Robert Frost-Nothing Gold Can Stay.

Matt Taflinger

Analysis

Poetry/Nothing Gold Can Stay

The initial reaction I had towards, Nothing Gold Can Stay, by Robert Frost was very positive, in a sense that I felt I knew exactly what the poem was about. I noticed that Frost was writing about nature, more specifically about the transformation from dawn to day. The first line, as well as the last line has the word gold in it. The word is used in two different ways in the first line, and then eventually in the last line. “Natures first green is gold” is the first line of the poem, describing the beginning of the day, or the beginning of a new life. “Nothing gold can stay” is the last line of the poem describing how everything good comes to an end. In this poem I believe Frost is describing the progression from life to death.

The purpose of the poem is to describe the difference of life and death, as well as the progression from the beginning of life to eventually dying. The intended audience for this piece of poetry is anybody who can comprehend what point Frost is trying to get across by writing this piece. The tone of the poem is very reserved, it seems that Frost was holding something back as he was writing this. The voice is very soft and tranquil. It is a written piece of art.

2 Questions about the poem:

-What is the poem about?

-Why did frost choose to write a poem about nature?

Analysis Model:

-What is the poem about?

-I believe the poem is about life and death.

-The poem, Nothing Gold Can Stay, by Robert Frost is about the transition and progression from life to death.

I.               Thesis: The poem, Nothing Gold Can Stay, by Robert Frost is about the transition and progression from life to death. The first time reading through the poem I felt a sense of melancholy from the first line to the last. It’s as if Frost wrote the poem while he was an elderly man and he used the words to describe how fast his life progressed. The poem is very short, only being eight lines but it does describe the circle of life very completely.

II.             Supporting Evidence #1

A.              The first two lines of the poem depict the early stages of life.

B.             The third and fourth lines of Nothing Gold Can Stay deal with the rapid pace that people grow into themselves, and eventually become adults.

III.             Supporting Evidence #2

A.              In the fifth and sixth lines of the poem, Frost describes the latter years in life, by describing the normalcy of middle life and realization of death that people go through.

B.             The last two lines clearly describe death, by using the death of dawn to day as a metaphor for dying and the afterlife.

IV.             Supporting Evidence #3

A.            The poem describes the process of life in order, moving from birth to death.

B.             Frost uses nature and more specifically a flower, it’s leaves and then finally the beginning of a new day to describe the progression of life to death.

 V.            Supporting Evidence #4

 A.             “Natures first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold.”

 B.              Frost is simplifying the fact that childhood goes by fast, it’s the hardest to hold because once you live it, you look back upon it and realize how fast it truly went. He also stresses the fact that it is the best time in your life which adds to childhoods importance.

VI.            Supporting Evidence #5

 A.             “Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief,”

 B.            These two lines are the only two where the meaning isn’t very clear to me. Although Eden is a exotic garden mentioned in the Bible, I can’t pinpoint a clear connection with the text and Frost’s intended meaning.  

VII.             Conclusion

II.             A.             Frost successfully uses nature, and the world around us to describe the progression of life, and then finally death. It is clear throughout the poem that Frost uses nature as a metaphor for growing up, from a child to an adult. It is apparent that the ending of Frost’s poem deals directly with old age and eventually death. He uses imagery throughout, describing nature, more specifically plants and images of early morning and then eventually daytime. This poem evokes many different emotions during different parts of the poem. I felt this poem was very melancholic. Frost seems to dwell upon the fact that life is short, and one needs to cherish every day.