“Nothing Gold Can Stay”

Allusion and the loss of

innocence in The

Outsiders

“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.

Allusion

When a writer talks about or mentions

someone else’s work in their own story, poem,

etc…, that’s called an allusion.

S.E. Hinton does this because she talks about

Robert Frost’s poem in her own book.

There are common sources for allusions in

literature.

The most common is the Bible; the second is

Shakespeare’s work.

Which appears in “Nothing Gold Can Stay”?

“Nothing Gold Can Stay”

by Robert Frost

Use the poem and your brains to answer the following questions.

What is nature’s first green? When does that usually happen?

The second line means it’s hard for things to stay that way. Why do you think he says that?

What flower is the poet talking about in the 3rd line?

“Nothing Gold Can Stay”

by Robert Frost

Use the poem and your brains to answer the following questions.

Subsides in line 5 means to die down or slowly go away. What do you think it’s talking about?

How does subsides fit with the allusion to Eden?

How often does dawn turn to day? What does that tell you?

Suggest a meaning for the line “nothing gold can stay.”