Q2 of 28 Page 15

For Frost, what do ‘Fire’ and ‘ice’ stand for? Here are some ideas:

For Frost, ‘fire’ and ‘ice’ stands for- destructive powers.


The other words – that stand for these are as follows-


Fire: greed, conflict, avarice, fury, lust, intolerance, rigidity.


Ice: insensitivity, coldness, cruelty, indifference, hatred.


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2

How does Frost present nature in this poem? The following questions may help you to think of an answer.

(i) What are the birds that are usually named in poems? Do you think a crow is often mentioned in poems? What images come to your mind when you think of a crow?


(ii) Again, what is ‘a hemlock tree? Why doesn’t the poet write about a more ‘beautiful’ tree such as a maple or an oak, or a pine?


(iii) What do the ‘crow’ and ‘hemlock’ represent-joy or sorrow? What does the dust of snow that the crew shakes off a hemlock tree stands for?

 3

Have there been times when you felt depressed or hopeless? Have you experienced a similar moment that changed your mood that day?

 1

There are many ideas about how the world will ‘end’. Do you think the world will end some day? Have you ever thought what would happen if the sun got so hot that it ‘burst’, or grew colder and colder?

 3

What is the rhyme schemes of the poem? How does it help in bringing out the contrasting ideas in the poem?