Fire and Ice Flashcards
by Robert Frost — tap or click to flip
Flashcard Review
Flashcards: Fire and Ice
What are the two ways the speaker says the world could end?
Fire and ice -- the speaker considers both as possible agents of the world's destruction.
Which form of destruction does the speaker initially side with?
Fire. He says 'I hold with those who favor fire,' based on his personal experience with desire.
What conclusion does the speaker reach about ice?
That ice 'is also great / And would suffice' for destruction -- it is equally capable of ending the world.
What does the speaker mean by 'if it had to perish twice'?
He entertains a hypothetical second apocalypse, suggesting that if fire doesn't end the world, ice could finish the job.
What human emotion does fire represent in the poem?
Desire -- passionate, consuming wanting. The speaker links fire to desire through the line 'From what I've tasted of desire.'
What human emotion does ice represent?
Hate -- cold, calculated hostility. The speaker says he knows 'enough of hate' to recognize ice's destructive power.
How does the poem suggest that human emotions can be world-destroying forces?
By equating desire with fire and hate with ice, Frost implies that unchecked human passions and cruelties have apocalyptic potential.
What is the tone of the poem's final three lines?
Understated and darkly ironic. The casual phrasing 'is also great / And would suffice' treats global annihilation with chilling nonchalance.
What is the rhyme scheme of 'Fire and Ice'?
An interlocking pattern of ABA ABC BCB, weaving the 'fire' rhymes (-ire) and 'ice' rhymes (-ice) together throughout the poem.
What is the meter of the poem?
Predominantly iambic tetrameter, with some lines shortened to iambic dimeter, creating a compressed, epigrammatic feel.
How does Frost use understatement (litotes) in the poem?
The phrase 'would suffice' is a massive understatement -- describing the end of the world as merely 'sufficient' creates dark, dry irony.
What type of figurative language connects fire to desire and ice to hate?
Extended metaphor. Fire and ice are not just literal elements but sustained metaphors for destructive human emotions.
How does the poem's brevity serve its meaning?
The nine compact lines mirror the poem's theme of sufficiency -- Frost proves that a small, concentrated force (like the poem itself) can be devastatingly effective.
What is the effect of the poem opening with 'Some say'?
It frames the apocalypse as a casual debate or popular speculation, setting a conversational tone that contrasts sharply with the gravity of the subject.
What does 'From what I've tasted of desire' reveal about the speaker?
It reveals personal experience -- the speaker has felt powerful desire firsthand and uses that knowledge to judge fire's destructive capability.
Why is the word 'suffice' significant as the poem's final word?
It's deliberately anticlimactic -- ending a poem about apocalypse with such a mundane, understated word emphasizes the speaker's chilling detachment.
What is the significance of the line 'I think I know enough of hate'?
The hedging phrase 'I think I know enough' suggests bitter personal experience with hatred while maintaining the poem's conversational, measured tone.
When was 'Fire and Ice' first published?
In 1920, in Harper's Magazine, and then collected in Frost's 1923 volume New Hampshire.
What does 'perish' mean in the context of the poem?
To be destroyed completely or to cease to exist -- here referring to the total annihilation of the world.
What does 'favor' mean in the line 'I hold with those who favor fire'?
To prefer or support. The speaker is saying he agrees with the side that believes fire will end the world.
What astronomical theories may have inspired the poem's central question?
Early 20th-century scientific debates about whether Earth would end in heat (solar expansion) or cold (entropy and heat death of the universe).
How does 'Fire and Ice' connect to Dante's Inferno?
Dante placed sinners of passion in rings of fire and traitors (motivated by cold hatred) in a frozen lake -- the same fire/desire and ice/hate pairing Frost uses.