"Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost

"Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost

Robert Frost (1874-1963) was one of the most popular and critically respected American poets in history. His poems frequently employ rural scenes from the New England countryside. As you read the poem, take notes on the use of imagery in the poem.

"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.

Nothing gold can stay.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following best identifies a theme of the poem?

• Love is unpredictable and inconsistent.

• The most beautiful moments of life are brief.

• Perfection and paradise are unattainable.

• It is dangerous to forget that we will all die at some point.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is the mood of the poem?

• happy and carefree

• angry and hostile

• sad/pensive and gloomy

• anxious and stressed

Multiple Choice

Which words from the poem support the mood?

• green and gold

• leaf and flower

• subsides and grief

• dawn and day

Multiple Choice

What is the poem's rhyme pattern? (RL 8.5)

• ABAB

• ABCABC

• AABBCCDD

• AABBCCAA

Multiple Choice

Frost writes: “Her early leaf's a flower;/But only so an hour.” The idea of a flower being a leaf for only an hour is a good example of which literary device?

• hyperbole

• Irony

• personification

• symbolism

Multiple Choice

What according to nature is gold?

• Its first gold

• Its first green

• Its last green

• Early leaves

Multiple Choice

The use of gold in the poem represents all of the blessings and good things that happen in life. This is an example of:

• personification

• symbolism

• idiom

• mood

Multiple Choice

The line, “Her hardest hue to hold,” shows alliteration (repetition of the h sound). Which of the following lines in the poem also shows alliteration?

• “Her early leaf's a flower”

• “But only so an hour”

• “So dawn goes down to day”

• “Nothing gold can stay”

Multiple Choice

Who is the poet referring to when he says, "Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower"

• Johnny's mum

• Mother Nature

• Ponyboy's mum

• Eden

Multiple Choice

"Nature's first green" refers to

• summer

• leaves

• spring

• grass

Multiple Choice

This poem is mainly about

• the seasons

• flowers

• leaves

• Ponyboy

Multiple Choice

In the book, the poem is first recited

• by Johnny, in the lot-

• by Dally, at school

• by Ponyboy, in the church

• by Darry, at the funeral

Open Ended

Think about what you just read in Chapter 5 of The Outsiders, contrast the value of gold in Frost's poem with friendship in the novel. What is meant by "hardest hue to hold"? What may be difficult for Ponyboy to hold onto now that he has been involved with Johnny? Think about what different things can be equated with the values of gold. What do the characters in the novel value? What would be their "gold"?