The Nature poetry of Robert Frost - Research Proposal Example

Robert Frost, in his poem, “Fire and Ice” mentions two opposite and contradictory imageries, fire and ice, both of which indicate the end of the world and therefore the end of life. The poem talks about the end of the world and the poet wonders what the source of this end could be. The two opening lines of the poem sum up the thoughts of the poem – “Some say the world will end in fire/Some say in ice” (Frost) Just like fire and ice are opposite elements in terms of the impact and sensation they produce, so are the consequences in the two cases.

While fire signifies desire, lust and excessive passion, which might lead to destruction, ice signifies coldness, hatred and rigidity. While fire moves fast and spread in an instant, ice is slow and steady in its action. Both can destroy life and livelihood. Thinking from a literal perspective, fire might strike a forest and destroy the habitation. Also, ice can cover an entire area and thus destroy all forms of life that reside there. Passion, like fire can spread fast and works with high speed such that it may consume a person and destroy quickly.

Instance of love and obsession leading to destruction and death of an individual are quite common. The concept of ice can be referred to the occurrence of the cold war. Ice signifies less or no expression and rigidity. This is even more dangerous because this coldness can eat into a person’s life and destroy slowly but steadily just like it worked during the cold war. While the Soviet block has its beliefs embedded in communism, the NATO nations had faith in capitalism and individuality. Thus Europe did not remain an integrated whole anymore.

Just like ice might freeze into a crack and widen the fissure, thus leading to a split, Europe also met similar fate and became fragmented. (Davidson) If we think about fire, we find it at work during the early years of work and also