Fire and Ice

Written and published after World War I but not falling into the World War I poetry genre, “Fire and Ice” poses two apocalyptic scenarios. The speaker believes that fire will be the more likely cause of the apocalypse, and they use the analogy of taste and the concept of desire to create the first apocalyptic scenario. The poem’s speaker opens the poem dispassionately. This dispassion shows in the phrase “Some say,” repeated twice at the poem’s opening: “Some say the world will end in fire, / Some say in ice” (Lines 1-2). At this point, the speaker is not vested in either argument. The speaker’s investment grows as they begin drawing on personal experience to form an opinion: “From what I’ve tasted of desire / I hold with those who favor fire” (Lines 3-4). The poem and the speaker’s tone shift as the speaker contemplates yet another apocalyptic scenario: “But if it had to perish twice, and the statement relies on the word “if” (Line 5), a conditional. The speaker again relies on personal experience to formulate an opinion: “I think I know enough of hate” (Line 6). This statement stands independently, which affirms that the speaker’s experience is reliable. However, the speaker continues, explaining that their experience with hate is enough to determine that “for destruction ice” (Line 7) is an appropriate scenario. Conversely, the speaker shifts their tone, posing that ice would also be “great” (Line 8) as means of ending the world. The speaker maintains a bleak tone throughout the poem, though a sly humor emerges in the poem’s final lines: “Is also great / And would suffice” (Lines 8-9). This humor juxtaposes the dominant, foreboding tone, and creates an almost mocking one. The poem’s overall tone masks the seriousness of its questions.

Part of the poem’s power lies in its brevity. Composed of nine lines written in iambic tetrameter and iambic dimeter, the poem relies on an ABA / ABC / BCB rhyme scheme. Though scholars cite Canto 32 of Dante’s Inferno as an inspiration for the poem, “Fire and Ice” departs from Dante’s use of rigorous terza rima pattern (triplet rhymes, such as aba bcb cdc, etc.). Other scholars claim that the poem is a compression of the entirety of Dante’s Inferno. Scholar John N. Serio draws parallels between the nine-line structure of Frost’s poem and the nine rings of Hell in Dante’s. Frost’s poem also narrows considerably as it nears its conclusion. Scholars also point to the diction Frost used in his poem, citing parallels between Frost’s usage of “desire” and “hate” with Dante’s outlook on sins of passion and reason. Dante’s work relied sensuous and physical verbs to describe desire and recall the characters Dante met on his journey through Hell’s upper rings. Scholars often note the Aristotelian nature of “Fire and Ice.” This association stems from the speaker’s philosophy regarding desire and hatred. Because the poem relies on extremes and provides no middle ground for hatred and desire, the poem follows the Aristotelian tradition of condemning hatred as far worse than desire.

The poem relies on two of humankind’s darkest traits to overwhelm and overtake the audience. “Desire,” much like the fire to which it is compared, holds the potential to keep burning. Desire’s metaphoric burning, for example, can transform into an evil, malicious action like murder. The poem’s incorporation of the concept of hate in the line “I think I know enough of hate” (Line 6) can represent Frost’s time, the World War I era, during which jealousy, greed, and violence effectively destroyed Europe. The speaker compares hate with ice, and by using ice as the ultimate destruction, the speaker portrays how once hatred builds within a person or a society, that person or society becomes inhuman and unable to control emotions. Humans regulate warmth and cold to achieve and maintain comfort, but the poem poses warmth and cold as extremes, and the lack of “warmth” in humanity results in people and society’s performing evil deeds, often before one realizes what is happening. Ultimately, the speaker condemns hatred.

The speaker does not see hatred as an emotion or feeling. Instead, the speaker sees hatred as a consequence of thought:

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice (Lines 6-9).

The speaker places an emphasis not only on reason, but also on the misuse and perversion of it. The speaker also attempts to distance themselves from this misuse by using the phrase “I think I know” (Line 6). The use of this phrase combines with the poem’s first-person point-of-view to create a sense of isolation. The poem’s employment of a first-person speaker creates distinction, but it also establishes the deceptive, casual tone. The first-person “I” also creates an autobiographical undertone for readers.