The Arctic has long occupied a dual space in Western consciousness, oscillating between a Hyperborean paradise and a desolate, deadly void. During the nineteenth century, this obsession reached its peak, fueled by imperial ambition, scientific curiosity, and a growing body of polar literature. This research employs a purposeful qualitative analysis of selected literary genres and cultural representations chosen to reflect major historical turning points in Western perceptions of the Arctic, ranging from classical mythology and nineteenth-century exploration narratives to contemporary climate literature, indigenous narratives, and Arctic poetry. Building on these selected historical periods the article examines how Western literature and imagination have shaped perceptions of the Arctic, from the myth of the “Open Polar Sea” to the realities of exploration during the search for Sir John Franklin's lost expedition, and to contemporary ecological elegies that portray the Arctic as a rapidly vanishing frozen landscape in the face of an urgent climate crisis. It also highlights how journalism and literary voices remain essential in documenting the environmental, cultural, and geopolitical transformations of the Arctic, now seen as a vanishing frozen landscape in the face of an urgent climate crisis.