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Fire And Ice Essay

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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

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