Fire and Ice by Robert Frost | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. 'Fire and Ice' is a short poem written by Robert Frost that was first published in 1920 and then republished in his poetry collection titled New Hampshire in 1923. Frost won the 1924 Pulitzer prize for poetry for New Hampshire.

Fire and Ice talk about the ways the world may end. Frost wrote this time in 1920, just two years after the end of the First World War, when revolution, apocalypse, and social and political chaos were on many people’s minds. Aristotelian or classical elements of nature are water, fire, air, and earth. Frost mentions the first two in the title and the content of his poem. Though he mentions water as ice, that is the water is frost, which happened to be his surname.

In early 1920, Robert Frost met the astronomer Harlow Shapley and asked him how the world will end. Shapley answered that either the sun will swallow and engulf the earth, incinerating it, or the earth will escape and become a rouge planet, slowly freezing in deep space. Robert Frost published Fire and Ice the same year later.

In 1922, Russian scientist and mathematician Alexander Friedmann offered some genuine equations negating the idea that the universe is stable and proved that either the universe could either expand or contract. With enough matter, gravity could stop the universe's expansion and eventually reverse it. This reversal would result in the universe collapsing on itself, not too dissimilar to a black hole, death by fire, or the expansion of the universe will continue, leading it to Heat death, or death by freezing. In 1923, "Fire and Ice" was republished.

Robert Frost expressed these scientific ideas in human and social terms through this poem.

Structure of Fire and Ice :

The poem is composed of a single nine-line stanza irregularly written in iambic trimeter and iambic dimeter. There is no rhyming scheme though it appears as a mix of three rhyming schemes as each line ends either with an -ire, -ice, or -ate rhyme which offers a euphonic symmetry. Enjambment has been used in the 7^th line to a great effect. The poem is strongly metaphorical. The language is simple with a great effect of aphorism.

Summary of Fire and Ice :

Lines 1-4

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.

The poet distinguishes fire and ice as different entities. He mentions that the people are divided into two groups. While one group believes that the world will end in fire, the other says it will end in ice. Frost used ‘some’ to represent the two sides of the debate instead of using ‘I’ or an Individual. This offers a universal assertion to the two opposing ideas of the world ending in fire, or ice, instead of presenting it as an idea promoted by an individual.
In these two lines, the poet declares that the world is mortal that will definitely end in either fire or ice, though it is still debatable how it will end. Thus, the world will definitely end and there is no other way. Then the poet relates fire with the desires and emotions of individuals and claims that personally, he supports the group claiming the world will end in fire. First World War ended just a couple of years ago, and a war is often a result of irrational desires, greed, emotions, and interests.

Lines 5-9
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.

The narrator then suggests that the argument offered by the other group is also worth mentioning and he believes that if the world has to perish twice then even the ice has enough capability to bring the world to the end. The narrator equates ice with hatred and alienation. The speaker determines that either option would achieve its purpose sufficiently well. Within this metaphorical view of the two elements, the “world” can be recognized as a metaphor for a relationship. Too much fire and passion can quickly consume a relationship, while cold indifference and hate can be equally destructive. The narrator ultimately admits that the world could just as easily end in ice; fire and ice, it seems, are strikingly similar. Frost’s short 1920 poem ‘Fire and Ice' has been named by George R. R. Martin as part of the inspiration behind the title A Song of Ice and Fire.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!