Fire and Ice

Tone: Contemplative and reflective, with an underlying sense of ambiguity and irony
[Contemplative – thoughtful, ambiguity – vagueness, uncertainty, doubt]
Everything that has a beginning or origin, does have an end. It is an eternal law of nature.
The existing world will come to an end, someday.
The poet presents two possibilities about the end of the world. It will be either due to ‘Fire
and ‘Ice’ he prefers the first as he believes the world will end in fire but the ice will not go
away.
According to the poet, ‘fire’ represents desire and ‘ice’ represents hatred. Desires like fire
spread rapidly and engulf one’s whole life. Similarly, ‘hatred’ fills the whole life with poison.
It makes one hard-hearted and cruel. The metaphors of ‘fire’ and ‘ice’ are used very
effectively to convey a definite message to the readers.
‘Fire’ here stands for our unbridled, uncontrolled and unchecked passions, desires, lust and
fury. Such passions are disastrous for human beings. Similarly, cold reasoning devoid of all
human warmth, love, sympathy will bring insensitivity, cruelty and rigidity. This hatred will
lead to the end of this world. ‘Ice’ stands for cruelty, intolerance, rigidity, insensitivity,
coldness, indifference and hatred.
What do the metaphors of ‘ice’ and ‘fire’ convey to the readers? Don’t they represent the
two extremes of human behaviour that can lead to the destruction and death of this
world? What is the message that the poet wants to give to the readers?
Answer
The poet has touched the universal issue of the ending of this existing world. He gives a
message as well as a warning to human beings. Man is swaying between two extremes —
‘fire’ and ‘ice’. Sometimes he is torn by his unbridled fire of passions, desires, lusts,
longings, and fury. This results in greed, avarice and passionate love. All such extremes can
lead to unavoidable conflicts and disasters. If not controlled, they can help in bringing an
early end of this world.
The other extreme behaviour of human beings is born out of cold and ‘icy’ reasoning. When
our cold reasoning becomes completely devoid of human warmth, feelings, love, and
sympathy, it breeds hatred. Hatred born out of cold indifference, insensitivity and rigidity
are strong enough to cause the end of this world. Humanity can redeem itself and possibly
save or delay the end of the world by giving up such extremes of thinking and behaviour.

Today’s world is conflict-ridden. People fight over various issues and there is no peace in
the world. Explain/Describe based on your reading of the poem ‘Fire’ and ‘Ice’.
Answer:
Hatred is a predominant issue in today’s world. The Neighbour hates his neighbor, brother
hates his brother. None is willing to forgive each other or tolerate each other. As a result of
the hatred, we live in a very fragmented world. If hatred continues to rule our lives and
world, nothing will remain intact. All our achievements will perish and the world will come
to an end. If we have to save the world we need to learn how to forget and forgive. For this,
 we need to have an enormous amount of love and compassion and be willing to tolerate
the differences and learn to get along with each other.
Dust of Snow:
Tone: Light and cheerful. It reflects the change that has already taken place in the poet’s
heart from sullen to joyful, after the shower of snowflakes upon him.

[Dismay to joyful]

'Dust of Snow' has as its main themes:

• Communication between nature and humans
• Nature healing and helping with negative human emotions
• The significance of small natural events

The poet was under a hemlock tree. The tree was covered with snow Suddenly a crow
shook the tree The dust of snow fell on the poet. It changed his mood. A ‘Dust of Snow”
means the fine particles of snow. This ‘Dust of Snow” changed the poet’s mood. The poet’s
mood changed from that of dismay to joy. He was holding the day in regret when this dust
of snow fell on him and this simple little thing brought him some joy.
Simple moment proves to be very significant and saves rest of the day of poet from being
wasted. Explain on the basis of the poem ‘Dust of Snow”.
Answer
‘Dust of Snow’ is a beautiful poem written by Robert Frost. This poem conveys that even a
simple moment has a large significance. The poet mentioned crow and hemlock tree in this
poem. Crow signifies his depressive and sorrowful mood and hemlock tree is a poisonous
tree. Both these signify that the poet was not in a good mood and so he describes the dark,
depressive and bitter side of nature to present his similar mood.
The poet says that once he was in a sad, depressive mood and was sitting under a hemlock
tree. A crow, sitting on the same tree, shook off the dust of snow, small particles of snow
that remained on the surface after the snowfall, on the poet. This simple action changed
the poet’s mood. He realised that he had just wasted a part of his day repenting and being
lost in sorrow. But the change in his mood made him realise that he should utilize the rest
of the day in some useful activity. His sorrow was washed away by the light shower of dust
of snow. His spirit was revived and he got ready to utilize the rest of the day
Poets have great power of imagination. Robert Frost also explains his imagination very
well and proves that sometimes the bad symbols change into a boon. Discuss.
Answer
It is well known that poets have great imaginative power. On the basis of this power, the
poet gives this world a new idea and pleasure. They do dip down into the ocean of
imagination and carry valuable things. Then they present before the world an exotic
moment. Robert Frost, in this poem, represents the crow and hemlock tree as inauspicious.
But when the crow shakes off the dust of snow from the hemlock tree, it falls on the poet.
It changes his dejected mood and saves the day from being spoilt.