Feel free to fight me on this, but “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and I took the one less traveled” may be the most famous line in American poetry. Nevermind that that’s not actually the line (“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—/I took the one less traveled by,/And that has made all the difference.” is correct, but much harder to say). Poetry isn’t a big part of most people’s lives. It’s often too cryptic, too difficult, too ornate to devote our precious time to. And yet we all know Robert Frost, we all know taking that less-travelled road was so important. So today, I’m taking some of my precious time to devote to another of Frost’s poems – 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 know that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.
I love this poem. It’s short, it’s bold, it’s simple. I accidentally memorized it during a fifth grade poetry project, and it’s stuck with me ever since. Arguably the best thing about Frost is that he insisted on using language just as everyone else did, resulting in poems that just about anyone can read. This is, of course, why we love him. Poetry can’t be quite that easy, though. Since this poem predates the threat of thermonuclear war and the “snowball earth” hypothesis (that the earth was once completely encased in ice), I doubt Frost meant what he said literally. I’ve always quietly assumed that the nature of poetry is expressing that which cannot be expressed exactly, conveying the sort of information that can only be inferred.
It’s not a hard leap for us to make, in this case, to understand what Frost meant. Hot and cold extremes – both are destructive. Not just in temperature, but in what we understand them to mean. There’s a sort of natural understanding of fire and ice in English as passion and apathy – think of how we use those words to describe traits in people. Neither of them are inherently bad traits, I suppose, but when fueled by hate, they become dangerous.
I can’t help but see that when I look at the world. I won’t pretend to know which political parties are fire and which are ice, but I think it’s safe to say that entirely partisan politics are extreme and a little dangerous. I see it when I look at myself. I can go through obsessive phases, where I’m wholly consumed by one thing. It means I neglect everything else, and it’s exhausting. On the other hand, it’s all too easy for me to get stuck in an apathetic rut, and let opportunities and deadlines pass me by because I can’t be bothered to try.
I see it when I look at the way we treat each other. I think about the Islamaphobic attacks in the wake of the situation in Paris. Too much passion, too much aggression, fueled by hate and fear. I think about the two thousand people killed by Boko Haram just days later, and how no one seemed to talk about that. Like fire and ice, we act too quickly or fail to act at all.
If I had to say, I’d agree with Frost – if the world ends, it’ll be in “fire”; in passion and haste. But I do think apathy does more harm on a day-to-day basis, in the casual cruelty of not caring for or considering others. I’m also a little more optimistic than Frost. I don’t see the end of the world happening with any certainty, and not anytime soon. I believe in a moderate majority. I believe in our ability to recognize and quell our extremes. I believe that they cancel each other out, like fire and ice do, and what we find in the middle is essential. For fire and ice, it’s water. For passion and apathy, it’s awareness. So while you all wait for the world to end, I think I’ll have a cool drink and read a little more poetry – the apocalypse can wait.
My friend Elizabeth has also written about her favorite Frost poem here on her blog, This Savvy Life, so be sure to check out her take on Birches. It’s a little longer and a lot more cheerful than my choice! Do you have a favorite poem, or one that’s stuck with you? How do you think the world will end?
