poem

Name ____________________________________________ Date ___________________________

“Nothing Gold Can Stay”

by Robert Frost

1.

Identify at least five words in the above word cloud that stand out to you and explain why.

2.

Based on the above word cloud, what do you predict this poem will be about?

3. Draw a picture or symbol that visually represents your poem.

“Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost

Name ____________________________________________ Date ___________________________

“Nothing Gold Can Stay”

by Robert Frost

1. What is the setting of the poem (time and place)?

Nature’s first green is gold. 2. What is being personified in the first line?

3. What does the speaker suggest about nature’s first color?

Her hardest hue to hold. 4. What type of figurative language is being used in this line?

5. What is nature’s early leaf?

Her early leaf’s a flower; 6. What type of figurative language is used in this line? 7. What point is the speaker making about time?

But only so an hour. subsides: to sink to a lower level

Then leaf subsides to leaf

8. What is the speaker implying by using the word “subsides” instead of a word like change?

9. What type of figurative language is this?

So Eden sank to grief,

10.

How are the leaves like Eden?

“Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost

11. By using the word “down,” what is the speaker implying about the shift from dawn to day?

So dawn goes down to day.

12. How many times is gold mentioned in the poem? 13.

What is the rhyme scheme of the poem?

14. List all of the metaphorical representations of gold in the poem.

Nothing gold can stay.

15. What is the poems message, the theme, about all of the golden things in life?

“Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost

Name __________________________________ Date ___________________________

“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. The leaf subsides to leaf So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.

Poem annotation questions. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

Label and identify the rhyme scheme of the poem. Identify and label the figurative language used in the poem. What is the setting of the poem (time and place)? What is being personified in the first line? What does the speaker suggest about nature’s first color? What is nature’s early leaf? What point is the speaker making about time? What is the speaker implying by using words like “subsides,” “sank,” and “down”? How are the leaves like Eden? How many times is gold mentioned in the poem? List all of the metaphorical representations of gold in the poem. What is the poem’s message, the theme, about all of the golden things in life?

“Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost

“Nothing Gold Can Stay”

by Robert Frost

ANSWER KEY 1.

Nature’s first green is gold. A

Her hardest hue to hold. A

Her early leaf’s a flower; B

But only so an hour. B

Then leaf subsides to leaf C

So Eden sank to grief, C

So dawn goes down to day. D

Nothing gold can stay. D

What is the setting of the poem (time and place)? The setting is outside during the springtime at sunrise. The first greenery is bathed in the golden light of the morning sun. 2. What is being personified in the first line? Mother Nature 3. What does the speaker suggest about nature’s first color? The first color doesn’t last long because it is hard to hold on to. 4. What type of figurative language is being used in this line? alliteration and personification 5. What is nature’s early leaf? a flower 6. What type of figurative language is used in this line? metaphor 7. What point is the speaker making about time? The speaker is implying that the flower, which is symbolic of youth and innocence, only last s for a short amount of time before it changes and matures into a leaf. This same is true for youth; it is fleeting and only lasts for a short amount of time. subsides: to sink to a lower level 8. What is the speaker implying by using the word “subsides” instead of a word like change? The speaker is implying that he thinks the first leaf, the flower, is the better leaf. When the flower matures, it must turn into a leaf, which actually diminishes (lessens) its beauty. 9. What type of figurative language is this? Biblical allusion 10. How are the leaves like Eden? Just like the flowers sink to become leaves, Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden when they sank or fell from God’s grace. Adam and Eve tragically lost their innocence and purity and set mankind up for knowing suffering and death. The early golden flowers subsiding into leaves is also tragic because they too have lost their purity and are one step closer to death. 11. By using the word “down,” what is the speaker implying about the shift from dawn to day? The beauty of day is nothing compared to the golden beauty of the first light of dawn. As time shifts past those first morning rays, the beauty (and value) of those first golden moments is lost. 12. How many times is gold mentioned in the poem? twice

“Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost

13. What is the rhyme scheme of the poem? rhyming couplet 14. List all of the metaphorical representations of gold in the poem. Early spring leaves (flowers), the Garden of Eden, and dawn 15. What is the poems message, the theme, about all of the golden things in life? The golden things in life (like youth and innocence) are fleeting and short lived; yet this rarity only makes us appreciate and value them even more.

“Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost

This is an example of how my students used the second version, poem and annotation questions, in their interactive notebooks.

“Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost