CBSE Class 10 - English Literature - Poem - Fire and Ice (Summary and Questions and Answers)
Summary:
‘Fire and Ice’ is a short poem by Robert Frost. In this poem, the poet says that people knit two croaking notions about the destruction of the world. Some say it will end in fire while others say it will end in ice. According to the poet experience about human desire, he mentions that the ‘fire’ stands for desire, greed, avarice or lust. The more you try to satisfy them, the more they grow. There is no end to it. They spread rapidly like fire and engulf your whole life. One becomes selfish and sometimes cruel also. On the other hand, ‘ice’ according to the poet, stands for hatred, coldness and rigidity. One becomes insensitive and indifferent towards the feelings of others. The poet says that both fire and ice are growing with such a rapid speed that the world will soon perish either way, in fire or in ice. The poem, very artistically, underpins the philosophy that if we don’t control our emotions and let them rule us then they would bring the world to a catastrophic end.
Theme of the poem:
① Nothing in the world is eternal. Everything will be consumed either by fire of desire or by ice of hatred.
② Unbridled passions and desires can cause the end of the world.
③ Even hatred born out of cold and icy reasons is sufficient to cause destruction and end the world.
Q: What is the rhyming scheme of this poem?
Answer: Abaa-bcbcb
Q: Give examples of symbolism used in the poem.
Answer: Fire is a symbol of desire, greed, avarice, lust, conflict and fury.
Ice is a symbol of cruelty, intolerance, rigidity, insensitivity, coldness, indifference and hatred.
Q: What is a paradox (literary device). Give an example from the poem.
Answer: A paradox is a statement that contradicts itself.
“But if it had to perish twice” is an example of paradox because nothing can die or end twice.
Q: What is an enjambment? Give an example from the poem.
Answer: When the sentence continues to the next line without the use of any punctuation marks, signifying the continuity of thought.
Example- “From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favour fire.”
Q: There are many ideas about how the world will ‘end’. Do you think the world will end some day? Have you ever thought what would happen if the Sun gets so hot that it ‘bursts’ or grows colder and colder?
Answer: There are definitely many ideas about how the world will ‘end’. I do believe that the world will end some day as anything that has a beginning will have an end. Yes I feel the earth will end one day possibly by global warming, because it has caused the ice glaciers to melt. More and more land will submerge under water.
Q: For Frost, what do ‘fire’ and ‘ice’ stand for? Here are some ideas:
greed avarice cruelty lust
conflict fury intolerance rigidity
insensitivity coldness indifference hatred
Answer: For frost fire stands for: hatred, conflict, fury, avarice and greed.
For Frost ice stands for: lust, rigidity, intolerance, insensitivity, coldness, indifference.
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