princessdiva,
Robert Frost's brief poem "Fire and Ice" refers to two modes of ending the world: fire (metaphor for war, apocalypse, being swallowed up by a gigantic explosion of the sun into a supernova) and ice (metaphor for ice age, cooling, dying of the sun and the consequent extinction of all life).
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.
The poem investigates the destructive power of human passion (metaphors of desire and hate) through the symbolism of cosmic destruction by fire or ice. Fire is linked with desire; ice with hatred. The speaker knows both, and knows that both are strong enough to end the world (i.e., the human race)
One has to admire that final suffice; a magnificent understatement, it further shows the power of a rime to close a poem.
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