14 Must-Read Poems about Ice

Poems about ice describe the crystalline beauty and transformative power of frozen water. They capture the stillness, clarity, and fragility inherent in icy landscapes.

Poems about ice can also symbolize resilience and strength, as ice endures harsh conditions while retaining its form. They may delve into change, transformation, and the balance between solidity and fragility. These poems may explore the quiet serenity of winter, the glistening surfaces of frozen lakes and rivers, or the intricate patterns formed by frost.

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"> 89/100

The Wreck of the Hesperus

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

‘The Wreck of the Hesperus’ by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is a narrative poem about a shipwreck and human vanity.

Ice plays heavily in this poem, as the frosty waters of the Northeastern Atlantic chill the Hesperus and her passengers. However, the ice is so strong and overpowering that it ultimately causes the crew, the ship, the skipper, and his daughter to shatter, all dying in a huge storm.

It was the schooner Hesperus,

That sailed the wintry sea;

And the skipper had taken his little daughtèr,

To bear him company.

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"> 85/100

The Imaginary Iceberg

by Elizabeth Bishop

‘The Imaginary Iceberg’ plays with notions of reality, fantasy, and beauty by describing the grandeur of the titular iceberg.

Ice is central to the poem both as a literal presence and as a symbol of stillness, endurance, and cold beauty. The iceberg embodies nature’s hidden depths, only partially visible, much like human identity or the unconscious. Bishop uses ice to suggest something self-made, enigmatic, and quietly powerful.

We'd rather have the iceberg than the ship,

although it meant the end of travel.

Although it stood stock-still like cloudy rock

and all the sea were moving marble.

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"> 81/100

Polar Exploration

by Stephen Spender

‘Polar Exploration’ reflects upon peaceful isolation and urban life, particularly how the latter appears to make the former impossible.

The freezing poles, from which the narrator has recently returned, are an important symbol in the poem. As they return to warmer climates, their inner anger melts like ice and seeps into the poem.

Our single purpose was to walk through snow

With faces swung to their prodigious North

Like compass iron. As clerks in whited Banks

With bird-claw pens column virgin paper

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After the Titanic

by Derek Mahon

‘After the Titanic’ offers a unique character study into an important historical figure but also explores how people handle disaster.

Ice is a powerful symbol in the poem, representing both the physical cause of the Titanic’s destruction and the emotional coldness of Ismay’s exile. The frozen landscape of his retreat mirrors his isolation, and the iceberg itself becomes a reminder of unavoidable fate and catastrophe.

They said I got away in a boat

And humbled me at the inquiry. I tell you

I sank as far that night as any

Hero. As I sat shivering on the dark water

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"> 71/100

Fire and Ice

by Robert Frost

‘Fire and Ice’ by Robert Frost explores a universal interest in the apocalypse. It has always been a phenomenon capable of capturing people’s minds.

This poem navigates the topic of ice as a metaphor for hate, representing coldness, indifference, and emotional detachment. Ice symbolizes the slow, creeping destruction that hate can bring, contrasting fire’s intensity. Frost suggests that hate, like ice, may not be as overtly forceful but is equally capable of causing devastation, emphasizing its chilling, destructive potential.

Some say the world will end in fire;

Some say in ice.

From what I've tasted of desire

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Mont Blanc

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Inspired by the scenery he encountered on his trip through Europe when he arrived at Chamonix, ‘Mont Blanc’ is a poem about the untameable and majestic nature that the author encountered as he considers how this reflects on human consciousness.

The ice of the mountain is mentioned several times in the poem. The poet goes into great detail as he explains the damage that it can cause as it makes its way down the mountain in the form of glaciers.

The everlasting universe of things

Flows through the mind, and rolls its rapid waves,

Now dark—now glittering—now reflecting gloom—

Now lending splendour, where from secret springs

The source of human thought its tribute brings

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Photograph: Ice Storm, 1971

by Natasha Trethewey

‘Photograph: Ice Storm, 1971’ sees the poet looking at an old photograph and remembering both the good and the bad memories.

The ice storm is the main subject of the poem. The weather seems to be unusual for the poet, and the effects that it had are shown. The way that the ice froze the landscape is described, and the poet considers its beauty.

Why the rough edge of beauty? Why

the tired face of a woman, suffering,

made luminous by the camera’s eye?

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Exposure

by Wilfred Owen

‘Exposure’ offers an in-depth view of life in the frosted winter of Northern France, where soldiers on duty would be left exposed to the elements.

The image of ice appears many times in the poem, especially in the final lines. Owen describes how even the soldiers’ eyes seem frozen. Ice is not just a detail but a symbol of how numb and lifeless the soldiers have become. It shows how the cold shapes everything they feel. Their hands, faces, and even their minds seem frozen in place. Ice is part of the world that traps them, both physically and emotionally.

Watching, we hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire,

Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles.

Northward, incessantly, the flickering gunnery rumbles,

Far off, like a dull rumour of some other war.

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"> 20/100

Antarctica

by Derek Mahon

‘Antarctica’ by Derek Mahon is a poem that takes a look at the events of Captain Oates’ self-sacrifice in Antarctica.

The layer of ice - "rime" - is mentioned briefly in the poem. The rest of the conditions of the world outside the tent are also used as a way to show how much the men are struggling.

‘I am just going outside and may be some time.’

The others nod, pretending not to know.

At the heart of the ridiculous, the sublime.

#10

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After Apple-Picking

by Robert Frost

‘After Apple-Picking’ by Robert Frost begins with an apple-picker’s thoughts after a day of work. The poem goes on to explore themes of life and death.

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree

Toward heaven still,

And there's a barrel that I didn't fill

Beside it, and there may be two or three

#11

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My Love is like to ice, and I to fire

by Edmund Spenser

‘My Love is like to ice, and I to fire’ describes the contradictory but also complementary personalities of the speaker and his lover.

My Love is like to ice, and I to fire:

How comes it then that this her cold so great

Is not dissolved through my so hot desire,

But harder grows the more I her entreat?

#12

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The Convergence of the Twain

by Thomas Hardy

‘The Convergence of the Twain’ meditates on the Titanic’s collision with an iceberg, portraying human pride against nature’s menace.

In a solitude of the sea

Deep from human vanity,

And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she.

#13

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The Eve of St. Agnes

by John Keats

In ‘The Eve of St. Agnes,’ John Keats celebrates an idealized love between two lovers while integrating folk beliefs in the poem.

St. Agnes' Eve—Ah, bitter chill it was!

The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold;

The hare limp'd trembling through the frozen grass,

And silent was the flock in woolly fold:

#14

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Winter: My Secret

by Christina Rossetti

‘Winter: My Secret’ teases with a guarded secret, weaving winter’s chill as a metaphor for concealment and reluctance.

I tell my secret? No indeed, not I;

Perhaps some day, who knows?

But not today; it froze, and blows and snows,

And you’re too curious: fie!

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14 Must-Read Poems about Ice

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14 Must-Read Poems about Ice

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

by Elizabeth Bishop

by Stephen Spender

by Derek Mahon

by Robert Frost

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

by Natasha Trethewey

by Wilfred Owen

by Derek Mahon

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