10 English-Fire and Ice - Notes

Class X English
First Flight
Fire and Ice
Notes
INTRODUCTION
• ‘Fire and Ice’ is one of the most popular and symbolic poems of Robert Frost.
• In this poem, Frost refers to two predictions of how the world would end.
• It discusses the end of the world, as a result of fire or ice. The poet has likened the
elemental force of fire with the emotion of desire and of ice with hatred.
• The poem, very artistically, underpins the philosophy that if we don’t control our emotions
and let them rule us then they would bring the world to a catastrophic end.
• The speaker’s experience of desire and hatred has taught him that emotions like desire and
lust have power to bring the world to a fiery end. But he also knows that colder emotions
like hatred also have great destructive power of making the world freeze to its end.
THEME
• Nothing in the world is eternal. Everything will be consumed either by fire of desire or by
ice of hatred.
• Unbridled passions and desires can cause the end of the world.
• Even hatred born out of cold and icy reasons is sufficient to cause destruction and end the
world.
SUMMARY
• Robert Frost’s poem ‘Fire and Ice’ expresses the profound idea of two groups who have
their own possible explanation that the world would end in either of the two ways, by fire
or by ice.
• Both the components are compared with self-destructing human emotions: desire and
hatred.
• Both fire as well as ice are just as competent in bringing the world to a fateful end.
• The poet believes personally that ‘fiery desires’ are capable of bringing human beings on
the verge of destruction.
• Then he thinks that if the world were to end twice, then ‘icy hatred’ would be just as
capable of ruining humans, though slowly but steadily.
EXPLANATION
Stanza 1
Some say the world will end in fire
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favour fire.
The poet presents two opposite views about the end of the world. He discusses two
possibilities which might be the reasons for the destruction of the world. By fire, the poet
means uncontrolled and unending desires, greed, avarice, anger and lust. He finds these
human desires resembling fire in its nature. He has experienced desire and its effects. He
knows fire to be a powerfully destructive force and sides with those who believe that
humanity would be consumed by fire.
Stanza 2
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.
Though the poet believes that fire is the most likely way for humanity to destroy itself and
the world, he also feels that human beings’ capacity for destruction is so great that it could
bring about this destruction more than once. Here the poet presents ‘ice’ as another method
for ending it all, aligning it with hatred. It means that the end of the world could also be
brought about by hatred, coldness and indifference as these bring numbness to our mind
and make us insensitive and cruel. Thus, either method would be sufficient to bring about
the inevitable end of the world.
LITERARY DEVICES
• Rhyming scheme- Abaa-bcbcb

• Alliteration- Alliteration is the repetition of a consonant sound at the start of two or
more closely placed words.
Examples- ‘some say’; ‘world will’ and ‘favour fire’
• Imagery- Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses.
The poet has tried to create the image of fire as well as ice consuming the world,
thereby leading to its end.
• Symbolism-Fire is a symbol of desire, greed, avarice, lust, conflict and fury.
Ice is a symbol of cruelty, intolerance, rigidity, insensitivity, coldness, indifference
and hatred.
• Paradox- A paradox is a statement that contradicts itself. “But if it had to perish
twice” is an example of paradox because nothing can die or end twice.
• Enjambment- When the sentence continues to the next line without the use of any
punctuation marks, signifying the continuity of thought.
Example- “From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favour fire.”

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Class X English

• Rhyming scheme- Abaa-bcbcb

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