, "Fire and Ice" was inspired by a passage in Canto 32 of Inferno, in which the worst offenders of In an anecdote he recounted in 1960 in a "Science and the Arts" presentation, the prominent astronomer the astronomer of his day, asked him how the world will end. Shapley responded that either the sun will explode and incinerate the Earth, or the Earth will somehow escape this fate only to end up slowly freezing in deep space. Shapley was surprised at seeing "Fire and Ice" in print a year later, and referred to it as an example of how science can influence the creation of art, or clarify its meaning. Style and structure The poem is written in a single nine-line Analysis Marveled at for its compactness, "Fire and Ice" signaled for Frost "a new style, tone, manner, [and] form." Its casual tone masks the serious question it poses to the reader. Compression of Dante's Inferno In a 1999 article, John N. Serio claims that the poem is a compression of Dante's Inferno. Frost's Musical adaptations • "Fire and Ice" • "Fire and Ice" • "Fire and Ice" In popular culture • The fantasy writer • The poem is the epigraph of Stephenie Meyers' book, Twilight Saga. It is also read by Eclipse. References • Frost, Robert. December 1920. " • ^ a b Fagan, Deirdre J. (2007). Critical companion to Robert Frost: a literary reference to his life and work. Infobase. pp.115–16. 978-0-8160-6182-2. • Myers, Jeffrey (200...

Fire and Ice Theme The theme of the poem is the destructiveness of the passions of love and hate. Both these passions are made to look more terrible by understatement. In Thompson’s words, “The analogy, here implied, establishes a comparison between the heat of the love or passion and the cold of the hate. Coupled with this is the hint of the destructive power of these two extremes of human passion, cataclysmic power. But there is also a further suggestion: these two extremes are made so to encompass life as to be gathering up of all that may exist between them; all that may be swept away by them.” Possibly the poem holds out the poet’s belief that opposed extremes most elemental in the long drama of mankind and desire and reason, heart and mind. Symbolically interpreting the poem, fire stands for the heat of love and passion, while ice for the cold of hate. The last line confirms the poet’s belief in the two passions possessing enormous destructive power. These passions are inevitable in the drama of human life. Fire and Ice Line by Line Analysis Some say– Marks the repetitive tone of the poem in “Some say” its repetition expresses a mood of merciless aloofness. From what I’ve…favour fire– So far as the poet has experienced shout desire, he is to believe that extreme intensity of desire can take the most violent form and it may lead to destruction. In this take the most violent form and it may 1 matter the poet expresses his agreement with those who think that fire intens...

Robert Frost's poetry is some of the most memorable and influential in the English language. Having won four Pulitzer prizes for his poetry, it's fair to say that Frost knew a thing or two about theme and using imagery to evoke emotion in his audience. 'Fire and Ice,' a poem of only nine short lines, is written about destruction, about the inevitable demise that hatred and obsession will bring. In the first line of the poem, Frost indicates the end, or demise, and the two ways in which it can happen: fire or ice. Frost's connection of fire and desire in the second two lines of the poem offer Frost's belief in what others have said about destruction. Frost, or the narrator, has given him or herself to an unhealthy desire at one point or another and has a first-hand knowledge of how detrimental obsession can be. Frost's fifth line, 'But if it had to perish twice,' serves as a comparison between fire and ice or obsession and hatred. While they are different, the outcome is the same; destruction. The last lines of the poem indicate and equal but different end: 'I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice is also great And would suffice.' ''Fire and Ice'': Deeper Dives This lesson gave an analysis of Robert Frost's famous poem, ''Fire and Ice.'' The following prompts can be used by students to broaden their own understandings or by teachers to create lesson plans. Poetic Interpretation This poem, while short, leaves lots of room for various interpretations. In...

1.1.1 Conclusion of Fire and Ice Summary of Fire and Ice This article is about the Fire and Ice summary. Its poet is Robert Frost. He presents two opposite views about the end of humanity and the world. He discusses these two possibilities which will be the reason for the end of the world. One such possibility is the world ending in flames of fire. It is so, because when he ponders over the burning flames of desires of people. These will definitely hurl the world into another nuclear war, and hence it will burn up the entire world in flames. The second possibility for the end of the world is due to the ice. The poet has a strong feeling that people have so much hatred in their hearts against each other that it will be sufficient to freeze the entire planet towards death. So, the fire due to evil desires and ice of wicked hatred are the two opposite opinions enough to destroy the world. Fire and Ice Summary in English The poet is very much sure of the destruction of humanity on someday. He is talking about the two different beliefs regarding the end of this world. These are on the basis of the sayings of the people. The poet says that he is in favour of those people who say this world will end in fire. This is because he has seen the effect and result of uncontrolled and unending desires over the life of human beings. He finds that human evil desires are similar to the fire in its nature. So this fire may become a big reason to destroy humankind and this world too. On the o...

In "Fire and Ice," composed fewer than two years after the end of World War I, Frost employs a pair of related metaphors, comparing fire to desire and ice to hate, suggesting that either one could lead to the "end" of the world. He also ends with an understatement that lends a tone of irony to the whole poem. Frost employs a pair of related metaphors, comparisons of two unalike things where one is said to be the other. The speaker claims that people have identified two possibilities for the destruction of the world: fire and ice (lines 1-2). He says, "From what I've tasted of desire / I hold with those who favor fire" (3). This compares desire to fire, a destructive force that moves quickly. Next, he says that he knows "enough of hate / To say that for destruction ice / Is also great" (6-8). These lines compare hate to ice, an equally destructive force but one that moves more slowly. We might wonder, desire for what? Hatred of what? It is illuminating, I think, to consider that this poem was written in 1920, fewer than two years after the end of World War I. Perhaps this desire refers to desire for land, for power, or resources; when countries wage war on one another, it is almost always the result of a desire for something. Further, this kind of desire can be linked to war and is this associated with firepower, guns, and explosions. Perhaps the hatred refers to way we might develop an antipathy toward cultures, ethnicities, and religions different from our own. If we igno...

Fire and Ice By – Robert Frost Value Points of the Poem • The poet feels that this world of ours will come to an end. • He is not very clear when the end will come. • He comes to this conclusion on the basis of what people say on this subject. • He seems to show his agreement at what people say regarding the ending of the world. • On the basis of what people think, the poet believes that this world will come to an end by the two highly contrasting but powerful elements of nature — fire and ice. • Either fire or ice or both will be the cause of the ending of the world. • Then the poet links these two powerful natural elements to human beings and their emotions. • In the first stanza, the poet shows his agreement with those who believe that fire will cause the end of the world. • He links the element of fire to the human emotion of desire or passions. • The uncontrolled fire of passion and desire may lead us to the end of this world. • Then, the poet comes to the second alternative that can cause the end of this world. • It is the ‘ice’ which can also cause the end of the world. • In terms of human emotion, ice means ‘hate’ created by ‘cold reasoning’. • Cool and calculated icy reasoning can lead to hate and canbe the cause of the end of this world. • The poet himself has experienced both these primal emotions of love as well as hate, fire as well as ice, passions as well as cold reason. • He has experienced enough of hate which is born out of icy cold reasoning. • In the en...

SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at Complete Text Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, 5 I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice. Summary The speaker considers the age-old question of whether the world will end in fire or in ice. This is similar to another age-old question: whether it would be preferable to freeze to death or burn to death. The speaker determines that either option would achieve its purpose sufficiently well. Form “Fire and Ice” follows an invented form, irregularly interweaving three rhymes and two line lengths into a poem of nine lines. Each line ends either with an -ire, -ice, or -ate rhyme. Each line contains either four or eight syllables. Each line can be read naturally as iambic, although this is not strictly necessary for several lines. Frost employs strong enjambment in line 7to great effect. Commentary An extremely compact little lyric, “Fire and Ice” combines humor, fury, detachment, forthrightness, and reserve in an airtight package. Not a syllable is wasted. The aim ...

1.1.1 Conclusion of Fire and Ice Summary of Fire and Ice This article is about the Fire and Ice summary. Its poet is Robert Frost. He presents two opposite views about the end of humanity and the world. He discusses these two possibilities which will be the reason for the end of the world. One such possibility is the world ending in flames of fire. It is so, because when he ponders over the burning flames of desires of people. These will definitely hurl the world into another nuclear war, and hence it will burn up the entire world in flames. The second possibility for the end of the world is due to the ice. The poet has a strong feeling that people have so much hatred in their hearts against each other that it will be sufficient to freeze the entire planet towards death. So, the fire due to evil desires and ice of wicked hatred are the two opposite opinions enough to destroy the world. Fire and Ice Summary in English The poet is very much sure of the destruction of humanity on someday. He is talking about the two different beliefs regarding the end of this world. These are on the basis of the sayings of the people. The poet says that he is in favour of those people who say this world will end in fire. This is because he has seen the effect and result of uncontrolled and unending desires over the life of human beings. He finds that human evil desires are similar to the fire in its nature. So this fire may become a big reason to destroy humankind and this world too. On the o...