Fire and Ice by Robert Frost
Fire and Ice
Robert FrostSome 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.
MARGINALIA
This was the title of my column when I was in high school. Naturally my teacher expected me to have read Dante. Oh, I have a special circle in my mind just for you, I thought.
I mean—nobody got it. I was writing and writing and writing. I was exorcising a demon. Of my childhood? Of my writing? Weren’t they one and the same?
ABOUT ROBERT FROST
Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, but his family moved to Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1884 following his father’s death. The move was actually a return, for Frost’s ancestors were originally New Englanders, and Frost became famous for his poetry’s engagement with New England locales, identities, and themes. Frost graduated from Lawrence High School, in 1892, as class poet (he also shared the honor of co-valedictorian with his wife-to-be Elinor White), and two years later,… (more)
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ENDNOTES
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