Dayshja-Ashlee Rivera-Lopez Dr. Kelly English 1110.02 09 November 2014 Fire and Ice: The end of self through desire and hatred In Robert Frost’s “Fire and Ice” the perception of the world end becomes a debate between the speaker and his personal preference. In this poem he speaker in the poem is contemplating the way he would like to perish and he is debating between perishing in fire or ice. Through symbolism and comparison of the two powerful forces, it is implied that the emotion of both hatred and desire can be just as destructive of a force when associated with the elements fire and ice. His use of a first person speaker contributes to the figurative representation of the poem and the way that Frost uses destruction, in terms related …show more content…
The feeling of desire is a powerful force, but it can also be seen as a completely common yet irrational emotion. John Serio makes a point to say that Frost implies that desire is a “more common” thing to occur but he also goes on to say that it is a “lesser sin.” In aspects of desire as a sin, Serio makes the assertion that, while in comparison to Dante’s Inferno, “sins of reason are worse than sins of passion” which can correlate to the irrationality associated with this emotion (Serio). When one is passionate about something and has a longing or desire for it, they tend to go directly after what it is that they want. They are persistent. The feeling of desire can cause a person to act in an unreasonable manner and this occurs without thought. Desire is an emotion that does not happen knowingly. One can desire another object or person without consciously thinking about why they may be attracted to that specific item. These feelings happen in the heat of the moment, followed by unpredictable actions. Frost uses the element of fire as a representation of this emotion because both possess the quality to get out of control and move within its own force. Once that flame of desire is started it is almost impossible to extinguish it. If not put out in correctly it will just continue to spread and the natural pull that comes with the fire will cause one to get too close and eventually they will burn in the
Gates of Fire By: Steven Pressfield Subject Person- Spartan Warriors Place- Greece 480 B.C. Event- Battle of Thermoplae. Concept- Xeones recounts his life leading up to the battle. Object- Greek city-states consisting of 300 Spartan Warriors, 400 Thebans, 700 Thespian Volunteers And around 900 Helots Fought The Persian Empire at the pass of Thermopylae. Reason For Choosing Book Prior to reading this novel I had some knowledge of the Battle of Thermopylae. I watched the movie 300last year and it is based on the battle of Thermopylae and the lifestyle of the Spartan Warriors. Summary Gates of Fire tells the story of a young Greek boy, Xeones, who is the sole Hellenic survivor of the epic battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. After
Gates of Fire is a story about the Spartan way of life and their fight to protect their country. The story is told by a dying Spartan squire named Xeones, who was captured by the Persian army after the battle at Thermopylae. He is telling the story to the Persian king. The story took place around 480 B.C. Xeones began the story in a small town where he grew up called Astakos. He tells of how his town was destroyed and how he was taken in by the Spartans. Eventually he became a servant for a Spartan youth name Alexandros, who was the protégé of Dienekes. Xeones finally became a squire for the Spartan officer Dienekes.
Chasing Ice Questions A. Seeing Climate Change How is ‘seeing’ climate change in the film through the story of the glaciers different than learning about climate change through a book or a news story? Learning about climate change through a book or a news story can inaccurately present the science of climate change as uncertain and doubtful. Research by Stanford University show that science textbooks can portray climate change as a debate over different opinions rather than as a scientific fact.
January 1st, 2000. December 21st, 2012. September 23rd, 2017. Conspiracy theorists have continually tried warning the public of what they think will bring the world to its end and yet the human race lives on, despite the arguments saying the opposite. It takes the termination of an situation to finally be able to grow from the circumstances. In the poem, ‘Fire and Ice’ written by Robert Frost, the narrator discusses their own idea of how the world will end, with reference to the 1920 debate on the same topic, coming to the conclusion that it is all up to the eyes of the beholder and that death is merely inevitable. With the tone of the poem being ironic but primarily accepting, it is the total the opposite and if not juxtaposes one of Frost’s other poems, ‘Home burial’ which accents a more depressing and a grieving nature. This poem does not discuss the end of everyone’s world, but the end of a couple’s world in which they’re in a strained relationship after the loss of their child. Both poems share the same topic ‘the end of life’, much like the film ‘Me, Earl and the Dying Girl’ in which the protagonist, Greg Gaines, reconnects with a family friend who has just been diagnosed with leukaemia. The film discusses the inevitability of her end in a misleading way, promising the audience that she does to die, however, they realise that the promise was a lie as she dies in a hospital bed whilst watching a film Greg made her as a dying wish. All three texts and all three of their protagonists grasp the concept of the end through the loss of life.
From what I've tasted of desire I hold with those who favour fire.” (Fire and Ice by Robert Frost). Here is a more direct poem sending across Frost’s views on the ways of the world.
Rick Riordan easily demonstrated the growth and development of characters throughout the story names "The Throne of Fire". Bes, the egyptian dwarf god had not like Carter and Sadie Kane really much. After their experience with each other they developed a new relationship, for example all the times they have fought of the servants of the embodiment of chaos, Apophis. When they were gambling for moonlight with the moon god, Khonsu Bes had risked his "ren", secret name, or his life's experience for Carter and Sadie to be able to go one past the eighth house to stop Apophis from rising. One Bes's last words before he had given his "ren" to Khonsu were, "Sometimes you have to lose a piece to win a game."
Perhaps Frost is not implying that the earth was or will be destroyed by flood, even though it seems water is the destructive element. Frost could simply be creating a mood or atmosphere as a setting before the destruction to come. The "low and hairy" clouds create a gloomy feeling that Frost later describes as a "night of dark intent." The intense images and confusing tense can fool the reader into thinking that this event has already taken place. A close examination of the tense and words reveal that the event has not occurred, but the strong images create a feeling of certainty that the "end" is beginning. Frost brings this intensity to a climax with the line "someone had better be prepared for rage." Also, Frost speaks of an event much more powerful than flood with the last two lines, "There would be more than ocean-water broken / Before God's last Put out the Light was
As a result of facing constant loss, writing about emptiness allowed Frost the ability to express the solidarity he felt within himself. With the experiences that Frost had endured throughout his life, he is described as having “suffered more than the normal amount of tragedy”, however, he also “showed more than the usual amount of determination and courage” (Bailey).
Frost uses a multitude of poetic devices, including metaphors, irony, symbolism, hyperbole, and personification “Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. to vividly reinforce the desolation in the mind and the surroundings of the speaker. The uncertainty of the time in the end is a reflection of the uncertainty in the duration of isolation that the speaker would have to continue to endure. In conclusion, this poem displays the transition into night figuratively as the author experiences a broken heart. I have been one acquainted with the night.” (V,2 ). This is a beautiful and dark poem that describes the somber emotions that an individual endures after a separation. This poem can be relatable to anyone as we all have experienced some type of sorrow. Hopefully after experiencing something of this nature we can see the bright lights after being acquainted with the
Have you ever been treated unfairly? Have you ever been treated like you have no rights at all? Most people have, but few of them have been treated as badly as Victor and his friends were in “Ice Man” written by Elmore Leonard, just because they are Native Americans.
Natural Disasters of the Heart In the short poem “Fire and Ice”, Robert Frost says that the worldly feelings of desire and hatred will be the two factors that destroy our world. While comparing these two to fire and ice, Frost develops his theme using strong tones and symbolism. The speaker starts in the first two lines with a more separated tone by saying “Some say the world will end in fire, / Some say in ice” (Line 1-2).
This poem is typical of the poet’s style because Frost writes a lot about human nature and compares people to nature itself. He judges people and society as a whole. He also uses a lot of literary devices in his poems like metaphors. Frost describes nature in beautiful ways in his poems and “Fire and Ice” is just like the rest of them. It isn’t a departure of common themes.
In many writer's and poet’s creations , there is a debate of does their work have an affinity for either the light and benevolence element, or the dark and macabre aspect. Robert Frost is a poet that ignites numerous debates and arguments on this subject. A point that should be pointed out is why does Frost’s work spark these debates, and the answer is because of conflict and duality. Robert Frost’s work does not venture into one world, and lives out the rest of poem’s life . His work conflicts with itself in many conflicting and opposite aspects. Frost’s work are a world of duality consisting of light vs dark, life vs death, and truth vs fiction.
To analyze the poem better I took each word as if it symbolized a certain characteristic. In lines three and four, "From what I've tasted of desire I hold those who favor fire" it led me to believe that Frost was trying to use desire as a metaphor to fire. Desire, can usually be used a negative or a positive manner depending on the context it's use. In the poem I think that Frost is using it in a negative sense, because he is uses words like end, perish, and destruction in the poem. Negatively the word desire can mean the drive to win or receive something at any cost, the urge for power, which is very destructive. In lines six and nine "I think I know enough of hate to say that for destruction ice is also great and would suffice". Saying that ice is a metaphor to hate. The word hate is worldly known to have a negative condensation. Hate is also
The great debate of whether the world will end in a fiery ball of destruction or a frozen wasteland has baffled the minds of many people. A man named Robert Frost has written a poem called "Fire and Ice" that describes his thoughts on how he would prefer to leave this world. Upon reading this poem, the reader can derive two distinct meanings of fire and ice; one being of actual fire and ice destroying the world, and the other having symbols for the fire and ice, such as fire being desire or passion and ice being hatred and deceit. Although this poem is one of his shortest poems with only nine lines, it is also one of the most famous works that he has ever created.