Tag Archives: abaabcbca

Frost’s Fire and Ice Pattern:
Robert Frost’s “Fire and Ice” poem has
9 lines
Rhyme Scheme: a-b-a-a-b-c-b-c-b.
Syllable Count for Frost’s poem
is 8-4-8-8-8-7-8-3-4.
The examples follow the rhyme scheme
not syllable count and adds another
stanza. See what combinations you like
the best.

You may see her poems here. http://www.rainbowcommunications.org/velvet/forms/Frosts-Fire-and-Ice.pdf

I am grateful for the work Linda Varsell Smith has done on the Rainbow site, but as she admits, the specifications above are incorrect. What follows are the actual specifications for this form, and a visual template based upon the original work.

Frost’s Fire and Ice Specifications:

Stanzaic: One or more 9 line stanzas.
Rhymed: abaabcbca
Metric: Lines 1 and 3 through 7 are Iambic tetrameter
and Lines 2,8, and 9 are iambic dimeter.

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 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.

My example

Politics(Form: Frost’s Fire and Ice)

Impatient men do risky things
to get ahead.
Their girls they’ll lend to beds of kings,
ignoring any pain that brings.
Such men will pass new laws un-read.
because their leader says they must
They serve themselves in people’s stead
and earn disgust
betrayal brings.

© Lawrencealot – December 25th, 2014

Visual Template