NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY BY ROBERT FROST

LECTURE WEEK 2

NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY BY ROBERT FROST

Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.

SUMMARY
The poem starts by talking about the coloUrs of spring, saying that nature is first gold, then green. Leaves, the poem says, start out as flower buds. But these golden flowers don't stick around for longthey turn green and become leaves. According to our speaker, this natural process is related to the fall of the Garden of Eden, as well as the change of dawn to day. Then the poem wraps itself up, reminding us that the beauty of gold is only temporary.

Analysis of the Poem

Line 1 Nature's first green is gold, This line gives us the setting of the poemnature in spring. The says this first green is actually gold indicating the colours of trees when they start blooming. Line 2 Her hardest hue to hold. Now that our speaker has told us that nature is gold before it's green, he goes on to say that gold is the hardest hue, or colour, for nature to hold, or keep. So the first colour we see in spring doesn't stick around very long.

Analysis of the Poem

Line 3 Her early leaf's a flower; The speaker wants to be clear here, so he's going to elaborate on what he was talking about in Line 1. In spring, trees and bushes bloom with gorgeous flowers, which are replaced by green leaves in the summer. Line 4 But only so an hour. This line completes the alternating structure of the first four lines. If nature's first green, gold, doesn't stick around long, then it only makes sense that the first version of the leaf, which is the flower, doesn't stick around long either. Or, Frost could be talking about how, when the sun comes up, everything is golden and flower-like. But then, when the sun gets high in the sky and everything becomes its normal colour, what once looked like golden flowers now look like what they truly aregreen leaves.

Analysis of the Poem

Line 5 Then leaf subsides to leaf. This line shows us what happens after the early leaf is no longer figuratively a flowerit becomes a true leaf. The use of the word "subsides" implies that the speaker thinks that the first leafthe flower of sortswas better than the actual leaf. The first leaf had to stoop down, or lower itself, to become the second one. Going with our two interpretations, this means that either spring blooms and flowers are more beautiful than the full leaves of summer, or that leaves in the early morning are much prettier than leaves at midday. Line 6 So Eden sank to grief, The "so" at the beginning of the line means "just as," which means that in line, the speaker is comparing mankind's fall from the Garden of Eden to the change from gold to green he described in the first half of the poem.

Analysis of the Poem

Line 7 So dawn goes down to day. This line is yet another comparison to the colours of spring turning from gold to green, and the fall of Adam and Eve, but this time, dawn is going down to day. The use of the word "down" in this line makes us think isn't the sun supposed to rise in the morning? Wouldn't dawn rise up to day? Well, yes, literally, the sun does come up. But the speaker prefers dawn. Day is at a lower level because, possibly, it's lost the freshness and colour of the dawn. Line 8 Nothing gold can stay. This last line connects us back to the title and reminds us of the only other mention of gold in this poem, which is in the first line. The line neatly wraps up all the metaphors: early spring leaves and flowers, the Garden of Eden, and dawn are all gold, and none of them can stay for very long in this world.

Analysis of the Poem

The Title: Nothing Gold can Stay Gold here is metaphorical for all the things that are of high value, so we can assume that poem is using figurative language throughout. The title also already sums up the meaning of the whole poem.

Wordplay
WORDPLAY WORDPLAY MEANING MEANING EXAMPLES EXAMPLES
these who die hardest like cattle Line 2: Her hue to SIMILE something/someone with PERSONIFICATION comparing Giving human characteristics to something/someone similar animals or non living objects.

hold.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid Line 1: green is gold rattle
rifles' rapid rattle

PERSONIFICATION

ALLITERATION

Giving human characteristics to the use of words that begin with animals or non living objects.

ALLITERATION

the same sound near one the use of words that begin with the another
same sound near one another

METAPHORS
CONSONANTS

a word or phrase for one thing Line 3: Her early leaf's a repetition of consonants especially pallor of girls' brows shall that is used to refer to another at The flower; the endin oforder stressed without thing to syllables show or suggest be their pall the similar of vowels that they correspondence are similar
a word or phrase for one thing that is reference outside used to referto tosomething another thing in of itself, whether another work order to show or suggest that they of similar literature, something from are The shrill demented choirs of Line 6: So Eden sank to wailing shells;

METAPHORS

ALLUSIONS

grief,

pop culture, a song, myth, history, or even the visual arts.

Wordplay
MEANING IMAGERY Figurative language that causes people to imagine pictures in their mind EXAMPLES Nature imagery is found throughout the poem.

SYMBOLS

Something that stands for Gold is a symbol of something else by reason something valuable in of relationship, association, life. convention, or accidental resemblance

Rhyme, Form & Meter

WORDPLAY In the Poem Example

Rhyme
Form

The rhyme scheme (AABBCCDD)

Rhyming couplet: Every two lines rhymes. Iambic trimeter: Stresses on 2nd syllable. Repeated 3 times in a line. Trochee: This metrical foot is made up of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable, as in DUMda

Gold & Hold, Flower & Hour

Lines 1&2, Lines 3&4

Meter

Lines 2-7

1st & Last Line

Relating to the Poem

Think of situations youve been in that made you happy but didnt last as long as youd like.
Your first love/ crush Your childhood Your schooling days.