Fire and Ice
Fire and Ice is a very short but remarkable poem of Robert Frost in which the poet’s philosophically temperament is to be found. The present short poem deals with the universe, but while dealing with this things the poet comes before us as a profound philosopher.
The very opening line of the poem prefers a meeting point thought the Indian mythology and Christian mythology of the west. Some people are of the opinion that this world would be destroyed because of water. In the Indian mythology there is an account of how king Manu was saved by the flood with the help lord Vishnu, who was in the guise of a fish. It describes how the world was destroyed because of water. The Christian myth of the west mentions that the world would be destroyed because of fire.
“ Some say the world would end in fire, some say in Ice”.
The poet Frost in the opening of the poem refers to these two myths and he believes that the world would be destroyed because of fire. The poet here uses the word “Fire” as a symbol to signifies the human desire. The poet wants to convey that human desires are just like flames of fire and there is no end to human desires. So that the world would be destroyed because of the fire of human desires is a major driving force which compels a person to go to any extend for the fulfillment of those desires.
The poet then says that Ice is also equally capable of destroying the world. The poet associates ice with cold blooded hatred which modern man has for a fellow human being. The days of physical war are gone, now it is replaced with cold blooded hatred with people are destroyed mentally. So the poet says that ice is also capable of destroying the world.
Conclusion :-
The present poem has a philosophical note in it as comments on human nature. The first aspects of human nature is burning desires and the second aspect is cold hatred. Both are heaving the capacity to destroy this world. This truth of modern life is highlighted in the present poem.
Themes
1) Choices:
"Fire and Ice" is set up as a choice between fire and ice. Which force will bring about the end of the world?
Some say the world will end in fire, (line 1)
The speaker functions like a judge evaluating two arguments. At the beginning of the poem, we do not yet know whether he will weigh in on the debate.
Some say in ice. (line 2)
Oh, it's on. "Fire" and "ice" are pretty arbitrary phenomena, as far as ways to end the world. Why only these two? What about being sucked into a giant black hole? Giant Godzilla attack? (OK, so you can probably file that under "fire.") The point is that Frost doesn't care about being strictly accurate; he is setting up two contrasting symbols.
I hold with (line 4)
The speaker uses a very legalistic phrase to let us know that he's planning to take sides in the argument. He sounds like he's competing at a high school debate tournament.
Based on the wisdom gained from his experience, the speaker decides that desire and the other forces of "fire" would probably bring about the destruction of the world first. "Fire," after all, is the realm of the passions, which are spontaneous and impulsive. But the cool deliberation of "ice" would be no less effective at bringing about destruction. The speaker makes a choice but avoids choosing one over the other.
2) Love:
From what I've tasted of desire (line 3)
For someone who seems so worldly-wise, we're surprised when the speaker claims he has only "tasted" desire. We think of desire as something that you devour in one giant bite, or, rather, as something that devours you. He is being modest here. He claims that even his limited exposure to this huge force of love is enough to get a sense of its power.
"Desire" is meant to be closely associated with love. Of course, love has many other sides: commitment, affection, and responsibility, to name a few. But desire is one of the most fundamental emotional response to being in love, and it's also the most potentially destructive. You can think of desire as a huge store of energy that can be channeled or directed in many different ways. "Fire and Ice" argues that, if channeled in the wrong way, desire could bring about the end of the world. There are other kinds of desire than erotic love – you can desire a cool sports car, for example – but romantic desire is probably the most powerful.
I hold with those who favor fire. (line 4)
The speaker shifts back to his "judge mode." He can analyze his own experiences with detachment.
3) Fear:
"Fire and Ice" is notable for the lack of fear on the part of the speaker, who responds to the prospect of the end of the world with few traces of emotion or worry.
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice. (lines 1-2)
The poem abstracts itself from any specific vision of the end of the world.
But if it had to perish twice, (line 5)
Really? The world has to end twice so we can test out the fire vs. ice hypothesis? In all seriousness, the speaker is dripping with irony here. He takes a terrifying topic and treats it like a rational thought experiment.
I think I know enough of hate (line 6)
Maybe the speaker's lack of fear has to do with his experience in matters of desire and hate. He has seen enough destruction in the world – or at least destructive emotions – to not be afraid of it.
There is something uncomfortable and even frightening about a guy who can analyze the pivotal moment in human history like a lawyer or judge weighing two arguments. Nonetheless, from his personal knowledge of desire and hate, we know the speaker is not just naïve. Maybe he knows "fire and ice" so well that he has moved beyond fear to resignation.
4) Hate:
Many readers of "Fire and Ice" – including us – think Frost was inspired partly by the image of malicious sinners trapped in ice at the bottom of Dante's Hell in his epic poem the Inferno.
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice (6-7)
This statement is tantalizing. What does the speaker know about hate? We think that these lines are an admission that almost all people have known hate at some point in their lives. He's an honest speaker.
Contrary to the fire-and-brimstone view that the worst of the worst are tortured by flames for all eternity, Dante locks these folks up in a frozen lake. Some kinds of hate can be hot, like the hate of a jealous lover, but usually the most malicious forms of hate are seen as cold, like icy, premeditated revenge.
Is also great
And would suffice. (lines 8-9)
By the end of the poem, we realize that the detachment that the speaker has displayed all along is an example of just the kind of cool reason that can be so destructive when coupled with hate. Scary. Unlike love, which shouts its name through the streets, hate works in the shadows.
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