What do you think (poem by Robert Frost) this poem means?

You can see it different ways, which is often true of great poetry and art. A good poem should be simple and yet make you think of deeper things, and this one does that very well.

Fire and ice are opposites. Either is lethal. We live in a narrow band between too much and too little, and too much of either can kill us.

Also think of fire as nuclear war or a volcano or the earth falling into the sun--in other words, catastrophe, disaster. Think of ice as just -nothingness-, entropy, apathy, etc. Either is lethal, people caring too much or caring too little, too much activity or not enough. The line 'from what I've tasted of desire, I hold with those who favor fire' is a good clue that 'fire' is not hate or war, it's love or greed or selfishness, which could -lead- to hate and war and our own self-immolation.

Personally, i think Robert Frost is using symbolism for fire and ice!!!

End of the world by Fire represent the the destruction of the world through our own undoing!!!

While End of the world through ice represent the end of all things when the trumphet blows and that power above (falling ice) comes to gather his people!!!

Robert believed we have the potential to destroy the world through famine, epidemic, stupid inventions, technology, natural disasters, pollution, and a host of them. All caused by man and his greeds, desires, and inordinate ambitions!!!

But Robert also believed that the punishment meted out to sinners on the last day, will be equally unbearable but befitting the offenders.

"I think i know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

is also great

and would suffice"

Am, i close enough???

or am i a religeous nut??

This poem has nothing to do with the actual "Armageddon" concept other than being a metaphor. Frost is a master at making simple words say profound things. In this poem, he takes an idle daydream, a whimsical (albeit slightly dark) musing, and converts it into a telling insight into the destructive power of desire and hate -- fire and ice respectively. The metaphor is appropriate and powerful. Just as fire and ice might one day destroy the external, physical world, desire and hate destroy the internal, spiritual one.

Frost writes symbolic poetry; to arrive at certain basic truths about life, he explores feelings and thoughts indirectly, through the use of simple incidents. His poems possess levels of meaning that are dark and profound - like subtle literary parables. He was not just the singer of a benevolent nature. He was a passionate and troubled man, who sought in his poems a momentary stay against confusion; and his skillfully constructed poems testify to his mastery over that confusion.

If you have 100 people read this poem, you'll have 100 different responses. Good poetry does that. To me, the poem is about a really bad relationship. He says, "From what I've tasted of desire" Desire could hint at a relationship. He says he thinks it's fire. Must have been a messy break up. Lots of screaming. But then, he says, "if [love] had to perish twice...ice is also great" This is the cold stares, the ignoring, the backhanded stuff that ex's can do when it is particularly messy. There's a ready they call it a "cold stare." So, essentially, he's asking if relationships end messy, or quiet but still painful. But by the end he accepts that his had both. That's my interpretation.

You're right. I would add that, yes, he regards desire (and I see it as passion, not power) as something positive and conducive to an end by fire. But he mentions another emotion, hate, also capable of igniting the world, and this makes him think that perhaps ice would be an equally significant end.

So the two possibilities, fire and ice, would be preferable only in function of what is good and what is evil.

Fire fuels his passions in life and his loves. So if his life was to end the passions he has tasted and felt in his life would make his life worthwhile and he would be ready to die for the passions he has felt were enough. On the other hand, if he had to leave this life TWICE, he has experienced hatred enough to leave a second time with revenge in his heart cold as ice.

this poem is about love/hate. To perish through love is greater than hate but both can be equally painful.

It means he farted