Literary Symbolism In Robert Frost's Fire And Ice

A short poem is in no way “small.” Such is the case with Robert Frost’s famous poem, “Fire and Ice”. In only 9 lines, the poem delves into the roots of mankind and what it takes to destroy it. The poem was written in December 1920 when America was experiencing its second literary renaissance. In Fire and Ice, Robert Frost uses the symbolism and imagery of fire and ice to reveal the theme that hatred and desire are both equally capable of bringing the world to an end. Robert Frost’s upbringing influenced greatly the poems that he created. Frost’s mother, a true Scotswoman, was fond of writing verse and passed her writing talents on to her son who was named after Scottish poet, Robert Burns (Thompson). After Frost’s father died, he was uprooted from his former San Francisco residency and moved to Salem, New Hampshire (Thompson). Frost hated New England and included a bit of hostilities towards Yankees in some of his early poetry (Thompson). After the age of twelve, Frost began to take a liking to school and learning (Thompson). After graduating from high school as valedictorian and class poet, he attended Dartmouth College, but shortly dropped out due to not having enough scholarship money (Thompson). Frost became a teacher at Harvard College where he mentored students in literature (Thompson). After two best selling books, A Boy’s Will and North of Boston, he became a farmer in New Hampshire because he did not like the fame (Thompson). Robert Frost died at the age of