Each part of the cycle brings a new aesthetic that is both new and familiar, different, and the same. Plants sprout, bud, grow, wither, and die. As mentioned above, nature adheres to a strict pattern. Here the writer is describing that the first blossoms of spring are replaced.
Metaphorically, that early beauty endures for such a brief and fleeting time that it could seem like it only really lasts for an instant. On the literal level, the reader knows that the springtime blossoms last more than a mere hour. This line refers to “her early leaf” from the preceding one. In other words, spring itself, is lovely as a flower. Metaphorically, the writer is saying that the earliest leaves are as beautiful as a flower. In that, literal, respect, the statement is completely accurate. Obviously, in spring the trees will bud and flower before growing back their leaves. This line of ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’ is both a statement of fact and a metaphor. It is impossible to keep a plant green forever, as any gardener knows. In winter, life is buried under a sea of white. In fall, the leaves wither, change colors, and fall to earth. The second explains that the green of spring cannot last. The “hue” is of course “green” as explained in the first line. “Her” refers to nature, often personified as a woman or mother. The soft beauty of spring soon fades to summer and beyond. It is of course a fleeting beauty the seasons will inevitably march on. The poet is saying that the commonly accepted beauty of the first buds of green shooting up after a long winter is worth as much as gold. I believe that ‘Nature’s first green’ refers to spring. ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’ begins with a simple statement. The rhymes coming at the end of each line in couplets, following a pattern: aa, bb, cc, dd.
There are no words in this piece with more than three syllables, for instance.Įven the rhyme scheme is simplistic. You must be signed in to save work in this lesson.‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’ is an example of how Robert Frost used common American and rural imagery to discuss complex topics. How does the meaning of the poem act as foreshadowing for what will happen to Johnny? In the space below, compare the Frost poem with Johnny’s final quote. You still have a lot of time to make yourself be what you want. And don't be so bugged over being a greaser. I don't think he's ever really seen a sunset. He'll probably think you're crazy, but ask for me. It's just when you get used to everything that it's day. When you're a kid everything's new, dawn. “I've been thinking about it, and that poem, that guy that wrote it, he meant you're gold when you're a kid, like green. This quote from Johnny is one of the most famous instances of figurative language in the novel. Johnny never forgets the poem, and talks to Pony about it as he’s lying in his hospital bed after the fire. In chapter 5, while they were hiding in the church together, Ponyboy recited for Johnny a Robert Frost poem entitled, “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” Johnny is deeply moved by the way the poem says exactly the way he felt about the gold and silver mist as it disappeared with the sunrise they’d watched through the church door. Throughout the novel, Hinton has used foreshadowing to alert us that something tragic will happen to Johnny, and the careful reader will notice that several of these instances of foreshadowing deal with the phrase, “Stay gold.”