Fire And Ice By Robert Frost Essay

Fire, Ice, and Over Interpretation Frost's "Fire and Ice" is the epitome of compactness. The poem is deeply ingrained with inherent symbology and imagery. In just nine short lines, Frost perfectly captures two of the most thought of possibilities of how the world will end. On the surface it seems to just be about the possibilities of how the world will end in either fire or ice, and how Frost personally would prefer the world end in fire over ice. However under all of that, Frost lays bare to the reader the ugliness of man. Starting off by listing two major groups of people, those who think the world will end in fire, and those who say it will end by ice, he groups up what could be thought of as most of the human population; as most people
will come to the conclusion that the end of the world is an eventuality. Frost then goes on to say that "From what I've tasted from desire, I hold with those who favor fire." This not only shows that Frost groups himself in with the people who think the world will end in fire, but on top of that it shows that he believes that it will be man's desire that causes the world to end in fire. To add even more depth to those two lines, his choice of verbs is very specific, the use of tasted instead of seen or know, as he uses for ice, tells the reader that he has personally given into desire himself, adding a more human element to it. The use of the word hold instead of agree or side with is significant. Even though it is being used to describe his belief, the word is very specific, as once again it helps form imagery of humans in general. Tom Hansen, a writer for Explicator, also seems to agree that in the poem "Fire is directly equated with desire" but he goes on to say that it's much darker than that.
Hansen holds that Frost is not only equating fire and ice with desire and hatred, respectively, but that he also relates it to the human heart as a whole. He refers to the human heart as "smoldering" and "ice sheathed" believing that hatred and desire reside in everyone. (Hansen 29) Frost is not only simply referring to lust when he speaks of desire, but other desires. He alludes to desire for power, destruction, wealth, as well as fame. However Frost's poem is full of dualities as well: just as there are those who would see the world end in fire, there are those who would see it be coated in ice. Frost simply brushes off the first one by writing "if it had to perish twice" as if the first was nothing, and then continues onward. The next half of the poem equates the ending of the world in ice with hatred. The second half of the poem is more condensed, which makes it a bit more complex. However looking back to the first half, specifically to desire, and how he equates it with fire, it is easy to see how he also relates it to the burning of desire that hides within the hearts of humans. With this in mind, the second half becomes much clearer, not only is Frost referring to the end of the world, he refers to the cold deep seated hatred that can lie in the hearts of men, and that it is quite possible, that it
will be this hatred, that ends the world. With fire, Frost used a lot of descriptions that showed a more global human element to desire. However with ice, Frost removes that from this part of the poem, using words such as think, know, and say: instead of hold or taste. He goes on to write that for simply destroying things ice, hatred, is great, and it would suffice. The word suffice however is much more than a simple pun on the word ice, it shows that while it works, it may not be as preferred to the alternatives. Another writer for Explicator, John Serio seems to believe that Frost not only speaks of hearts of humans as a whole, but sin.
He tries to relate it to Dante's Inferno stating that the nine lines of the poem are symbolic of the nine circles of hell. He also tries to relate it to Inferno by pointing out that the larger portion of the poem is about fire, much like the upper circles of The Inferno, and that the smaller portion, the one about hatred and ice, is smaller, and structured lower in the poem, mirroring that of The Inferno.(Serio 218) While he does make some good points, for the majority of it, Serio seems to be trying to make connections with parts of the poem which are nothing more than coincidental. Serio tries to relate the frost's choice of verbs tasted, hold, and favor, with gluttony, adultery, and hoarding.(Serio 219) The mere thought that they are related is preposterous. Ciacco the Hog who was in the inferno was there for his gluttony, trying to relate him to Frost's choice of verb (tasted) is obscene. While the word tasted shows that Frost had previously indulged in desire, it did not become all consuming for him, as food had for Ciacco. The only thing these two words have in common is the fact both involve the mouth in some way or another. He tries to relate the word hold to the two adulterous lovers, Paolo and Francesca. While this particular one is less of a stretch, Frost is referring to his beliefs while Dante was referring to the way the held each
other, and the reason they were in The Inferno. (Serio 219) All of the other supposed connections that Serio require him to explain it as it goes on as they are more and more of a stretch each time. While he does have some valid points, mainly how Frost seems to view hatred and desire, most of his work seems to be a desperate attempt to relate the two, and while it works on a coincidental level, Dante's Inferno holds no sway on the symbolism of the poem.