Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nothing Gold Can Stay By Robert Frost

NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY 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. -Robert Frost

“Nothing Gold Can Stay”… • was written by Robert Frost. • was originally published in Frost’s 1923 Volume, New Hampshire. • is one of Frost’s many famous poems alongside “Fire and Ice” and “The Road Not Taken.”

Nature's first green is gold. • What is "nature's first green"? • b) Why is it "gold"? Do you think • Frost means the color gold?

Her hardest hue to hold. a) What is a "hue"? b) Does nature have a hard time "holding" on to green? ( just think… don’t answer, yet…)

Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. • What would an "early leaf" be? • b) Why is it only that way for an hour? Is it really • an hour…what is Frost saying here?

Then leaf subsides to leaf. a) What does the word "subsides" mean? b) Knowing that a leaf bud may look like a flower at first, but actually turns into a leaf (as we know one to look like), where could Frost be going with this poem?

So Eden sank to grief. a) What is "Eden"? b) What is meant by the reference to "grief"?

NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsidesto leaf. So Eden sankto grief, So dawngoes downto day. Nothing gold can stay. a) What do the words in red indicate to you? b) Why do you think Frost chose them?

So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. We don't typically think of dawn, or a sunrise, as "going down", as we would with dusk. Why do you think Frost worded it like this? b)What is meant by "nothing gold can stay"?

NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY 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. -Robert Frost Final Question: Now that you have a better understanding of the poem, how could the messages apply to more than nature? What does it say about people and life in general?

Rhythm • the rhythm of this poem is mostly iambic trimeter. Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour.

Rhyme Scheme • the rhyme scheme in this poem is AABBCCDD; its lines form four pairs of couplets. Nature’s first green is gold, A Her hardest hue to hold. A Her early leaf’s a flower; B But only so and hour. B

Sound Device: Alliteration • Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; • So dawn goes down to day. In lines two, three and seven the author utilizes alliteration.

Sound Device: Assonance • Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, In lines five and six, Frost employs assonance in the form of the long “e” sound.

Figurative Language: Allusion • So Eden sank to grief, In the sixth line, Frost is alluding to The Garden of Eden, a setting of a biblical story.

Figurative Language: Personification Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. • In these lines of the poem, nature, a non-human thing, is said to be holding the color gold.

Figurative Language: Metaphor • An example of a metaphor in this poem is: Her early leaf’s a flower; • Here, Frost is comparing two alike things: the leaf and the flower.

Poetic Device: Imagery • So dawn goes down to day. • Nature’s first green is gold, Frost is appealing to the reader’s sense of sight.

“Nothing Gold Can Stay”… • would be a perfect poem for this textbook because of its consistent rhythm and rhyme, ideal length, and numerous examples of poetic devices such as: • Alliteration • Assonance • Allusion • Personification • Metaphor • Imagery

Nothing Gold Can Stay