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