“Fire and Ice” by Robert Frost

Stefanie Clinton

TITLE• Fire is usually associated with passion,

anger, evil, etc.• Ice is usually associated with “cold”

emotions, such as bitterness, indifference, harshness, etc.• Fire and ice are complete opposites so

a juxtaposition of the two could indicate a collision of two forces• Robert Frost has written another poem

about two opposing forces (“The Road Not Taken”) so this could be a common theme for him.

PARAPHRASE• Our society has two opposing

views on what will consume our world, whether it be “fire” or “ice”. The speaker has experienced the fiery side and favors it more than the ice. However, if he reconsidered the two, he would say that he is more knowledgeable of the ice to find content in it as well.

CONNOTATION• The author/speaker is discussing

the enticing dangers of our world through an analogy to nature’s weapons of fire and ice.• Symbolism: fire and ice• Fire symbolizes greed• Frost associates fire with “desire,”

and an overabundance of desires often leads to greed and glutton. At first, he prefers this method of destruction as opposed to “ice,” which gives it, not necessarily a positive connotation, but a less negative one.

CONNOTATION• Ice symbolizes hate (or something

similar, such as war)• Frost associates ice with “hate,”

claiming that he “know[s] enough of hate to say that for destruction of ice is also great”.• “Great” is used in a negative

context (such as in the Great Depression, the Great War, the Great Flood, etc.)

ATTITUDE• The speaker’s attitude is sullen as

he spends no time over-exaggerating the methods of destruction or over-dramatically presenting the two. He is very simplistic with his discussion of them as presented in the author’s structure of the poem.• The poem is structured in simple

sentences.• “Some say the world will end in fire,

some say in ice.”

SHIFTS• The shift occurs when the speaker

has a shift in thought.• Sure that he favors fire

reconsidering ice• “I hold with those who favor fire.

But if I had to perish twice.....ice is also great and would suffice.”• Emphasizes how easily we as a

society are impacted by temptations such as desire and hate.

TITLE• The title symbolizes the two

greater methods of destruction in our society.

THEME• Desire• Hate• Destruction• Our society has two dangers within

itself – greed and hatred – and we tend to make ourselves easily susceptible to both.

RELATED SONG & PHOTOShttps://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIKOygDfUfk

“Sick Little Games” – All Time Low• Discusses the corruption of greed

and fame

“MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR”https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=63b4O_2HCYM

“AXE PEACE | Make Love, Not War” Commercial