"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.
"Nothing Gold Can Stay" has long been one of my favorite poems. It captures Frost at his pithy best, showing how much can be said with little. The poem imparts the theme that all good things must come to an end. It describes a precious spring-time scene that quickly loses its beauty. In doing so, Frost relates the sense of loss to the whole of the world; the ephemeral nature of that flower represents all human endeavor and experience. He also employs a biblical reference to the Garden of Eden and humankind's original fall from grace. The theme of the poem is universal: anyone can relate to the sentiment that "nothing gold can stay," in the end. I chose this poem for its potency; Frost packs it with vivid imagery and apt allusion, while maintaining a traditional verse and meter, all of which solidifies the poem as powerful and memorable.
Frost, Robert. "Nothing Gold Can Stay." New Hampshire. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 1923. Print.
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