"Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost (1923)

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.

Response # 11:

Robert Frost’s poem, "Nothing Gold Can Stay," refers to the transience and finiteness of mortality. He uses plants as a metaphor for all of life, describing the beauty and intrinsic value of God’s creations. Frost starkly contrasts the vibrantly colorful diction present in the opening line by introducing the theme of fatality in the second line: "Nature’s first green is gold, / Her hardest hue to hold." As the greenness of a plant is characteristic of life, Frost’s implication that Nature must struggle to retain her existence is both disheartening and true. Too many humans the world and its wonders for granted, even more so in the 21st century than in 1923, when Frost wrote "Nothing Gold Can Stay". The recurrence of death as a theme suggests that Frost dwells mainly on the loss of precious life, but he does speak to rebirth, saying, "Then leaf subsides to leaf." This line references the circle of life and the ever-present reminders that some life must die to make room for new life. Though as humans we can find sorrow in the loss of others, Robert Frost’s poem, "Nothing Gold Can Stay" reaffirms the necessity that we must also recognize the beauty and value of all life on earth.