First Flight – Poetry – Fire and Ice – Notes

About the Poet:

Robert Frost was an American poet. He was born in San Francisco
on March26, 1874, to parents William Prescott Frost Jr. and Isabelle
Moodie. His parents had relocated from Pennsylvania shortly after marrying.
Later, when Frost was 11 years old, his father died of tuberculosis, and
the family (consisting of his mother, two-year-younger sister, Jeanie, and
himself) moved to Lawrence, Massachusetts. During his high school years in
Lawrence, he grew interested in reading and composing poetry, and in 1892, he
enrolled at Dartmouth Academic in Hanover, New Hampshire, and then
at Harvard University in Boston.
Frost was known for his accurate descriptions of rural life and grasp of
American colloquial speech. He frequently wrote about rural settings in early
twentieth-century New England, utilising them to explore difficult social and
philosophical subjects. He is also the only poet to have received four Pulitzer
Prizes for Poetry and was frequently honoured during his lifetime. He
was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature 31 times, received
the Congressional Gold Medal in 1960, was named Poet Laureate of
Vermont on July 22, 1961, and won the Bollingen Prize in 1963.
Glossary:
Word Meaning

Desire a strong feeling of wanting to have something

Favour support, approval

Perish Die

Suffice be sufficient

Justification of Title:
Fire represents burning passion whereas ice is also sufficiently destructive to
destroy the world as ice depicts cold behaviour. According to the poet, hate and
passion are both extremely destructive forces. This poem mainly talks about
Fire and Ice, so the title is apt for the themes discussed by the poet in the poem.
Theme/Message:
The theme of the poem Fire and Ice is that the world will be destroyed some
day and the poet is of the views that there will be two reasons for its destruction:
fire and ice. Fire symbolises greed and ice symbolise coldness in relation and
hate.
The poet says that the world is bound to destroy on day. However, it will be
destroyed by fire i.e. greed which makes a person do all the inhumane blunders.
However, if the world would have to perish twice, then coldness i.e. hate would
be responsible for its destruction. So, greed and hate are the greatest enemies of
humanity, and the poet suggests us to never adopt them.
Summary:
Fire and Ice’ is a short poem by Robert Frost. In this poem, the poet refers to
two predictions of how the world will end. Some say it will end in fire while
others say it will end in ice. According to the poet ‘fire’ stands for desire, greed,
avarice or lust. The more you try to satisfy them, the more they grow. There is
no end to it. They spread rapidly like fire and engulf your whole life. One
becomes selfish and sometimes cruel also. On the other hand, ‘ice’ according to
the poet, stands for hatred, coldness and rigidity. One becomes insensitive and
indifferent towards the feelings of others. The poet says that both fire and ice
are growing with such a rapid speed that the world would soon perish either
way, in fire or in ice.
Poetic Devices:
Stanza 1:
i. Assonance- Prominent sound of a single vowel throughout the sentence.
Example- The prominent sound of 'o' in "I hold with those who favour fire."
ii. Alliteration- It is the repetition of a letter at the start of closely placed words.
Example- 1. Letter 'f' in "favour fire"
2. Letter 'w' in "world will"
iii. Imagery- It is used to make readers perceive things that involve their senses.
Throughout the stanza we imagine things because of the strong visual elements.
The speaker also used words like - some say; tasted desire, which again use our
senses.
iv. Anaphora- It is the repetition of a word at the start of two or more
consecutive lines.
Example - "Some say" is repeated at the beginning of lines 1 and 2.
v. Personification- It means to give human qualities to inanimate objects. In
this poem, the poet portrays that fire is capable of destruction. Thus, the poet is
personifying fire by giving it power to destroy anything and everything.
vi. Enjambment- It is defined as a clause that does not come to an end at a line
break and keeps moving over to the next line.
Example- From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire
vii. Antithesis - The poet has used two words opposite in meaning in the stanza
- fire and ice.
viii. Symbolism -
1. The Word fire has been used as a symbol of desire.
2. The phrase end of the word is here a symbol for self-destruction of humans.
The poet mentions that fire is enough for the world to end that simply means
that desire is enough for self destruction of a human.
ix. Metaphor - The poet compares fire with desire.
Stanza 2:
i. Imagery- It is used to make readers perceive things that involve their senses.
Throughout the stanza we imagine things because of the strong visual elements.
Example- To say that for destruction ice Is also great, here the poet has used the
word say, which again involves our sense of speaking.
ii. Personification- It means to give human qualities to inanimate objects. In
this poem, the poet portrays that ice is capable of destruction. Thus, the poet is
personifying ice by giving it power to destroy anything and everything.
iii. Symbolism - The word "ice" has been used as a symbol of hatred.
iv. Metaphor - The poet compares ice with hatred.
NCERT Solutions:
Thinking about the Poem
(Page 15)
Question 1.
There are many ideas about how the world will ‘end’. Do you think the
world will end some day? Have you ever thought what would happen if the
Sun gets so hot that it ‘bursts’ or grows colder and colder?
Answer:
There are definitely many ideas about how the world will ‘end’. I do believe
that the world will end some day as anything that has a beginning will have an
end. This stands true for the world also, if the Sun got so hot that it burst, the
whole of the Earth would perish immediately as no part of the Earth can bear
the heat of that intensity. But if the Sun grew colder and colder, everything will
come to an end as without sunlight, life will end.
Question 2.
For Frost, what do ‘fire’ and ‘ice’ stand for? Here are some ideas
Answer:
‘Fire’ stands for greed, avarice, lust, conflict and fury. ‘Ice’ stands for cruelty,
intolerance, rigidity, insensitivity, coldness, indifference and hatred.
Question 3.
What is the rhyme scheme of the poem? How does it help in bringing out
the contrasting ideas in the poem?
Answer:
The rhyme scheme of the poem is- a b a a b c b c b
This rhyme scheme helps in bringing out the contrasting ideas of ‘fire’ and ‘ice’
presented in the poem. The poet mentions that both fire and ice are probable
ends of this world. He talks about how fire represents desire and can therefore
be a cause of the end of the world. Frost also mentions ice in between to
symbolise that the coldness and indifference towards one another will be
enough to end the world. In the second stanza, he says that he knows of enough
hate in the world to be sure that even destruction through ice . would be
sufficient to bring about the end of the world.
Extra Questions:
Question 1.
What are two different views about the end of the world in the poem ‘Fire
and Ice’?
Answer:
The two different views of people regarding the end of the world are—Fire and
Ice i.e., by desire and hatred.
Question 2.
What does the poet think about the end of the world?
Answer:
The poet thinks about the end of the world that people think fire is the main
cause of destruction. But by the end of the poem he says that both Fire and Ice
are equally destructive. Both have the same power of causing destruction.
Question 3.
What do ‘Fire’ and ‘Ice’ symbolize in the poem ‘Fire’ and ‘Ice’?
Answer:
‘Fire’ and ‘Ice’ are symbolized here. ‘Fire’ stands for conflict, fury, intolerance,
insensitivity while ‘Ice stands for greed, avarice, lust, rigidity, coldness,
indifference, hatred, etc.
Question 4.
How can fire destroy the world?
Answer:‘
Fire’ symbolizes passion or hatred. It will lead to conflicts and ultimately result
in the destruction of the world. Fire represents desire that is fervent, consuming,
always wanting more. Ice represents hatred that is hard and cold.
Question 5.
What message does the poet wish to convey through the poem ‘Fire and
‘Ice’?
OR
What is the central idea of the poem ‘Fire and ‘Ice’?
Answer:
The poet presents two possibilities about the end of the world. It will be either
due to ‘Fire and ‘Ice’ he prefers the first as he believes the world will end in fire
but the ice will not go away.
Question 6.
Today’s world is conflict ridden. People fight over various issues and there
is no peace in the world. Explain/Describe based on your reading of the
poem ‘Fire’ and ‘Ice’.
Answer:
Hatred is a predominant issue in today’s world. Neighbour hates his neighbour,
brother hates his brother. None is willing to forgive each other or tolerate each
other. As a result of the hatred we live in a very fragmented world. If hatred
continues to rule our lives and world, nothing will remain intact. All our
achievements will perish and the world will come to an end. If we have to save
the world we need to learn how to forget and forgive. For this we need to have
enormous amount of love and compassion and be willing to tolerate the
differences and learn to get along with each other.
Question 7.
What does ‘Fire’ and ‘Ice’ stand for and what is the general opinion
regarding the world?
Answer:
Fire’ stands for fury, desire, lust, anger, avarice, cruelty, greed. Ice is symbolic
of hatred, coldness,
rigidity, insensitivity and intolerance. The general opinion regarding the world
is that the world will end in fire and some say in ice. Both the reasons contrast
each other and one is equally opposite to each other. People who favour fire
believe that it will be the heat and passion which will end the world. On the
other side some people think that it will be the ice which will freeze the world.
Question 8.
There are many ideas about how the world will ‘end’. Do you think the
world will end some day? Have you ever thought what would happen if the
sun got so hot that it ‘burst’ or grew colder and colder?
Answer:
There are many ideas about how the world will end. Robert Frost points out two
destructive forces—Fire and Ice, they may cause an end to the world. Yes,
everything is subjected to an end. The world would come to an end someday.
The cause may be a war or natural calamity. The sun is the main source of
energy. It is life on the earth. If the sun got so hot that it “burst’ or grew colder
and colder the life on the earth would come to an end.
Question 9.
For Frost, what do ‘fire’ and ‘ice’ stand for? Here are some ideas:
Answer:
Robert Frost compares and contrasts two destructive forces Fire and Ice. For
him ‘Fire’ stands for desire, greed, lust, intolerance conflict etc. These vices
consume and destroy the fabric of society. ‘Ice stands for hatred, rigidity,
insensitivity, coldness and indifference. Hate is something that causes people to
be rigid, unmoving and cold.
Question 10.
What is the rhyme scheme of the poem? How does it help in bringing out
the contrasting ideas in the poem?
Answer:
The rhyme scheme of the poem is—ab ab—be—be.
The rhyme scheme brings out the contrasting ideas and separates them
beautifully.
fire – desire
hate – great
twice – ice
ice – suffice