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Fire and Ice

by Robert Frost

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.

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.

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1. TITLE
-The title "Fire and Ice" altered my
expectations about the poem because I knew it
had a deeper significance and could be
interpreted in a variety of ways. And the
title does not give any specific time frame,
setting, or action.

2. SPEAKER
-In the poem, the speaker in "Fire and Ice" is
given no name, age, or gender, but the speaker's
tone nevertheless is an important aspect of the
poem. An adult speaker, probably Robert Frost,
addresses an adult or maybe a younger audience,
basically anyone who reads this poem. I think the
speaker seems to be attached to what he said.
3. MODE AND TONE
- The speaker is giving the reader his or her
personal opinion on how the world will end. The
speaker's conversational and casual tone
contrasts with the severity of the subject
matter. The phrases "some say," "I hold with,"
all have a casual tone to them. The speaker
appears to be an ordinary person—not in terms of
belonging to any particular demographic, but in
terms of how he or she views "desire" and "hate."
The speaker has had some desire and witnessed
some hatred, as do most individuals throughout
their lives. Perhaps the poem is intended to
convey a general attitude toward the end of the
world, implying that everyone has the ability to
contribute to the apocalypse's advent. Indeed,
this implies that the world's end will be a
communal failure.
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4. PARAPHRASE

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.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And as I notice, the figurative language
that they use is a figure of resemblance
and a figure of sound.
Figures of resemblance
- Frost used the metaphor of fire and ice
being compared to hate and desire to
explain what he thought would cause the
end of the world. He thinks the world
will end due to desire because of his
personal experience with it. He uses
these metaphors to show how destructive
these two human experiences are.

And would suffice. - Personification, Frost personifies ice

as destructive because he wants his
reader to consider the dangers in our
relationships with both ice and fire.
They can be deathly, as can desire and
hate
Fire and Ice is to humanity
composed of nine lines
that alternate between three rhyming
sounds; theFigures
rhymingofsynopsis
sound for Fire
and Ice is -ABA
In ABC
the BCB.
first and second lines, Frost
The first stage is the first to
uses repetition andrepet
second"some say" to
show that humans are
lines, which establish the antithesisdivided in their
understanding
between fire of the
and ice and also set pains
the of the
poem up as world. He conjecture—a
a kind of does this repetition
rough to
prediction bring
for future events.
the tone back to casual despite
the weight of the issue. It’s a
In the third and fourth lines, Frost
resigned
expresses his tone,
own belief accepting
that fire is fate. 
the more likely cause of the world's
end. - In the fourth line, Frost uses
alliteration as a repetition of consonant
Fifth untilsounds, such explain
ninth they as the sound
that, of/f/in "I hold
though the with those
speaker who favor
(Frost) sidesfire".
with
fire, ice (hate) would be equally
"great." In- fact,
In thehumanity
first and second has
probably lines, Frost
uses anaphora as a repetition
enough capacity for destruction to end of a word
or expression in
the world multiple times over. the poem, such as "Some
say the world will end in fire, some say
in ice."
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5. THEME
I got this theme based on the title and some
lines of the poem. Now the poet discusses the
destructive features of human emotions. He uses
the symbol of fire and ice to show that desires
and hatred contribute to making the world stand
on the verge of chaos and destruction. So some
people say that the world will end in fire. The
poet equates fire with desire. He says that he
has tasted the evil effects of desire. Desire has
the same effect as fire has. It generates evil
and violence in the world. The fire of desire can
cause total destruction on the earth. Then the
poet says that hate can be another weapon of
destruction. He has found so much hate in mankind
that it would suffice for the end of the world.
The poet says that if the world were to perish
twice, hatred or ice could be as powerful weapons
of destruction as fire or desire could be. Hatred
makes a man dry emotionally. He becomes cold
spiritually. He becomes barren mentally. He loses
the power to judge rightly. So, the poet equates
hatred with ice. Both hatred and ice have a
freezing effect. One kills a man physically, and
the other spiritually.