Nothing Gold Can Stay

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Nothing Gold Can Stay
By Robert Frost

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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
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Nothing Gold Can Stay

• was written by Robert Frost.
• was originally published in Frosts 1923 Volume,
  New Hampshire.
• is one of Frosts many famous poems alongside
  Fire and Ice and The Road Not Taken.

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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?

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Her hardest hue to hold.
a) What is a "hue"? b) Does nature have a hard
time "holding" on to green? ( just think dont
answer, yet)
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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 hourwhat is Frost saying here?

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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?
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So Eden sank to grief.
a) What is "Eden"? b) What is meant by the
reference to "grief"?
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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.
a) What do the words in red indicate to you? b)
Why do you think Frost chose them?
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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"?

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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?
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Rhythm

• the rhythm of this poem is mostly iambic
  trimeter.
• Natures first green is gold,
• Her hardest hue to hold.
• Her early leafs a flower
• But only so an hour.

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Rhyme Scheme

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

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Sound Device Alliteration

• Her hardest hue to hold.
• Her early leafs a flower
• So dawn goes down to day.
• In lines two, three and seven the author utilizes
  alliteration.

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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.

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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.

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Figurative Language Personification

• Natures 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.

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Figurative Language Metaphor

• An example of a metaphor in this poem is
• Her early leafs a flower
• Here, Frost is comparing two alike things the
  leaf and the flower.

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Poetic Device Imagery

• So dawn goes down to day.
• Natures first green is gold,
• Frost is appealing to the readers sense of sight.

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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