Fire and Ice
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 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.
All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace
Richard Brautigan
I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.
I like to think
(right now, please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers15
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.
I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.
Making Meanings
First Thoughts
1. Both Frost and Brautigan think about what is going to happen to us and to the planet. Which view comes closer to yours?
Shaping Interpretations
2. Frost uses two implied metaphors to make his point. What emotion does he compare to fire? What emotion does he compare to ice?
3. How would you define desire as Frost uses the word in his poem? How is desire like fire?
4. Explain why Frost’s speaker might feel that hate and ice have something in common.
5. What characteristics do fire and ice share? How could each of them cause the world to end? How could desire and hate also do the job?
6. Brautigan also has a vision of the future. How are machines usually thought of in relation to nature? As enemies? As guardians? How does Brautigan think of them?
7. Would you call Brautigan’s poem optimistic in tone or pessimistic or neither? Why? How about Frost’s?
Extending the Texts
8. Brautigan’s poem is a vision of the future, but in what sense do we already live under the guardianship of machines? Do you think of them as “loving” machines? Explain why or why not.
9. Do you think any part of Brautigan’s vision of the future can come true? Would you want it to come true—or do you find it unappealing? Explain.Table of Contents
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