Analysis of Robert Frost's Poem, Nothing Gold Can Stay
Robert Frost has a fine talent for putting words into poetry. Words which are normally simplistic spur to life when he combines them into a whimsical poetic masterpiece. His 'Nothing Gold Can Stay' poem is no exception. Although short, it drives home a deep point and meaning. Life is such a fragile thing and most of it is taken for granted. The finest, most precious time in life generally passes in what could be the blink of an eye. 'Nothing Gold Can Stay' shows just this. Even in such a small poem he describes what would seem an eternity or an entire lifetime in eight simple lines. Change is eminent and will happen to all living things. This is the main point of the poem and
…show more content…
as a part of the season which is known as spring; it can be assumed he means all life and all things are subject to the ravages of time. Mortality is all around us and with it the stages of all life and time pass. In terms of the opening lines, thought, youth and beauty are fleeting indeed.
Frost?s poem delves deeper into the being and essence of life with his second set of lines. The first line states, ?Her early leaf?s a flower.? After the budding and sprouting, which is the birth of nature, is growth into a flower. This is the moment where noon turns to evening, where childhood turns into maturity, and where spring turns into summer. At this very moment is the ripe and prime age of things. The young flower stands straight up and basks in the sun, the now mature teenager runs playfully in the light, and the day and sunlight peak before descending ever so quickly into dusk. The second line of the second set states, ?But only so an hour,? which makes clear that yet again time is passing by and that a beginning will inevitably have an end.
Frost moves onto autumn and shows what little life is left begins to wither and fall, or as he put it in the first line of the third set ?Then leaf subsides to leaf.? The playful spirit of the young is lost in time as age quickly pours what seems like endless duties upon adults. Things once learned are forgotten and the sun creeps slowly below the horizon. Time once again takes it toll on all things living
The poem, ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’, by Robert Frost is an important part of S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders. Explain how the poem relates to the key events in the novel.
In the poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” from Robert Frost, corruption first began in nature. The corruption in nature is first seen in the poem when “… leaf subsides to leaf” and “…dawn goes down to day” (Frost 5, 8). Frost says that nature was once so beautiful but by the conflict in the Garden of Eden it was corrupted. The conflict in the Garden of Eden was caused by corruption in humans. It seems that humans ruin everything good for the sake of themselves. Frost probably wrote this poem while sitting outside in the spring time reflecting on how people change for the worse. Face it, we all have been changed by either a middle school bully or boss, just like nature and humans were changed by corruption. Robert Frost is trying to tell the reader that good things can never stay because they soon become corrupted in nature and in humans.
Both Brooks' and Frost's works largely deal with the transitory aspect of lives that are fated, all too often, to result in premature deaths. The imagery in the former of these poems indicates the early deaths of youths who "left school" only to "die soon" (Brooks). The rapid transition from youth to the final stages of life is denoted by the fact that the poem chronicles the fate of school-aged children, or those who recently left school, who chose to revel in substance abuse which is alluded to by the reference to "gin" (Brooks). At the time that such youngsters should be celebrating life, in "June" (Brooks), when graduation comes around, they are instead fated to their early deaths. Frost details a similar concept, although instead of utilizing references to people to explore this idea, his principle imagery is that of nature. Nearly all of the
Every one of Robert Frost’s poems connects to nature. Frost ties in flowers, trees, leaves, nature paths, and many more features of nature to make readers intrigue to read the poems. “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost uses flowers and leaves to help readers better understand the poem. “The Beauty of Fall” by Lizzy Cooper, Hannah Wovna, and Mikaela Wovna uses different imagery like apple trees, pumpkins, and hilltops to draw the reader’s’ attentions to the theme. The poems, "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost and “The Beauty of Fall" by Lizzy Cooper, Hannah Wovna, and Mikaela Wovna has different imagery and literary devices, but both poems share the same overall meaning.
Similar to “After Apple-Picking’s” metaphor’s symbolism of death and inability to finish all one’s goals due to the constraints of time, “Nothing Gold Can Stay” (1923) discusses the impermanence of nature. The title itself, “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” echoes a deeper meaning. According to Deirdre Fagan, Assistant Professor for the Department of Languages and Literature at Ferris State University, in Nothing Gold Can Stay, “gold represents what is most prized, spring’s first green and first flower. But all beauty is brief.” Although spring is beautiful, it gives way to time and changes into fall. In the poem, the metaphor is anything good or beautiful must inevitably end, or “nothing gold can stay.” The poem begins with the stanza, “nature’s first
Robert Frost is the author of Nothing Gold Can Stay. Although you have to break down this poem to get the real meaning, it is based off of his point of view of politics. But, this poem can also be taken many different ways. Even though I said it was based off of politics, it can also be about nature and life.
Spring brings beautiful flowers that will bloom only to become trees and bushes taking away the first sight of beauty when summer falls. Imagine yourself in the spring time with all of the colors around you along with freshness in the air. Peace is what comes to mind only to follow up with the next line, “only for an hour”, implying that it was nice at some point but be aware that it is soon to change. “So Eden sank to grief” this is referring to the biblical story of Adam and Eve in Garden of Eden. In that
The poem at first comes off as a simple poem about spring and winter, but there are many hidden meanings as well. As well as the fear of the end of the world.
While reviewing “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, it should be noted that the key is the rhythm of the language. The first, second, and fourth sentence rime while the third sentence of each rimes with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd sentence of the next stanza. In relation with the cryptic language draws the question, there is a more sinister back drop of loneliness and depression in this poem much deeper than the level of nature orated by the Narator.
In the poem Nothing Gold Can Stay, I definitely believe that Frost had multiple themes through the poem, but the main theme that really stuck out to me was beauty does not last forever. Just from reading the title of the poem, that was the first thought that came across my mind. From the first few lines we read that the setting of the poem is somewhere in nature. Frost intended on telling his readers that everything that was once beautiful never stays long. In his second line “her hardest hue to hold” Frost was showing there that not matter how hard you try to make something last it will always leave you. This poem definitely was reminding me of death because he was saying nothing lasts forever and as humans we all know that one day we will
Regardless of its short length and appearance as a nature poem, Nothing Gold Can Stay manages to touch the soul of each reader and allow them to fully understand the mortality of life. “The poem narrates the short-lived experience of Spring’s first moments” and the transient nature of life as described by Frost (Kearney Web). Lines 1-4 describe gold as nature’s first color- its most beautiful and the hardest color to hold. In line 4, Frost analyzes how short lived this moment of pure happiness is. “This line is where the beautiful scene of flourishing nature takes a turn. Notice that it does so exactly halfway through the poem” (Birmingham Web). The momentary nature of line 4 signifies life’s greatest moments slowly beginning to end. The first half of the poem explains the beginning of nature and its most beautiful moments, yet a shift occurs in line 5 “Then leaf subsides to leaf,” showing how the moment of gold is gone and nature is simply nature once again- a different, more realistic kind of beauty. The reference to Eden in line 6 utilizes a mortality in the cycle of human life- birth, life and then eventually death. Life’s golden moments are temporary, just like the existence of a loved one or even one’s self. There are cycles of greatness and loss throughout life, as well as the poem. The poem concludes with a rhymed couplet that shows how dawn loses it’s luster and soon turns to day, showing that like the title, nothing gold can truly stay. Frost uses this poem as a felix culpa metaphor- displaying the fact that although temporary, the greatest moments would have no merit if they were not temporary. There is no good without bad and, conversely, there is no bad without good. Those golden moments in life and in the poem would never be appreciated fully if they were eternal, because there would be no ordinary
There are several likenesses and differences in these poems. They each have their own meaning; each represent a separate thing and each tell a different story. However, they are all indicative of Frost’s love of the outdoors, his true enjoyment of nature and his wistfulness at growing old. He seems to look back at youth with a sad longing.
This poem "Nothing Gold can Stay" was written by Robert Frost in 1923 . Frost was warning the possibility of the end of the world.
In Robert Frost’s poem Nothing Gold can Stay, the theme is also about death like it also is in Out Out—, as well. Yet, this poem emphasizes more about the transience of life rather than the suddenness of life ending. “Nothing Gold can Stay” is about the appreciation for the golden days while the cycle of life continues and death becomes of each and every one of us.