Here I am sharing the presentation of Paper 10.

1. Robert Frost’s Poetry – “Stopping by Woods”
&“Fire and Ice”
Name- Budhiditya Shankar Das
Course- M.A. (English)
Paper No.- 10
Roll No.- 07
Sem- 03
Email Id- budhiditya900@gmail.com
Submitted to- Smt.S.B.Gardi
Department of English
M.K.Bhavnagar University

2. Stopping by
Woods
Robert Frost

4. About Author
-> Robert Frost (1874-1963) was born in San Francisco, California. His father
William Frost, a journalist and an ardent Democrat, died when Frost was about
eleven years old. His Scottish mother, the former Isabelle Moody, resumed her
career as a schoolteacher to support her family. The family lived in Lawrence,
Massachusetts, with Frost's paternal grandfather, William Prescott Frost, who
gave his grandson a good schooling. In 1892, Frost graduated from a high
school and attended Dartmouth College for a few months. Over the next ten
years he held a number of jobs. Frost worked among others in a textile mill and
taught Latin at his mother's school in Methuen, Massachusetts. In 1894 the
New York Independent published Frost's poem 'My Butterfly' and he had five
poems privately printed. Frost worked as a teacher and continued to write and
publish his poems in magazines. In 1895 he married a former schoolmate,
Elinor White; they had six children.

5. What is symbolism
->Symbolism is the use of symbols to signify ideas
and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that
are different from their literal sense.
According to Oxford Dictionary
-> “ Symbolism means use of symbols like objects,
character, use of colour to represents abstract idea
or quality. ”

6. Stopping By Woods on a
Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
to stop without a farmhouse near
between the woods and frozen lake
the darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
to ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
(By Robert Frost)

7. Symbolism in Stopping by Woods
->Here woods symbolizes as contrast to civilization.
->The most significant symbol in the poem
“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is
woods.
The woods may symbolize temptations in life, as
well as symbol for death from a view they seem
mysterious beauty.
-> And some are tempted to stay and enjoy the view,
but the traveller chooses to continue his journey
through life to reach his destination, which should
be our goals in life too.

8. “And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”
-> Here this line suggests that Death is the ultimate
reality of the life but before that one has some duty
to fulfil and the words like “miles to go” indicates
that there are so many works and responsibility and
one has to complete.
-> Death is not the greatest loss in life .The greatest
loss of it what dies inside us while we are alive.
-> Here “sleep” symbolizes death.

9. -> Nature:
In this poem, nature is the symbol and the snow is a
symbol of coolness, while frozen lake is a symbol of
the death and chillness of life.
-> Horse:
In this poem Robert Frost takes Horse as a symbol,
which symbolizes as a soul of the poet.
-> Village:
Village is symbolized here as society and
civilization.

11. 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 favour
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.

12. Summary
->This short poem outlines the familiar question
about the fate of the world, wondering if it is more
likely to be destroyed by fire or ice. People are on
both sides of the debate, and Frost introduces the
narrator to provide his personal take on the
question of the end of the world. The narrator first
concludes that the world must end in fire after
considering his personal experience with desire and
passion, the emotions of fire. Yet, after considering
his experience with “ice,” or hatred, the narrator
acknowledges that ice would be equally destructive.

13. Analysis
-> In the first two lines of the poem, Frost creates a clear
dichotomy between fire and ice and the two groups of people
that believe in each element. By using the term “some”
instead of “I” or “an individual,” Frost asserts that the
distinction between the two elements is a universal truth, not
just an idea promoted by an individual. First lines also outline
the claim that the world will end as a direct result of one of
these elements. It is unclear which element will destroy the
world, but it is significant to note that fire and ice are the only
options. The poem does not allow for any other possibilities in
terms of the world’s fate, just as there are not any other
opinions allowed in the black-and-white debate between fire
and ice.

14. To be continue…
-> Interestingly, the two possibilities for the world’s
destruction correspond directly to a common scientific debate
during the time Frost wrote the poem. Some scientists
believed that the world would be incinerated from its fiery
core, while others were convinced that a coming ice age
would destroy all living things on the earth’s surface. Instead
of maintaining a strictly scientific perspective on this debate,
Frost introduces a more emotional side, associating
passionate desire with fire and hatred with ice. Within this
metaphorical view of the two elements, the “world” can be
recognized as a metaphor for a relationship. Too much fire
and passion can quickly consume a relationship, while cold
indifference and hate can be equally destructive.

15. To be continue…
-> Although the first two lines of the poem insist that
there can only be a single choice between fire and
ice, the narrator acknowledges that both elements
could successfully destroy the world. Moreover, the
fact that he has had personal experience with both
(in the form of desire and hate) reveals that fire and
ice are not mutually exclusive, as the first two lines
of the poem insist. In fact, though the narrator first
concludes that the world will end in fire, he
ultimately admits that the world could just as easily
end in ice; fire and ice, it seems, are strikingly similar.

16. Symbolism in Fire and Ice
-> Fire: Warmth, Emotions, Desire
-> Ice: Coldness, Dryness, Hatred
-> Both are extremes and these extremes lead
towards destruction.
->Fire symbolize for desire, and ice symbolizes
here for hate.

18. Hatred or Desires
->The Poem is not talking about heaven and hell, as I
thought the same thing because in the last lines he
says the destruction Ice would also be great.
->Meaning fire was great too, and we all know if he
got to die twice, after the first time in hell he would
know it was not great.
-> I believe it is talking about relationships ending in
hatred or desires, either for other men or women or
possessions.

19. Personal response
-> In my opinion, the author is expressing his feelings
about the human race.
-> Fire is the symbol of war in any shape or form.
-> Fire is passionate hate, which could very easily
end the world as we know it.
-> The other extreme is ice which could, possibly
symbolize human nature's "icy" tendency for
laziness, detachment and general "who gives a
damn" that people are dying all over the place due
to a various range of catastrophes.

20. Last slide