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.
Notes
Composition date is unknown - the above date represents the first publication date.
The lyrical form of this poem is couplets.
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Comments
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From guest Maddie (contact)
I dont think this poem has anything to do with aging as most people think. I think it is about enjoying beautiful things for what they are and not trying to hang on to them or linger but simply appreciate the time you have with them. People try so hard to hold on to things instead of just living in the moment. -
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Great. Anyone's life summarised in perfect melancholy.
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poem
From guest emily (contact)
this is one of my favorite poems i first found it when i read the outsiders which is now one of my favorite books -
everybody dies at one time
From guest Thaye Chograb (contact)
This is my favourite poem as it speaks about the transitory nature of everything in this earth. we like to rregain our beauties and youth but we fail to do so as the time went by. nature is green in her young age. she attains her beauty with the grouth of flowers. but she soon has to meet the dry season with death coming to them. hum,an being are beautiful when they attain handsmoely growth but have to meet the dacay witout exception. in fact no body is gold to themselve. evrything is subjected to death and decay. no inh the life has meaning in it. in fact, life itself has no meaning at all. thus, it is useless to live unless we live in happy and with satisfaction. -
Nothing Gold Can Stay
From guest Cassie (contact)
I will admit that this isn't my favorite Frost poem. We are doing Frost analyzing of symbolism in my 9th grade English class and this was one of the poems. I think it is meant to be about the cycle of life. How there is a life, it is lived, then it becomes extinct and then another life begins. -
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so short. So beautiful and clear.
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From guest Brittany (contact)
such a profound poem. In few lines, he says so much. again, I did a literary analysis on this poem, and through all of that stress and...everything, this poem is still my favorite poem Rober Frost has ever written. I love his meaning and the way he hides it. Another genius piece of work that touches so many people. I keep this poem in mind everyday. It's like my life motto, though it's not really a motto. Nothing can stay, we are born, we grow old, loose our innocence, loose everything (be it material or not), and we die. God is an indian giver.< -
From guest Danielle Hodson contact)
He's saying that our innocence, our purity.... it won't last. Life will end, but before it does, these precious gifts will already be gone. -
From guest chris majors (contact)
he meant beauty is cherished for time. A princple we seem to overlook to throw ourselfs into work life we seem to forget that beauty fades. -
I just read the outsider
From guest isamar (contact)
I like the book and the poem it just goes together and it was the best poem I ever read and is true that nothing gold could stay.Our youth, our inocent and pure soul nothing like that, nothing gold could stay -
i love it
From guest Carla (contact)
i read the outsiders at skool and i absolutly loved it it is the best book i have ever read n i learn't the poem in % mins i loved it so much -
i just read the outsiders
From guest Tyler Meldrum (contact)
wow i read the outsiders 3 years in a row and i think that part of it is the beast cause everyone can realte to it i love that pome -
From guest Christel (contact)
I think that this is a really good poem and it explains a lot of things. If you read it over and over, it starts to make sense and you start to understand it beter. -
Simple
From guest Celeste (contact)
the best part about this poem is that everyone can understand it because it is such an elementary theme- but so important. -
to guest julie
From guest amber (contact)
I think he remembered it because he saw the sunrise and made him remember -
English
From guest Chelsea Mort (contact)
Hello your poem is good you are an exelent sory about the spelling -
From guest julie (contact)
i also love this poem i was just wondering why do you think ponyboy rembered this poem? -
From guest britt (contact)
over the centuries writers and artists have used gold as a symbol of perfection. To understand this title lyric, you nee dto know about two other literary accounts: the Bibical account of Adam and Eve's loss of innocence and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden; and, innocent happiness that was an image of paradice for the ancient Greeks and Romans. -
life
From guest Megan Holley (contact)
the poem expresses how great it is to be a child and that you should stay gold instead of growing up intsintly and waitng for something good to happen to you cause when your a kid you go out and do adveturous things and try accomplish things on your own thats why kids always say they want to do things on there own i think in my opinion that it expresses inoccence -
crystaldust 28-01-07 17:00
I love this poem. I like his longer poems but his short ones encapsulate so much they seem to be carved in crystal. Love this. -
First couplet
What was green (Spring leaves=Youth) is now gold (Autumn leaves=old age).
second
Life is short
third
Life renews (leaf to leaf) in Eden Adam and Eve coupled and so renewed life (and this usurpation of his power angered God)
Fourth
Dawn goes through day to night =Birth-Life-Death
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A good poem
From guest Someone (contact)
It took my teachers help to make me under stand it. I think it meant like when we were kids probably. Being a child, I don't know... Things have beauty that That nobody can judge, we miss our purity. We can't stay children forever, we have to grow up I think Johnny Boy was saying something (I don't know) 'Don't follow in my footsteps, make a difference because you have a better chance' I was kinda surprised that Ponyboy didn't understand why his brother wanted whats best for him instead of being mean Well I don't know -
The Outsider
From guest 8th grader (contact)
Johnny and Ponyboy watches a sunrise and use this poem to describe this poem. -
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the outsiders
From guest jordan (contact)
i love this poem its one of my favorites and its always stuck with me -
lolumakemelaugh
From guest isha (contact)
i peronally love this poem its great even though its eight lines it holds a lot of messages about life ...luv it -
Ah now this is poetry
One of the very best by him in my opinion -
A Wonderful Piece
This is such a wonderful piece. I think the first time I heard it I loved it. Frost had such talent. -
poignant expression in vividly crisp words... deep reflections through captivating imagery...
it speaks about the beauty of innocence... which transcends everything and is precious ... yet a very transient phase of life...
and when the innocence is outgrown... then everything becomes the same...
maybe God wanted to preserve it... in the adam and eve story ... but the innocence was lost... due to temptation...
'so eden sank to grief...'
thats why the poet regrets ... that the precious phase of life doesnt stay long... as everyone outgrows their innocence.
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frozen in time.... pure gold
i don't believe it...
even with "her hardest hue to hold", may be true in and of itself, but it also implies it has 'holdability'...
the holding i would have to do is the holding of the purity/essence of that momemnt.. and recognition of that same 'feeling/idea' in everything else encompassed until that 'moment' returns once again...
and the cycle is complete...
hold on to that thought, that all is gold, not just the gold it self... and you shall hold the key of gold and you have found the wealth -
makes one ponder
This is another sad and beautiful write that I have gotten the chance to read tonight. "Nothing gold can stay." That is so true. If I could cry I would be crying at this poem. It has deeply deeply touched me. -
robert frost has a intersting way of making nature dark
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this is so true about life. there are so many things that we do that is vain. so many temporary things, but nothing gold can stay.
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Incredible
Geesh. He makes his case so poignant and succinctly that it's almost unhuman. -
EXCELLENT POEM
I love this poem. I love that it shows how fleeting youth and beauty are, how short life is really. It says so much in so few words. A real classic. It makes me feel like living my life to the fullest while I can. -
this is one of my favorate poems, I first read it in the outsiders which is my favorate book, and I always loved it It got me interested in other robert frost poems!!!
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I, like many people who have commented on this poem, saw it in The Outsiders. This poem is genius! It went especially well in The Outsiders. I liked it very much. It also is kind of sad. It says that all good things have to come to an end.
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Makes you wonder why we don't hold on to the moments in our lives that are golden... why we let them subside... We have to appreciate the moments we have before they fade away... because, like Frost says, 'Nothing gold can stay"... This is one of my favorite of Frost's poems... and I thoroughly enjoyed its use in The Outsiders... the meaning of Frost's words were captured so vividly through its use.
~Andrew -
im a frost freak from way back. guess he makes sense to me, cause im from NH. All his poems make me long for the tree-laden youth that i once had. I think 'Gold' is the one that makes me long the hardest, for "nothing gold can stay..." ahhh. mmmm.
jenn -
don't even remember this in the outsiders, oh well, didn't really like that book. Beautifully crafted poem though. Masterful use of couplets and conscise wording. Simple and lovely.
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I love this poem it's from outsiders the used it well
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this is my favorite poem EVER! i love it! me and my friends have arguments on what Robert Frost meant by it. and to Kikyo....... yeah I saw it on The Outsiders, but no thats not where i got it.
~Jessica -
You got that off the Outsiders right? I think most of us did.
Edited on Feb 06, 5:59 p.m. because ''. -
i like it i like it a lot
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OMFG!!!!!! THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORETESTEST POEMS EVER!!!!! IT'S SOOOO COOL TO FIND IT HERE LOL!!!! ANYWHO, JUST THOUGHT I'D LET YOU KNOW THAT!!!! WELL OK, BYE!!!!!
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I first learned about this poem in the movie The Outsiders. I loved it so much I started to read more of Robert Frosts stuff. Wonderful indeed!!
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Thats a great poem. I actually just heard it recited in school the other day for finals. Our Speaking teacher is making everyone present poems or prose. Lol its very intresting he requires some tone change and facial expressions but few do it.
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great poem
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I love this poem it really makes you think about the good times you've had and the good times you've been waiting for.
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I always liked the poem, but when they used it in "The Outsiders", I really took a second look at it. It is as close to perfect as anything ever written, I think. I can't find a flaw anywhere from start to finish.
Jim Dunlap -
truth is subjective
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Well we do all take poems the way we want to so noone can really be wrong with how they take the meaning. I first red this in English...we were the only class that didnt get time to read the outsiders..instead we read the stupid boring coppersunrise (it still amazes me how someone can spend more then one day..in fact a month reading that book) I didnt really appreciate the poem then but i wasnt given the right to enjoy it on my own. Amazing and always relevent
ZIGGY -
sorry but none of you got the total meaning of this poem you all saw the up front message but it go's deaper than that. what frost is trying to say is, your gold when your young,every thing is fresh and new but nothing ever stays fresh it starts to fade "nothin gold can stay"
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Um...This is one of the only poes with rhyme that i love and don't get bored of reading. The color symbols are beautiful to me, and the word usage still rivets me. After years of having read this poem, i havent gotten tired of it. I LOVE how he uses so, in 2 lines. LOL.
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....it means that nothing beautiful in life is here for ever, I.E Love, Marriage, High School, Childhood.....um..its subjective, im sure thats how most of us see it.
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I love this poem. In my opinon it's one of Frost's Greatest works ever. I think it's about how good moments last only so long before they back into regualr moments agian. And did all of you find out about this one from the outsider?
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the outsiders is a great book. it holds friendship, survival, and a struggle for the Curtis brothers to keep together. the poem written by Robert Frost means that something really good cant stay long.
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Timelessly Superb
I read this poem in 'The Outsiders' too. I had to read it for an English project two years ago - I am so glad I did.
Plus when Johnny died in the book and his last words were "Stay gold Ponyboy, stay gold..." it made me cry.
(Yes I am sad enough to remember the line. 
) For those who haven't read 'The Outsiders' (why not??) it's by S. E. Hinton if my memory serves - it's definitely by Hinton - go read it now! Its well worth it. 
It still holds the magic for me it did when I first read it (Hinton's book and Frost's poem) so much symbolised by nature in so few words. Superb. Now why can't everyone write like that?
lynn xXx
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This is by far one of my favoret pems by Robert Frost within this poem there is much that you can learn. Sometimes things that are good dont stay but when they leave they are always more to come. Sometimes you just have to take the good with the bad and you know.
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Johnathan
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As usual Frost has a lot of depth and meaning symbolised by nature, nothing lasts, no one can hold the gold, time stands for none, but I am glad that we have memory in which to hold those precious moments frozen forever and let us make the most of the golden times.
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don't touch it!
Good old mesage of: 'nothing lasts forever' good example again, by Frost. Excellent! ~CWM -
This is my favorite poem!!!!
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It means simply that the 'gold' moments of life are short, as in the bloom of a flower, or a sunset, or a memorable time, never to return, in the same way, again. It could be life itself, or a moment remembered. It is an individual's experience that determines the 'gold.'
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I read this poem in The Outsiders and i thought that it was really good
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