Fire or Ice?

Fire or Ice: Does it Really Matter?

The English poet Robert Frost once wrote a pithy poem on how the end of the world would come-either in fire or ice.

                              Fire and Ice 

BY ROBERT FROST

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 say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice. 

Not surprisingly, in the poem, people start taking sides. In real life, like how people cannot agree on whether the apocalypse should happen in fire or ice, people debate about everything. Let's talk about poems here: People do not come to an agreement on whether long poems or short poems are better. 

In poetry, there are very long works, epics-The Odyssey and The Iliad by Homer, The Divine Comedy by Dante, and the Sumerian Gilgamesh; there are also some other pieces, shorter than these, but still comparatively long, "The Raven," by Edgar Allan Poe, for instance, and there are plenty of short- almost pithy works(most poems studied at schools are) like “Fire and Ice.”

"Long" vs. "Short"

Now, take another look at this criteria used to compare poetries-the two adjectives for length-"long" and "short." What is considered "long" and what is considered "short?" Are twenty words short? Fifty? Maybe a three hundred? Sure, "The Raven" is pretty long. What about the Odyssey then? Well, the thing is, there is not a definite boundary between the two. Quantifying the length of poems to judge them seems pretty logical, but it is as absurd as measuring how many drops of water there are in two mugs and comparing them to each other. 

How do we compare two poems? We can't. If you were to compare the water in a mug to the water in a pool, it wouldn't make sense for you to choose the pool when you are thirsty, and the pool is clearly the better option if you want to swim.

You get the metaphor right?

Going back to the poem “Fire and Ice”, rather than persuading the readers to pick a side, Frost wanted his audience to consider the subjectivity of their opinions. Whether it is in scorch or in shivers, whether you like it or not, there will be nothing left in the end anyways. Subjectively, your feelings and emotions make a difference on the experience that is objectively the same. Fire or ice does not matter. It is like when your dentist ask you what anesthesia you want-strawberry or banana-regardless of what you choose, you are well-aware that you would have your tooth pulled out eventually.