Robert Frost’s Nothing Gold Can Stay

Learning Objectives:

After this lesson, the students will learn:

• How to interpret literature
• What types of figurative language to look out for
• How to write their own literature

Robert Frost (1874-1963) was an American poet, originally born in California, but moved to Massachusetts with his mother a few years after his birth. In the later years he quickly became an impressive, famous, and well respected poet. He wrote “Nothing Gold Can Stay” in 1923, and in 1924 Frost won the Pulitzer Prize for it.
The poem has a specific style of writing that makes it easy to digest and interpret, but having the subjective nature of poetry, every interpretation will be different. This poem relies an a great amount of imagery, and on top of that imagery, there is an equally large load of symbolism. At first the poem is easy to digest, but once one begins to dig deeper, they realize the undertones of mortality and the fading “gold” they have to look forward to.

Personification

Imagery

Alliteration

Figurative Language Review

What is Personification?

• Personification is the act of giving human-like qualities to inanimate objects.
  • An example in the poem would be “Her hardest hue to hold”

What is Imagery?

• Imagery is specific language used in a descriptive manner to paint an image in a reader’s head.
  • An example in the poem would be “Nature’s first green is gold”

What is Alliteration?

• Alliteration is the occurrence of the same letter or sounds at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.
  • An example of Alliteration in the poem would be “Dawn goes down to day”

Discuss:

• Did having someone else read the poem out loud change your interpretation of it? Why or why not?
• What emotions did you feel after reading the poem the first time? The second time? Did those emotions change after having someone else read it out loud?
• What images did this poem create in your mind?
• What would the overall mood for this poem be for the beginning? And for the end?
• Why do you think Frost decided to personify Nature as “her”?
• How do you think Frost created such vivid images, only using a few words?
• Do you think his use of alliteration aided in your interpretation of the poem?

Activity:

• Rewrite the poem from a new point of view. Rewrite it as though there was a positive out look on each situation. Instead of looking at the glass as half empty, picture it as half full.