Journal #22
1/22/03
Topic: What is Fire and Ice about?
Fire
and Ice
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.
Frost’s
poem Fire and Ice is about the two
emotions in the world that are the most destructive: desire and hate. In the
poem, desire is the equivalent of fire and hate is portrayed by ice. Desire is
found in just about every human on Earth. In many cases it burns so hotly
within people that it threatens to explode and consume the world as a whole.
Ambition, if it is misdirected, can cause no end of trouble and destruction. If
desire is the equivalent of a nuclear war that destroys the world in an
instant, hate is the hole in the ozone layer that slowly but surely kills the
world. Frost portrays hate as the executioner of choice if the world had to die
twice. Desire will be satisfied time and time again, only to return. Hate is
omnipresent and can never be fulfilled in the way that desire can.
Writer’s Reflection:
Once again, reflection and contemplation are the
reasons that I like this journal. The only meaning of this journal was to
briefly analyze the poem. I enjoy thinking about "what if’s" and
contemplating "action, reaction" sequences. It’s a great way to fill
the time when you’re bored in class.