Fire and Ice, by Robert Frost Poetry analysis:

 

Desire and hate, believed by some to be the two largest faults of the human race. Robert Frost explains these two ideas in only nine lines. “Fire and Ice” is a perfect example of juxtaposition between fire and ice, or, desire and hate. Both are believed to destroy a person if they succumb to its hold.
Frost begins with saying that some believe the world will end in fire, some believe ice. In other words, some believe that those who desire too much will perish; others believe that hating so much as to put their whole self into it will have the same result. Frost did not mean that having either of these faults meant physical death, more of a death of the spirit. Those who desire things such as power or wealth soon think of nothing else and lose all touch with everything around them; those who hate never enjoy life and lose touch with what truly matters in life. With either one, the person who suffers from it exists, but does not live.
Frost then gives his opinion on fire, or desire. He states that he agrees with those who believe that fire will destroy you, for he has experienced this “burning desire” and knows how difficult it is to break free from your wants and take another path. Frost then continues by stating that ice, or hate, is just as destructive, for he has experienced that also. He states that they are of equal ability to destroy a man’s life, give it no meaning. To desire one thing, such as wealth, and to hate so much as to never be happy with everything will both destroy a man’s reason for living equally. So, no matter which fault the person has they will have the same result so Frost, in the end, agrees with both opinions on which will “end the world.”
Throughout the poem Frost also uses a rhyming scheme to separate the two ideas, every word coinciding with fire rhymes, “fire” and “desire,” and everything that coincides with ice rhymes also, “ice,” “twice,” “hate,” and “great.” It helps to emphasize the difference between the two, showing that, although they’re completely different, they have the same affect.  His last line, “and would suffice,” has no rhyme, showing that neither ice nor fire is more potent than the other in destroying a person, both of them will “suffice.”

In Robert Frost’s Fire and Ice, Robert Frost uses symbolism, rhyming, enjambment, and line length to illustrate his thoughts concerning the dominance of desire versus hate.
Frost utilizes symbols within each line to convey his musing on the opposing ideas of desire versus hate. Desire is symbolized by fire whereas hate is symbolized by ice. He tells the reader that “some say the world will end in fire; some say in ice” (1). While people may assume this to describe an apocalypse, he however could also be referring to how the world will end for each person. Frost is reflects upon two possible fates, being consumed by a fiery desire or being isolated by an icy hate. He uses the two extremes fire and ice to symbolize the two major faults that exist in humans. Some people desire and covet wealth to such an extent that they waste their life away chasing these dreams. Frost’s other extreme is that some people are in such a depressed and angry state, that they become hateful. Such hate isolates them from society which creates a wasted and purposeless existence. In contrast to the frequent portrayal of hate as fire, Frost describes hate as icy. Frost’s unexpected symbolism suggests the existence of two different kinds of hatred. Rather than an angry bloodlust hate, Frost describes another kind of hate, which causes isolation and depression. In his poem, Frost shows that both fates are equally powerful. Since the speaker claims both to “hold with those who favor fire” (4), yet also to “know that for destruction ice” (7); “would suffice” (9). The speaker has experienced the fanatic burning within that comes with a great yearning and knows that to break free from the spell of greed is no easy thing. However, the speaker clearly has also experienced the icy freeze within caused by a dark hatred. Both possible fates are equally potent and though they are completely different, similar to fire and ice, the results they render are the same. Frost utilizes many symbols to convey his thoughts.
Frost also uses a specific rhyme scheme to show the significance between his two ideas. He clearly rhymes all the lines depicting fire and all lines concerning ice. He does this to clearly separate the two ideas. “Fire” (1), “desire” (3), and “fire” (4) all rhyme with each of those lines representing desire. “Ice” (2), “twice” (5), “hate” (6) and “great” (8) rhyme and all represent hate. The rhyme scheme shows the significance of these two ideas. Both ideas are significant yet clearly different. Frost uses repeated rhyming to emphasize the importance of one possible fate, desire. Frost also uses repeated rhyming to suggest the importance of hate, yet the two themes don’t rhyme with each other. Rather than a coincidence, Frost did this to enforce that there are two possible fates not one.
Frost applies enjambment to demonstrate the importance of certain ideas.


There are two very powerful and destructive forces in the world, fire and ice, both contrasting in nature, both being elemental. Of Fire, in Frost's poem, the representation is presumed to be desire. Desire can be many things. It can be pure love. It can be lust - the love of love. It can be greed- the love of money. It can even be pride - the love of self. Many of us would rather die by fire, or by desire. Romeo and Juliet died as a result of desire. It is a passion that can drive a person to the brink of insanity- to madly love someone. To die in the throws of passion is a death many would prefer. Some people die by fire of war, those who vehemently love their countries. Some men and women will die protecting the security of our citizens, our beloved firemen and women, police officers and the like. I, as a mother, would gladly die to spare any of my children; to spare them pain or to spare them death. And death of the world, by the metaphorical means of fire, is a seemingly just cause. The question might be - who's passion are we dying for?
By ice he depicts hatred. The coldness of ice being the coldness of heart. But hatred can easily be represented by fire as well. Has one never passionately' hated something or someone? Anger and hatred generally go hand in hand. Does anger not boil the blood? It is apathy that is cold. But we could very well end the world as a result of our own apathy- our own coldness. As much as would like to debate, most of us are apathetic to the needs of the Mother Earth - our environment. Who would be willing to give up cars completely if it meant saving the world? We would rather live in denial, and blame global warming on something else, or claim that we are coming up with a more environmentally friendly means of transportation, than let go of our life of convenience.
This poem could be looked at many different ways. He could have been talking about the apocalypse in the Biblical sense - death by fire and brimstone, or our punishments for all our earthly desires'. He could have been talking about the coldness of science, or the coldness of humans losing their humanity and letting go of God. Or, in fire, he could have been talking about the end of a relationship, by suicide, by murder...by dying together for something even greater.
But I wonder, is it possible that it really meant nothing at all? So many assume that poets write poetry to bring life into a different perspective. Or to bring it into a different light for us to pick out analyze, dissect, and find meaning. But it could very well be that he was in the middle of a rough winter, fiddling with matches with frozen fingers, trying to light his fireplace.