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Fire and Ice




Fire and Ice

                                      By    Robert Frost
Time of Writing and Publishing : 1920
Back drop: Post World War I (1914-1918). Naturally the poet experienced the devastation and witnessed  death of millions.
 According to Frost’s biographers the poem was  Inspired by-
i. Frost's experience of WW-I 
ii.Dante’s Inferno (Please  check a pic of Dante's Hell from internet)
ii. Frost’s interview with an Astronomer named
    Harlow Shapley 

Frost was told by Harlow Shapely that the sun would explode to bring end to the world .Otherwise, Earth will move into space, gradually freezing.

Furthermore, having witnessed the greatest war in history, World War I, Frost, probably,  had a conviction that two apocalyptic elements are Fire and Ice in which both of them stand as metaphors.
Theme :- The most debated topic in the world ever since human race came into existence .
Eschatology :- A work that  speaks about the end of human race and earth. Hence, this poem is eschatological.
Tone of the poem:- Very casual . It is a striking contrast between the grave subject under discussion, that is , end of the world and the conversational casual tone. 
The first two lines of the poem introduce two natural elements of apocalypse-Fire and ice. They may refer to some cosmic event leading to burning of the earth or the long predicted ice age in future.
Fire associates itself with noise, whimper, cry  whereas Ice engulfs everything in silence.  
The poet ushers in the actual meaning of ‘fire’ in the 3rd and the 4th line. Here the narrator reveals that human desire, lust and greed are as disastrous  as fire.
Refer to World War –I , when greed for hegemony on the world  resulted in almost complete devastation of civilisation.
In the 3rd line , the poet said
‘what I’ve tasted of desire’ , here tasted stands for his experience in the World War –I .
 In the 4th line- ‘I hold’ means I support .
Look at ‘Favour fire’ which stands for alliteration
The rhyming scheme in 1st stanza  is abaa. 
The 2nd  stanza is indicative of the fact that if there is a second option  other than fire, then it would be ice, which metaphorically means ‘hatred’.
The rhyming scheme is ababa.
Frost acknowledged that human hatred is equally devastating as Fire. Hatred grows silently and exposes itself when it is  completely matured.
    Literary devices
Anaphora:- The first two lines have Anaphora-’Some says’. It is figure of speech where one uses repetition of
words in successive clauses, phrases or sentences.
Metaphor:- Direct comparison- Fire for Desire  And  Ice for hatred
Alliteration- Repetition of same consonants in successive words.
Enjambment:- Breaking of a sentence in the following lines with an intention to maintain rhyme.
Second stanza 2nd line is cut after ‘Hate’ and 4th line after ‘Great’ to maintain rhyme. 
Physical structure.
The physical appearance of the poem is identical with Dante’s ‘Inferno’  which is conical in shape and the last one is Ice. Look at the shape of the poem which loosely looks conical. 
The poet might have ironically chosen the nonchalant tone to criticise the attitude of human race for not caring about  its own inevitable  doom. 

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