CLASS 10 POEM FIGURES OF SPEECH

POEM 2- FIRE AND ICE

-ROBERT FROST
Stanza 1

Some say the world will end in fire

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favour fire.

Poetic Devices:

1) Assonance- Prominent sound of a single vowel throughout the sentence.

Example- The prominent sound of ‘o’ in “I hold with those who favour fire.”

2) Alliteration- It is the repetition of a letter at the start of closely placed words.

Example- 1. Letter ‘f’ in “favour fire”

2. Letter ‘w’ in “world will”

3) Imagery- It is used to make readers perceive things that involve their senses.
Throughout the stanza we imagine things because of the strong visual elements. The
speaker also used words like – some say; tasted desire, which again use our senses.

4) Anaphora- It is the repetition of a word at the start of two or more consecutive lines.

Example – “Some say” is repeated at the beginning of lines 1 and 2.

5) Personification- It means to give human qualities to inanimate objects. In this poem,

the poet portrays that fire is capable of destruction. Thus, the poet is personifying fire by
giving it power to destroy anything and everything.

6) Enjambment- It is defined as a clause that does not come to an end at a line break and
keeps moving over to the next line.

Example- From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire

7) Antithesis – The poet has used two words opposite in meaning in the stanza – fire
and ice.

8) Symbolism –
The Word fire has been used as a symbol of desire.
The phrase end of the word is here a symbol for self-destruction of humans. The poet
mentions that fire is enough for the world to end that simply means that desire is
enough for self-destruction of a human.
9) Metaphor – The poet compares fire with desire.

Stanza 2

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.

Poetic Devices:

1) Imagery- It is used to make readers perceive things that involve their senses.
Throughout the stanza we imagine things because of the strong visual elements.
Example- To say that for destruction ice Is also great, here the poet has used the word say,
which again involves our sense of speaking.
2) Personification- It means to give human qualities to inanimate objects. In this poem,
the poet portrays that ice is capable of destruction. Thus, the poet is personifying ice by
giving it power to destroy anything and everything.
3) Symbolism – The word “ice” has been used as a symbol of hatred.
4) Metaphor – The poet compares ice with hatred.