In contrast, the presence of more love than hate means that the love has the ability to overpower the hate (Hansen, 29). Scroll down to read the entire paper. LitCharts Teacher Editions. The poem has a symbolic, even allegorical quality to it, which makes more sense when it is analysed in its literary and historical context. Fire and Ice sums up the process of world-destruction. From what Ive tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. These units are teacher ready and student ready. It was composed and distributed in 1920, soon after WWI, and weighs up the likelihood of two contrasting apocalyptic calamitous situations addressed by the sonnet's title components. In its theme the poem resembles James Patrick Kinneys poem The Cold Within. This is a fascinating article about the time President Kennedy sent Robert Frost to Russia in the 1960s inan effort to help defuse tensions. It was reputedly heavily influenced by Dantes Inferno, notably in the depictions of Hell (which is strangely depicted in the novel as having nine tiers or circles and Fire and Ice is a poem of nine lines). The pattern of the poem is arranged in such a way that the words and sentences gives clarity and consistency. Either way, the end of the world is brought about by the emotional energy of humans. On the other hand, the second belief tells that ice is sufficient for destroying this world and the poet compares the nature of ice with hatred. The elements of fire and ice mentioned in the poem, and foregrounded in its title, are two of the four Aristotelian or classical elements, along with earth and air (although ice is usually just described as water, Frost whose very surname here summons the icy conditions of one half of the poem is purposely summoning these classical elements). A freezing sheen of ice indicates hostility to the speaker, as opposed to a scorching flame. /t/and /n/ sound is used as a consonance, I think I know enough of hate / To say that for destruction ice.. No worries. The word ice in the poem indicates hatred and indifference which is as cold as ice. In a modern sense, fire and ice could well be stand-ins for nuclear disaster and climate change. Frosts use of fire and ice, however, is largely a metaphoric decision that opens the poem up to different kinds of interpretation. Serio, John R. Frosts Fire and Ice and Dantes Inferno Explicator 57.4 (1999): 218. we talk of burning with desire for someone). The poem Fire and Ice is composed by Robert Frost. The poem expresses the idea that the world will end someday, either by Fire or by Ice. The Poetry Handbook, John Lennard, OUP, 2005. Pages 5, Ask a professional expert to help you with your text, Give us your email and we'll send you the essay you need, By clicking Send Me The Sample you agree to the terms and conditions of our service. Some say the world will end in fire, He discusses these two possibilities which will be the reason for the end of the world. The speaker has tasted it. Fire and Ice Analysis A lot of thought most definitely went into the creation of this poem. The noted astronomer, when questioned by Frost, said that either the sun will explode or the earth will slowly freeze. In the same line fire and ice is used as a symbol of desire and hatred. Poet uses right choice and proper arrangement of words and phrases that makes the way easier to reach to intended meaning of the words. Laconic style of writing makes the poem factual and scientific. When fire meets ice it has no chance of continuity as it is extinguished by the ice. For example. Both are the elements of nature but there characteristics are opposite and poles apart. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Though written in the 1920s, "Fire and Ice" has never had as much relevance as it does now in the 21 st century. Fire is the antithesis of ice. Teaching to the Middle. One by fire and another by ice. This product has a pre-reading activity of comparing and contrasting fire and ice. Personification is to give human qualities to inanimate objects. These Robert Frost poetry lesson plans are ready to use. Then I followed thesestep-by-step instructions on how to analyze a poem. You want to teach Frost but youre afraid of an ice cold reception because you dont have enough time to prepare a great lesson? Ice can make the body numb with its prolonged contact. Fire and Ice Analysis and Lyrics. Please endeavor to share this article with family, friends, and colleagues. It has that traditional iambic beat running through the mostly tetrameter lines - save for three dimeters - which Frost employed a lot and it's this rhythm that could be said to undermine the essential seriousness of the subject - the end of the world. It is through you visiting Poem Analysis that we are able to contribute to charity. The author has also mastered the art of rhyming as he brings his theme in rhyming schemes in the poem. Frost wrote Fire and Ice in 1920. The poem varies between two meter lengths (either eight syllables or four syllables) and uses three sets of interwoven rhymes, based on "-ire," "-ice," and "-ate.". In the same way, small desires are no trouble at all and can guide a person to the things they want in life. 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The speaker contemplates whether the world will end in fire or ice. Aside from symbolic metaphors, Frost employs additional complex but equally, obvious language to emphasize the poems message. A reading of "Fire and Ice". Your email address will not be published. The plot of the poem from a formalist approach is to enlighten people on the consequences of their sins and the chilling punishment as represented by ice. This poem is known for its simplicity and biting message, as well as its call to stop and think, offering a different perspective on the end of everything. A year earlier, W. B. Yeats had written 'The Second Coming', with its famous declaration, ' Things fall . After the great destruction of world war 1st the question regarding the end of the world appears in every ones mind in different way. Williams Wordsworth I Wandered as a Cloud, Summary of The Quality of Mercy Is Not Strained, Tell all the Truth but tell it Slant By Emily Dickinson, 20 Jolly Christmas Poems To Spark Up The Christmas Spirit, Top 10 Christina Rossetti Poems Every Poem Lover Must Read. The poem was written and published in 1920, and it was later included in Frosts 1923 collection, New Hampshire. You dont need to imagine. The poem Fire and Ice talks about the end of the world. The symbols Fire and Ice have been used for human emotions like desire and hatred respectively. Get LitCharts A +. Nursing, Choosing A Career Essay | Essay on Choosing A Career for Students and Children in English, Vocational Education Essay | Essay on Vocational Education for Students and Children in English, 10 Lines on Healthy Food for Students and Children in English, Motivational Quotes for Medical Students | Inspirational Quotes for Med School, Nursing School or PT School Students, MEC Courses List | Check Mathematics, Economics, and Commerce Subjects, Top Institutes, Jobs, Scope for Arts & Commerce Students, Courses after BA | After BA What I Can do? Read it several times. It is primarily basic and contains a narrator recounting the end of the world in their own view. Fire and Ice Summary: Fire And Ice Introduction. Summary of the Poem Fire and Ice. 1920 was also the year he needed to commit his sister to a mental hospital, which marked the beginning of a difficult time for the family which had already seen its fair share of grief, as, by this time, Frosts parents had both passed away, and Frost himself was battling depression amidst everything else. It contains nine lines corresponding to Dante's nine-leveled configuration of hell, and its rhyme scheme mimics the terza rima pattern Dante invented for his Divine Comedy as well. In other words, what begins in rather elemental, open-ended terms (perhaps even inviting us to think of global warming, something unknown to Frost, when we read of the world ending in fire) comes to have a distinctly human aspect, grounded in human emotions and behaviour. Fire And Ice Analysis: Robert Frost's 'Fire and Ice' is a viral poem that discusses the end of the world, likening the elemental force of fire with the feelings of desire and ice with the emotion of hate. The language of the poem is following specific perspective pattern. The poet says that both fire and ice are destructive. Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. He has given fire and ice two different human emotions. Small wants, on the other hand, are not a problem and can lead a person to the things they seek in life. An insightful video about Frost's life. 'Desire' which he associates with fire, and 'hate' which he associates with ice. We find an underlying irony in the poem when the poet presents two opposite elements in fire and ice and says that they both can have the same destructive effect on humans, despite their contradictory nature. The potential for ice would suffice, and while they believe in the destructive force of desire, they find no reason to assume that hatred couldnt just as quickly kill the planet. Fire And Ice Robert Frost Analysis Essay. In addition, it seems that his knowledge as to the means that the world will end is influenced largely by other peoples opinions, which he seems to value a lot. An Insightful Interview with the Poet The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. The speaker is concerned about the ice, which is the polar opposite of the speakers burning aspirations. Interesting Literature is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon.co.uk. Why might the speaker think that hate and ice have something in common? Please continue to help us support the fight against dementia with Alzheimer's Research Charity. Walker, Andrew. As an opposite to a burning flame, a chilling sheen of ice represents hatred to the speaker. After the great destruction of world war 1st the question regarding the end of the world appears in every one's mind in different way. In short, both sources sound plausible and resulted in a curious tongue-in-cheek kind of poem, the tone being somewhat casual and understated, whilst the subject matter is one of the most serious you could think of. I think that the symbol of fire in Frost's poem is representing desire, and passion. Stanza form. STRUCTURALIST ANALYSIS OF THE POEM FIRE AND ICE, Phonological / Syntactic Analysis of the Poem, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Summary and Analysis of The Road Not Taken, Summary and Analysis of After Apple Picking, Benefits of Solving Previous Years Question Papers, 3 Tools That Help You Write a Compelling Research Paper. This is illustrated as in the lines throughout the poem such as Some say the world will end in fire, / some say in ice. (Hansen, 31). He explains us how he thinks the world might end by two things - fire and ice. Posted on March 5, 2012 by jmesquigley. Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The poet agrees with those people who believe that the world will be burnt in fire. Feel free to disagree with my interpretation. The poem is a real piece of . Fire and Ice is written as a series of nine lines, alternating between three rhyming sounds ABA ABC BCB being the rhyming summary for Fire and Ice.It features a narrator describing the end of the world in their own vision, and it's largely simplistic. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice. Frost has used fire and ice as metaphors for desire and hatred respectively, making the poem essentially metaphorical. Thats a good question. Although his poetic form contrasts the overt theme of the poem, it underscores its underlying meaning. This gives the poem a rising feel as each word at line end is stressed. In this poem, a reader will find that the poet has a love for 'fire' and hatred for 'ice'. The poem is a real piece of act and fancy. 2 May 2012. These two extremes, he expostulates, will eventually destroy the world. The way the content is organized. It was written and published in 1920, shortly after WWI, and weighs up the probability of two differing apocalyptic scenarios represented by the elements of the poem's title. He seems to consider sins of passion as lesser evils because he finds that love is stronger and important than hate. It is warmth and light. Therefore, the poet personifies fire and ice by giving them a mind which is capable of destroying almost anything. 9. The poem analysis of Fire and Ice by Robert Frost has led to the following observations and queries. The poem FIRE AND ICE is a well knitted epigram written by Robert Frost. From what I've tasted of desire. Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. Some say in ice. Terza rima is illustrated by the presence of interlocking chain rhyme in the poem. In the first two lines of the poem, Frost creates a . Retrieved from https://paperap.com/paper-on-critical-analysis-of-fire-and-ice/. The present investigation will focus on stylistics devices. The words like fire, desire, perish, destruction, ice, hate and great makes a horrible and pessimistic image in mind. Allusion is also used here, by using fire he is alluding about global warming and ice is a reference towards ice age. A number of Frost poems and an in-depth biography of the poet. Fire represent desire and ice is equated with hate, both are antithesis to each other. Eliot Poems That are So Memorable to Poem Lovers, Humorous Limericks That Will Make You Laugh Out Loud, Analysis of the Short Story Eveline by James Joyce. Robert Frosts one of the shorter poems, Fire and Ice is written in very simple language in a nine-line stanza. The thoughts that the poem plainly relates fire and ice to (desire and hatred, respectively) may, on the other hand, be as all-consuming. Students looking for free, top-notch essay and term paper samples on various topics. I think I know enough of hate These two things are fire and ice. Robert Frost's own powerful reading of the poem. Robert Browning Poems That Are So Intriguing to Readers, T.S. How We Can Learn the Function Operation Sequence. The world will end in fire, according to the speaker. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Our work is created by a team of talented poetry experts, to provide an in-depth look into poetry, like no other. The fire is hot, and the ice is chilling cold, the two might be used to represent various aspects in society such as the presence of love and hate. Frost uses symbolism to convey the meaning of fire and ice as symbols for human behavior and emotion. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of Frost's Early Poems and what it means. As the title implies, Fire and Ice is a poem of contrasts, a poem of extremes. After the data is gathered, youre ready to write the paragraph. Similarly, fire grows rapidly and engulfs our whole life. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the long sound of /o/ in I hold with those who favor fire. The first group of people thinks that fire will cause the apocalypse to happen. His highly accessible work made him famous in his lifetime and has since solidified his place in American literary history. In these lines, the poet says that there are two theories held by the general people about how the world will be destroyed. Read a summary, understand the poem's main theme and analysis. 2023 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. It may happen that the core of the earth will get so heated up that it would start a fire . They imagine it as something that would cool the planet, slow everything down, and isolate each individual to the point that the human species would perish. Similarly, hatred can give numbness to our mind and thoughts. The speaker remembers their experiences with a strong yearning and believes that it is these types of emotions and impulses that drive the world down an unreversible road. Fire and Ice by Robert Frost explores a universal interest in the apocalypse. An insightful video about Frost's life. by. Poem begins with some say which means that a group of people is of the opinion that the world will come to an end either by fire or by ice. He says that he is in the favor of those who say this world will end in fire as he has seen the effect and result of uncontrolled and unbending desires. The poet uses the first person . For Frost in 1920, life had certainly had its good days and bad days. And would suffice directly contrast the preceding lines which shows the power of hatred and its destructive ability. "Fire and Ice" by: Robert Frost Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. Every single person that visits Poem Analysis has helped contribute, so thank you for your support. The poetry, on the other hand, shows that when individuals are driven by an obsession, whether it is motivated by hatred or desire, disaster can occur. Its difficult to say what Eliot thought of Frost, and how familiar he was with his work, although it is certainly curious that, in the midst of the next war, in Little Gidding (1942), Eliot gives us the line This is the death of water and fire.. This is illustrated in the opening line of the poem Some say the world will end in fire / some say in ice To say that for destruction ice/Is also great / and would suffice the punishment awaiting people at the world is great like fire and chilling as ice as illustrated by the given words. In addition, he brings out the presence of conflicting views as to the punishment of sins and more so how the world will end. Comparing ice and hate to say that the slowness that ice takes ahold of things is the same as hate it takes alot to get someone to actually hate another person. Cold indifference and hate can be equally destructive. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. By continuing well assume youre on board with our cookie policy, Dont waste Your Time Searching For a Sample, Epic Fantasy A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Fr In the first two lines of the poem, Frost creates a distinct difference between fire and ice and claims that the world will end as a of one of these elements. It is not clear whether frost was of an ecologically-aware bent of mind, but his present readers certainly are. It's short. Some scholars claim this poem was inspired by Dante's Inferno, as "Fire and Ice" draws many interesting parallels to the work. The emotion he conveys seems to convey is remorse and disgust, as shown in line five, "I think I know enough of hate.". Instant downloads of all 1682 LitChart PDFs We specialize in teacher-ready lesson plans. His worldview. Though this trip occurred decades later than the composition of "Fire and Ice," it was no less about the potential end of the world. The poem expresses the idea that the world will end someday, either by Fire or by Ice. The author has witnessed the effects of fire or love when he states, From what I have tasted of desire/ I hold with those who favor fire (Serio, 39). It is very close-knit, a glaring example of the style of condensation. "Fire and Ice" is a popular poem by American poet Robert Frost (1874-1963). According to Frosts biographers, the poem was inspired by a passage in Dantes Inferno, Canto 32. A lot of thought most definitely went into the creation of this poem. Fire and Iceis written as a series of nine lines, alternating between three rhyming sounds ABA ABC BCB being the rhyming summary for Fire and Ice. Similarly, green and gold are the symbol of beauty and happiness. Thus, love in the presence of a lot of hate has little chance of survival as it is poisoned by the hate. 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