Give out the appropriateness of the title of the poem "Fire and Ice".

Robert Frost, a noted American poet, who has been called by Robert Grave "The Voice of America", wrote the poem,"Fire and Ice", a famous short music of only nine lines. It was published in a collection of poems under the title, "New Hampshire" in 1923. The poem deals with the way of the destruction of the world. The very title of the poem is built upon two paradoxical words, 'Fire' and 'Ice'. Frost asserts that the world will one day be destroyed by the excess of fire or by ice. Louis Untermeyer rightly asserts, "Frost's work, like his life , is built on paradox. Perhaps it would be more exact to say that it is a combination and resolutions of contradiction....."

           "Fire and Ice" outlined the familiar questions about the fate of the world, wondering of it is more likely to be destroyedby fire or by ice. People are on both sides of the debate:
     "Some say the world will end in fire / Some say in ice."

             But Frost used this title in a symbolic sense. As here 'fire' stands for extreme intensity of warm loving emotions while 'ice'indicates the utter negation or lack of feelings or human hatred.

             Actually the title does not make clear the readers which element will destroy the world but it is clear that there is no other option or possibility in terms of the world's fate. To provide his personal take on the question of the end of the world, Frost introduces his own experience. He first asserts, "I hold with those who favour fire" as he has first hand experience about excessive human desire: "From what I've tasted of desire." Yet after considering his knowledge with 'ice' or hate, Frost acknowledges that, "......for destruction ice/ Is also great/ And would suffice." He is also much confident that he knows enough of hatred and is sure that it has the capability to destroy the world:
   "But if it to perish twice,/ I think I know enough of hate."

               By the title of the poem, the poet Frost wants to mean that both the heat of love and passion , and the coldness of haterd are equally potent for the destruction of the entire world. Thompson rightly comments: "The analogy here implied establishes a comparison between the heat of the love or passion and the cold of the hate. Coupled with this is the hint of the destructive power of these two extremes of human passion; cataclysmic power....."

               Again the two possibilities for the world's destruction correspond directly to a pair of opposite scientific options of Frost's time - the world would be incinerated from its fiery core or a coming ice age would destroy this world.  The growing global warming or increasing freezing may also cause the annihilation.