Beauty in Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay”
In the poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay”, Robert Frost illustrates how beauty fades and does not last forever. Throughout this poem Frost shows how nature begins in a beautiful manner and slowly goes away as time moves on. Beauty is shown in how green is considered gold, how the leaf diminishes, and how dawn goes down to day.
To begin with, beauty is displayed in the beginning lines of the poem, “Nature’s first green is gold”. This illustrates how nature, such as dawn, is most beautiful at its beginning. The gold represents how valuable and precious we perceive nature to be. From the point of view of Jeffrey Meyers,” the opening lines represent how either nature’s first green in the springtime has now turned to gold or that nature’s first growth is golden.” (Modern American Poetry, P.5, Meyers) From the point of view of Mordecai Marcus,” the first lines signify how the pale green leaves of early spring are gold-like in their light-reflecting tints as well as in their preciousness and promise.” (Modern American Poetry, P.5, Marcus) The first two lines signify how the beauty of nature is the hardest to hold at its beginning.
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In lines three and four of the poem, it talks about how the leaf is only a flower for a short period of time, then it begins to diminish to something less than what it started out as. The leaf is now a leaf and no longer a flower. From the point of view of Mordecai Marcus, “the green-gold leaves darken quickly, a change that symbolizes the brevity of all ideal heights. Mordecai refers to John R. Doyle, who points out that the word “subsides” provides the poems point of balance.” (Modern American Poetry, P.5, Marcus) These lines signify how even gold can lose its’
The poem states that everything eventually comes to an end and that not even gold can remain unchanged. The poem explains this theme with many metaphors about everything that’s coming to an end. Freeman explains that “Even the poem's rhymes contribute to this sense of inevitability: Nature's gold we (or She) cannot hold; the flower lasts only an hour; the post flower leaf is like Eden's grief; the coming of day means that dawn's gold cannot stay”(2). The poem explains that everything has a natural cycle and that nothing lasts forever. When the poem states “nothing can stay gold”, Frost looks back at the flower and the time of day and implies that it all comes to an end.
The poem ‘Gold’ by Pat Mora shows us that anyplace that may seem creepy or not satisfactory can be beautiful in it’s own way. This poem contains a couple of examples of figurative language. First, when they say the sun is painting the desert, or the wind is running, those are both examples of personification in ‘Gold’. Second, when the poem said, “arms as wide as the sky”, and, “like a hawk extends her wings”, those are examples of similes because it says like or as. When I read the poem it reminded my of the novel we read last year, Star Girl, this is because of the Arizona type climate Pat Mora was explaining, is just like the setting of Star Girl. I could really sense the freedom in the setting. The readers can feel his message of beauty
Adding on to the previous paragraph, Frost in the poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” Frost uses an allusion in “So Eden sank to grief So dawn goes down to day Nothing gold can stay”(lines 6-8). This is an allusion because it refers to the story of Adam and Eve in which both are in paradise but are soon thrown out after giving in to temptation. This helps to convey the
First, tone is a very important aspect of the poem “Thanatopsis.” While reading the poem, the reader may feel a slight change in the tone of the poem. At first the poem seems as though it were about nature and its beauty. For example, in the poem Bryant writes “She has a voice of gladness, and a smile/And eloquence of beauty, and she glides.”(4-5) Here, the tone is happy and elegant. Also, the reader is under the impression that nature is a safe and beautiful place. However, as the reader continues on, one may notice a sudden shift in tone. Bryant writes, “Into his darker musings, with a mild/And gentle sympathy, that steals away/ Their sharpness, ere he is aware.”(6-8) Here, the tone shifts to dark and gloomy. Throughout the poem Bryant uses numerous words or phrases that relate to death. One very noticeable instance of this is in lines nine and 11. Bryant uses the words such as shroud, pall, and narrow house. Shroud and pall are both word related to coffins. A shroud is a cloth used to wrap a body before burial. A pall is the cover to a coffin. This depicts the sinist...
The flowers around her seem to be, “frothing with delight.” To Janie, the passion in the world around her is so great that it is overbearing. The flowers are overflowing with pleasure, as if the goodness of the world was an uncontainable force, reeking out of every living thing. At this moment, Janie’s sole focus is gaining sexual experiences, so even in her fleeting moments she only sees in beauty and sexual pleasure in everything around her, playing off of her own yearnings. The world Janie sees is basking in the, “gold of the sun.” The sun is what ties all of what Janie sees together. It touches every living creature and glistens off the surface of each and every leaf. The sun is a source of warmth and welcome to all that it touches, tieing them all together in one golden hue. Gold is also a metaphor for value and wealth. With the sun reaching every aspect of the image created within the passage, it is giving it value thus glorifying it in Janie’s eyes to portray her desire to understand more of what happens around her. The passage ends referring to the “singing of the world.” Playing off of the depiction of music presented earlier with the flute, the world around Janie is characterized to have an imperishable happiness presented through constant music and harmony between the elements, an image that draws on her eagerness to take part in the joy and singing surrounding her, almost as if the her surroundings are consuming her and making her one with
The poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” means that nothing good can stay, in other words, you won’t always have that goodness and innocence within you. The poem begins when you are first born, which is when you are gold, innocent and pure of heart, but as you mature you commence to make dreadful decisions. As you continue making bad decisions your gold begins to dwindle because you are no longer pure of heart, for you have now committed several sins. These sins include being rude and disrespectful, having envy of others and much more dreadful decisions one may take. Essentially being the meaning of the poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay”.
The poem "Nothing Gold can Stay" deals with a real world problem that can't be solved. Things that are good and make people happy, don't always last very long. Of course everyone can remember when times were good, but change is a natural part of life. Some changes can be nice, but some can also lead to disappointment. It's all normal and happens no matter what. For example, The Outsiders and The Teacher Who Changed my Life both have proof of this occurrence. On one case, Ponyboy didn't have a perfect life to begin with, but things just go worse. For Nicholas Gage, he lived in a harsh environment, and when his wonderful mother tried to make it better, things fell. It always happens.
Johnny, the meekest member of the Greasers, is slightly built, with big-black eyes in a dark tanned face and long, jet-black hair heavily greased and combed to the side. He has the appearance of "a little dark puppy that has been kicked too many times and is lost in a crowd of strangers." He always seems to be cringing and uncertain of himself, largely because he is a battered child. His father frequently beats him, and his mother ignores him except to scream at him about something. As a result, the Greasers are always trying to protect Johnny. Dally, in particular, watches out for him, and Johnny, in return, idolizes him; therefore, it is very surprising when Johnny tells Dally not to bother Cherry Valence. Obviously, Johnny has the moral
Everything that is ever perfect only lasts a limited amount of time. Robert Frost, in his poem, Nothing Gold Can Stay, explains with very few words what it may interpret, yet the reader must look beyond the exterior of the poem to discover the underlying message that Frost intelligently disguised. To begin with, Frost’s first two lines are, “Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold.” these lines could be taken that a perfect moment in life, is like a sunrise, it is superb the few seconds it lasts. Next, in the poem is, “Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour.” this may sense that when in Outsiders Ponyboy and
Robert Frost’s intricate meanings are stated in such a way that the reader must dwell so much deeper into the poem than one does when one just reads the poem. The poet has a major theme in all of his poems and that theme is nature. Nature is something that Frost could always relate to. In nature Frost sees life, people, and situations in life. In the poem “After Apple-Picking”, he uses the situation of a man picking an apple as another lesson on life. Picking apples is tedious work where one must observe and pick the ripest apples...
In his poem, “Nothing Gold Can Stay”, poet Robert Frost communicates the idea that everything created in the cosmos which is pure and possesses the beauty of gold can’t be put at a halt. It will lose its glow or purity at one time or the other. He reveals this idea through the use of a metaphor. Through lines one and five of his poem, he compares the nature’s leaves to a golden and beautiful sighted moment that doesn’t last long enough so that we can enjoy its bright view every day, and ultimately it all withers away through its color and appearance. “Nature’s first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold.” In these lines, Robert Frost explains the meaning that the glistening green color of the nature when all its leaves bloom is a flourishing sight, but it’s a radiant color that is hard to be hold. In line six, he uses an allusion to Adam and Eve’s story. “So Eden sank to grief.” This line expands on the idea that purity is another thing that can’t remain forever. When Eve ate from the tree of knowledge, Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden and that created consequences...
The Tragic Impermanence of Youth in Robert Frost's Nothing Gold Can Stay In his poem "Nothing Gold can Stay", Robert Frost names youth and its attributes as invaluable. Using nature as an example, Frost relates the earliest green of a newborn plant to gold; its first leaves are equated with flowers. However, to hold something as fleeting as youth in the highest of esteems is to set one's self up for tragedy. The laws of the Universe cast the glories of youth into an unquestionable state of impermanence.
The title of the poem is ironic, because The "White Roses" suggest youth, beauty and innocence. The poem starts with a slew "Outside the Green Velvet sitting room" This suggests luxury and wealth. The use of the colour green is also very indicative, because the colour green suggests spring and fertility and overall health. This is in contrast with the theme of the poem, which is supposed to be one of death, but in actuality, it is.
“Education is the key!! Always remember that”. These are the words that my mother said to me at a very early age. Getting an education was like receiving a gold nugget, but not to keep for myself. Once I received it, it was my duty to reach back and help someone else to see the value. As I continued on my journey of receiving gold nuggets, I came across many individuals, and situations that either did not value gold nuggets (an education), did not value reaching back to show others the value (mentoring), or valued gold nuggets, but only for certain individuals, while others feel like second class (suburban schools vs. urban/rural schools). It is 2015 and there is still a universal divide among our schools and communities overall.
In the first stanza, the poet seems to be offering a conventional romanticized view of Nature: