NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Poem 2 Fire and Ice

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English

Fire and Ice NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Poem 2

Fire and Ice NCERT Text Book Questions and Answers

Fire and Ice Thinking about the Poem

Question 1.
There are many ideas about how the world will ‘end’. Do you think the world will end some day? Have you ever thought what would happen if the sun got so hot that it ‘burst’, or grew colder and colder?
Answer:
Anything that has a beginning will have an end. One who is born will certainly die. This is true about this world too. If the sun got so hot that it burst, the whole of the earth would perish immediately as no part of the earth can bear the heat of that intensity. But if the sun becomes colder and colder, again everything would come to an end as the sunlight gives birth to life in the world.

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Poem 2 Fire and Ice

Question 2.
For Frost, what do ‘fire’ and ‘ice’ stand for? Here are some ideas:

greed
intolerance
avarice
rigidity
cruelty insensitivity lust
coldness
conflict
indifference
fury
hatred

Answer:

fire ice
greed, avarice lust
cruelty insensitivity
conflict coldness
fury indifference
intolerance hatred, rigidity

Question 3.
What is the rhyme scheme of the poem? How does it help in bringing out the contrasting ideas in the poem?
Answer:
a ba a b c bcb.
There are two contrasting ideas in the poem. According to the poet fire and ice are the two probable causes of destruction. Fire stands for desire and ice for hatredness. By the rhyming scheme like – fire-desire, ice-suffice, he communicates the idea effectively.

Fire and Ice Extra Questions and Answers

Fire and Ice Reference-to-Context Questions

Read the stanza given below and answer the questions that follow:

Question 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.

(a) The above stanza debates whether the world will end in
Answer:
fire or ice

(b) Both the elements mentioned in the first stanza have one similarity i.e. both can
Answer:
end the world

(c) The poet favours those who believe that fire would cause final destruction. (True/False)
Answer:
True

(d) The word that rhymes with ‘fire’ is
Answer:
desire

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Poem 2 Fire and Ice

Question 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.

(a) ‘Ice’ in the above stanza refers to feelings of ………..
Answer:
coldness/hatred

(b) Both ice and fire will be enough for ………..
Answer:
destruction

(c) The poet wishes that the world should end twice. (True/False)
Answer:
False

(d) Pick up the antonym of ‘inadequate’ from the above stanza.
Answer:
‘suffice’.

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Poem 2 Fire and Ice

Fire and Ice Long Answer Question

Question 1.
It is a Hobson’s Choice that the poet faces in the poem ‘Fire and Ice’. Illustrate this thought, with the help of examples from the poem.
Answer:
The poem talks about the end of the world by fire, which symbolizes greed in humanity. Others feel that the end will come about by ice, which symbolizes hate. Thus humanity faces a choice which is really no choice, because the end result is destruction in both cases. The choices are illustrated on a personal level, as both of them affect individual destruction equally.

The poet uses a tight and clipped method of presenting the choices to emphasize the importance of his message of there being no alternatives. The theme of the poem, based on destruction through greed and hatred, illustrates the proverb Hobson’s Choice, gives the poem a profound and meaningful undercurrent.

error: Content is protected !!