Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost

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.


Biography

- Born in San Francisco on March 26, 1874.
- Moved to New England at the age of 11.
- Became interested in reading and writing poetry during his high school years in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
- Went to Dartmouth College in 1892, and later at Harvard.
- Never got a formal degree.
- His first professional poem was "My Butterfly"
- Was published on November 8, 1894, in the New York newspaper The Independent.
- One of his major inspirations was his wife, Elinor Miriam White.
- When he moved to England, he became close friends with a poet, Ezra Pound, who helped him with him work.
- When he returned to the US in 1915, he had published two full collections (A Boy's Will and North of Boston).
- By the 1920's, he was the most celebrated Poet in America.
- Much of his work is associated with the landscape and life of New England.
- Also, a lot of his work shows irony.
- Lived and taught for many years in Massachusetts and Vermont.
- Frost died in Boston on January 29, 1963.


Reflection

When I first read this poem, my immediate reaction was realizing how descriptive the writing was. This poem can be interpreted in many ways. When I read it, I saw it as conveying the message that good things can only stay for so long. In this case, "Nature's first green is gold" can be explaining how the first signs of something good are incredibly valuable, no matter how small they are. However, when one achieves something good, the hardest thing is to keep it and hold on to it. As the poem continues, the line "Then leaf subsides to leaf" can be seen as everything in nature has turned to green, and that first green leaf, that gold, is no longer unique and just starts to blend in with its new green surrounding. This relates to how something exciting can be so different and special, but after a little while, it gets old and is no longer as valuable. most noticeable int this poem is the imagery that Frost uses, which paints a vivid image in the reader's mind. Also, there is no rhyme, and the sentences are short, putting the point right across rather than using 10 lines to make one sentence.