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Robert Frost · 1920
Fire and Ice
The full text of Robert Frost’s poem, what it means in plain words, and its best lines as pictures you can download and share.
- Poet
- Robert Frost
- Published
- 1920
- First line
- Some say the world will end in fire
Fire and Ice
Robert Frost
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Best lines
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Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
Meaning and summary
People argue about whether the world will end in fire or in ice. The speaker, having known desire, sides with fire, the burning passion of greed and longing. But if the world had to be destroyed twice, he knows enough about hate, cold and hard like ice, to say it would do the job just as well.
Fire stands for desire, ice for hatred; both, the poem quietly warns, can destroy us.
Form
Nine lines with only three rhymes (ABAABCBCB), mixing long and very short lines.
About the poet
Robert Frost (1874–1963) published it in Harper’s Magazine in December 1920, and in New Hampshire (1923).
Poems
More classic poems
Questions
About the poem
What do fire and ice stand for?
Fire stands for desire and passion, ice for hatred and coldness.
What is the message of Fire and Ice?
That both desire and hate are strong enough to destroy the world.
How long is the poem?
Only nine lines.