Can anyone explain the Robert Frost poem Nothing Gold Can Stay?

Question

I have to compare it to the article Green Days by William Palmer in a short paper.

Answer 1

The movement of the poem is both simple and richly evocative. Viewed as a nature poem, "Nothing Gold Can Stay" presents the moment in early spring when the vegetative world is first breaking into blossom. In the first four lines, Frost's imagery quite literally describes how new leaves emerge as yellow or golden blossom before they develop into green leaves.

"Her early leaf's a flower," the speaker observes. This period of blossom, however, is very brief. "But only so an hour," the speaker then immediately qualifies. If the first three lines depict a world of rich beauty, the poem pivots decisively on line four.

The second half of the poem reveals the consequences of nature's fall from gold. After a brief hour of golden promise, the poem declares, "Then leaf subsides to leaf."

As always, Frost's exact phrasing is significant. Notice his unusual repetition of the word leaf within the same short line. Taken literally, the line suggests that the leaf was always intended to be only a green leaf, not a golden flower. If the flower lasted only an hour, the leaf, the poem suggests, survives for longer.

Viewed as a description of the natural world, this observation appears eminently reasonable. A branch might blossom for only a week but the resulting leaves last for months. Frost's poem, however, is now about to move beyond seasonal observations of Nature.

Suddenly the poem takes a surprising turn. After seemingly presenting only the natural world in the first five lines, "Nothing Gold Can Stay" now offers a mythic or theological simile to describe the leaf's change from gold to green. "So Eden sank to grief," the poem unexpectedly declares. Until now a reader might assume that the shift from gold to green was only descriptive and not evaluative, but the use of grief indicates that the transition is in some sense unfortunate and perhaps even painful.
The poem then shifts focus again from the mythic to the temporal. "So dawn goes dawn to day" brings the stated subject back to the natural world, but this time the words point to the daily cycle of night and day rather than the annual cycle of the seasons.

"Nothing Gold Can Stay" explicitly describes identical moments in three temporal cycles: the daily, the yearly, and the mythic. In each case the poem depicts the moment when the promise of perfection declines into something lesser. Gold unabashedly becomes a symbol–a very traditional one–for the highest value and most radiant beauty. Spring, dawn, and Eden are each a sort of Golden Age, an impermanent paradise. What lies ahead is never stated overtly, but it is inarguably present by implication. Day is inevitably followed by night. Summer is succeeded by fall and winter. The green leaf eventually turns brown and decays. The loss of Eden gave Adam and Eve mortality. Human youth, by implication, is followed by maturity, old age, and ultimately death. The golden moment, therefore, is all the more precious because it is transitory. By focusing on a single moment, Frost evokes an entire day, year, lifetime, and human history.

Answer 2

By seeing the first few answers,I think 'Nature's first green is gold' means that Nature's first 'green' (trees, grass etc.) is pure and new. 'hue' generally means 'colour',so it must mean 'gold' is the hardest colour to 'hold'. I think this means it's hard for all this 'green' to stay pure and new forever. 'Then leaf subsides to leaf'.'Subsides' can mean 'wear off or die down'.I guess this means the 'green' is dying. The last part of the poem is probably talking about the end of the day, when the sun goes down.(?Hehe,I dunno what I'm saying...). Can Robert Frost be talking about the Sun illuminating all the greenery on this Earth?That's why the word 'gold' is used?See,at the end of the day,the Sun goes down, so nothing gold can stay(at least for that day). Theoratically speaking,it also means nothing pure and new can last forever.....

Answer 3

Nothing perfect (like gold-which is valuable, precious, and rare) can last. The good moments are fleeting. For example, "leaf subsides to leaf" means that what's bad may change to be better, but eventually it will change back and that perfect moment will leave. The mood is melancholy - good things are nice, but too bad they don't stay.Nothing perfect (gold-valuable, precious, and rare) can last. The good moments are fleeting. For example, "leaf subsides to leaf" means that what's bad may change to be better, but eventually it will change back and that perfect moment will leave. The mood is melancholy - good things are nice, but too bad they don't stay.

Answer 4

We live life from moment to moment. The golden moments are the most precious. Enjoy those precious moments in the NOW!