Sonnet 30 (Fire And Ice) Analysis

My love is like to ice, and I to fire:
how comes it then that this her cold so great
is not dissolv'd through my so hot desire,
but harder grows, the more I her entreat?

Or how comes it that my exceeding heat
is not delayed by her heart frozen cold,
but that I burn much more in boiling sweat,
and feel my flames augmented manifold?

What more miraculous thing may be told
that fire, which all thing melts, should harden ice:
and ice which is congealed with senseless cold,
should kindle fire by wonderful device?

Such is the pow'r of love in gentle mind
that it can alter all the course of kind.


Submitted by Melanie Wright

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you all need to get a life and stop summarizing a sonnet that is like 35 years old.

| Posted on 2009-11-12 | by a guest

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I suggest reading this poem in a British Accent it really helps understand what he's going through.

| Posted on 2009-10-01 | by a guest

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this post just help me for my english paper. thank you so much

| Posted on 2009-04-30 | by a guest

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The poem itself is an example of transitoriness of human life.But it is narrower than William Shakespeare's To His Love.It has a very romantic beginning. Md. Tanvir Ahmed Eastern University Bangladesh.

| Posted on 2009-04-22 | by a guest

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I think the poem is ACTUALLY about love being able to exist even between two opposing forces. Fire and Ice. To people that are complete opposites (or at least very different from each other), yet they are able to find love between them. And instead of destroying each other, they make each other stronger... amazing!

| Posted on 2009-03-13 | by a guest

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Edmund Spenser’s “Fire and Ice” has to do with a man who desires a woman however, the woman that he desires does not love him back and Edmund Spenser uses lots of metaphors to compare this love, to “Fire and Ice.” The man is Fire, is not enough to melt the frigid woman’s heart, which does not desire him. The speaker in this poem explains every single detail of why this woman does not love him back. One specific line that explains what is going on, “How comes it then that this her cold so great is not dissolv’d through my so hot desire, But harder grows the more I her entreat?” (Lines 2-4) As the most common scenarios as the man shows more affection towards the woman; the woman does not appreciate the fact that the man loves her. The man speaks of his love like fire (this could mean obsession, passion, infatuation, etc.) and the women’s heart like ice (she's probably bored, infuriated, disturbed, etc.).This sonnet is full of metaphors to describe the love that the man feels and how the woman rejects the man’s love for her. In the lines 5 and 6, “Or how comes it that my exceeding heat is not delayed by her heart frozen cold,” metaphorically the man is trying to figure out why his flaming love for the woman is not melting the woman’s frigid heart. The lines, “that fire, which all things melts, should harden ice, and ice, which is congealed with senseless cold, Should kindle fire by wonderful device?” (Lines 10-12) the speaker is trying to figure out why he cannot melt the woman’s cold heart. Perhaps the most important lines in the sonnet are the last two lines, “Such is the power of love in gentle mind, that it can alter all the course of kind.” These lines can be paraphrased as, “That the nature of love is passion, and that it can change the state of anything in this world.” The word, “miraculous” in line 9 used to describe the unfortunate realities of their love, which is not working out. The last two lines conclude that the nature of love has the power to change natural occurrences such as fire melting ice. Perhaps the man tried too hard to (re)gain the love of the woman that he pushed her way from him, probably he harden her icy heart as he desired her.

Chris A.

| Posted on 2009-02-24 | by a guest

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dude, thanks for the explination, it helps in the project i am doing in English class.

| Posted on 2009-02-09 | by a guest

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It pretty much means don't be a creepy staker because that never works with the ladys.

| Posted on 2009-02-01 | by a guest

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“Sonnet 30” by Edmund Spenser dramatizes the conflict of a man’s burning desire to be with a woman who has no interest in him. Edmund Spenser uses the metaphorical comparisons of dramatically opposites, fire and ice. The man is fire, who is obsessed for this ice cold woman, which returns nothing. The poem explains why this man can’t get this woman to love him back.
The conflict is best represented by the lines, “How comes it then that this her cold so great is not dissolv’d through my so hot desire, But harder grows the more I her entreat?” (Lines 2-4) Spenser explains that the more the man shows affection and love to the woman, the more the woman loses interest for the man. This Sonnet is full of metaphors, mainly relating and comparing the love the two shows for each other with burning fire, and freezing ice.
In the lines 5 and 6, “Or how comes it that my exceeding heat is not delayed by her heart frozen cold,” the man is metaphorically asking why his “burning” love for her isn’t “melting” her heart; or in other words, why showing his affections for her isn’t attracting the woman. The lines, “…fire, which all things melts, should harden ice, And ice, which is congealed with senseless cold, Should kindle fire by wonderful device?” (Lines 10-12) is the narrator, asking why this love isn’t working out when it should be.
Perhaps the most important lines in the sonnet are the last two lines, “Such is the power of love in gentle mind, that it can alter all the course of kind.” These lines can be paraphrased as, “That is the nature of passionate love, that it can change the natural state of everything.” The word, “miraculous” in line 9 was used to describe the unfortunate realities of their love which is not working out. The last 2 lines conclude that the nature of love has the power to change natural occurrences such as fire melting ice.

| Posted on 2008-04-21 | by a guest

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The poem talks about how he loves some one and she douse not show love back. She is the ice and maybe if he is the fire the ice will melt and then she will see

| Posted on 2008-04-20 | by a guest

.: Different hot :.

The explination of fire and hot is actually the speaker's nervousness of going and talking to his love where his love is the opposite of him as cold is to fire. He only wishes that the two opposits could actually be that same to make his fire help her cold heart.

| Posted on 2008-04-12 | by a guest

.: Sonnet 30 :.

This poem speaks of a man's burning desire to be with this one particular woman. He loves her so much yet she returns nothing. It doesn't seem like the two are in fact a couple but I belive they may. It could be an extremely long relationship and the excitement and intensity of their relationship may just be running out. The man speaks of his love like fire (this could mean obsession, infatuation, etc.) and the womens heart like ice (she's probably annoyed, frustrated, etc.). The man seems to be trying so hard that the women wants nothing more than to pull and push away (can you blame her?) And in return her "icey heart" is just becoming harder because she becomes that much more turned off.

| Posted on 2008-02-11 | by a guest

.: Sonnet 30 :.

This poem speaks of a man's burning desire to be with this one particular woman. He loves her so much yet she returns nothing. It doesn't seem like the two are in fact a couple but I belive they may. It could be an extremely long relationship and the excitement and intensity of their relationship may just be running out. The man speaks of his love like fire (this could mean obsession, infatuation, etc.) and the womens heart like ice (she's probably annoyed, frustrated, etc.). The man seems to be trying so hard that the women wants nothing more than to pull and push away (can you blame her?) And in return her "icey heart" is just becoming harder because she becomes that much more turned off.

| Posted on 2008-02-11 | by a guest

.: burning man, icing woman :.

I think this sonnet talks about a man who was burning in love for a woman, but she was cold towards him. The first sentence he uses metaphors comparing his love to fire and the woman he loves to ice "my love is like to ice, and i to fire;"
He questions himself why fire being able to melt everything is not melting the ice in this womans heart but yet makes it stronger and harder.
She pushes him away, but his love for her in many different and new ways grows more and more.

| Posted on 2008-02-08 | by a guest

.: This poem :.

I think that Edmund Spenser never had a love life, and that he is just trying to show that once he asked someone and they said no, he turned to ice for a long time, and then tried again, but was to late.
It reminded me of myself, because I have asked before, and was told no. I have not spoken to her since.

| Posted on 2008-02-01 | by a guest

.: storey24 :.

the message of this sonnet is that love is a paradox (it doesnt make sense).love has strange effects on people and there is no logical explanation of the effect it has on people.

| Posted on 2008-01-28 | by a guest

.: My 2 Cents :.

Is this actually the real version of this poem, cause it seemed much easier to read then when i read it at schoool.>>>> I connected with this poem alot, and after reading it you think how silly it really is that(what its saying is, in english) people are drawn to people who show no desire in them. The coldness of there hearts make the others passion and desire burn harder. This one is good.

| Posted on 2007-03-01 | by a guest