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A famous poem that explores the contrast between fire and ice as metaphors for desire and hate. Read the full text, listen to the audio, and find related poems and essays by Frost and other poets.
Guide two orbiting planets along a winding path without breaking their perfect equilibrium. Press on every beat of the music to move in a line and match the rhythm of the patterns.
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These first few lines describe the disagreement in general society on the topic of how the world ends. In a modern sense, “fire” and “ice” could well be stand-ins for “nuclear disaster” and “climate change.” Frost’s use of “fire” and “ice,” however, is largely a metaphoric decision that opens the poem up to different kinds of interpretation. Ice an...
Here the speaker provides their own opinion — they equate fire with desire, which is to suggest that it is equal with passions, with greed, with rage. Fire is being used as a metaphor for strong, consuming emotions such as desire. It is a fitting analogy— in a candle or a fireplace, fire shows a person the way. It is warmth and light. In the same w...
As a close opposite to the burning desires the speaker sees as being so dangerous, the ice is also a concern in their mind. They believe the world will burn, in one form or the other, and that would end it — but if it didn’t end, and the fire wasn’t enough, the remainder of the poem says, then they believe the ice could manage the feat as well. As ...
A reading of "Fire and Ice". " Fire and Ice " is a short poem by Robert Frost that discusses the end of the world, likening the elemental force of fire with the emotion of desire, and ice with hate. It was first published in December 1920 in Harper's Magazine [1] and was later published in Frost's 1923 Pulitzer Prize -winning book New Hampshire.
- 1920
- Harper's Magazine
- Desire, hate
Dec 1, 2019 · A poem about the world ending in fire or ice, depending on whether humans are more likely to love or hate each other. The poem explores the themes of desire, passion, and destruction through the allegory of fire and ice. Learn more about the poem's context, style, and meaning from this analysis by Dr Oliver Tearle.
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A poem by Robert Frost about the probability of two apocalyptic scenarios: fire or ice. The speaker compares fire and ice as symbols of desire, hate, and destruction, and suggests that fire is the more likely world-ender. The poem is inspired by Dante's Inferno and an astronomer's conversation.
A famous poem by Robert Frost about the contrast between fire and ice, the world and the individual, and the choices we make. The poem explores the themes of desire, hate, and death through the imagery of fire and ice. Read the full text, analysis, and biography of the author on the web page.