The Explication Of Fire And Ice

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Thomas C Doherty 1255-ENG 102 2/26/2009 Formal Essay #2 The Explication of Fire and Ice In the poem "Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost, Frost tells us that he believes the world will end by fire before ice. For Frost, fire represents desire in society and ice represents hate. What Frost is saying is he believes desire, greed and hate all have a great chance at destroying society. The words in the poem are coming directly from the mouth of Frost. There is no persona or character present that he is speaking through. Frost gets his views accross in this poem so matter of factly. It is as though Frost is making a statement or touching on a subject. Fire and Ice was written in 1923. The concerns that Robert Frost had for the world back then, as expressed in "Fire and Ice", are still relevant in modern times. Robert Fost's Fire and Ice theory is still held constant. The title and punctuation Frost uses for "Fire and Ice" are very simple. Fire and ice are the main topics of the poem and the puntuation is normal. There is one long sentence that takes up 5 lines (3 without punctuation), but the punctuation is still normal. Robert Frost keeps "Fire and Ice" short and sweet. In 51 words, Frost tells the reader fire will be our demise before ice. At first, Frost is fixed on where he stands on the subject. Then, Frost shows respect for ice which implies that he believes ice can be just as devastating. One thing about "Fire and Ice" that really stands out is the balance. Frost uses only 9 lines, but his point is well made and well balanced. It is a very symmetrical poem. The second and second to last lines are only four syllables while the rest of the lines average about 7 syllables. This helps the reader identify the line, "But if it had to perish twice," as the center point of the poem. Then, the reader realizes that the two topics, fire

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