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Nothing Gold Can Stay

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Submitted By jacutie1
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In the poem, “Nothing Gold Can Stay” Robert Frost uses symbolism to develop the passage. Frost uses many symbols in the poem such as gold. The gold is used to symbolize the richness, valuableness, and worthiness of nature. In the first stanza, “Nature’s first green is gold” means that spring, which is considered “nature’s first green” is very precious and valuable to people because in spring everything grows, turns green, and becomes new again. Another example from the poem that shows gold as a symbol is “Nothing gold can stay.” The speaker means that the newness and youth of nature does not stay forever. This is quite disappointing and bittersweet because the speaker is implying that everything of value in life somehow fades away eventually. After spring and summer are over, fall and winter return once more. Winter, which is the opposite of spring and summer, represents death and gloominess. Finally, Eden is a symbol that Frost uses to develop and establish the passage further. In the sixth and seventh line of the poem, the speaker says “So Eden sank to grief/ so dawn goes down to day”. Eden symbolizes the Garden of Eden where everything is perfect and pleasant for Adam and Eve until they eat an apple off of the only tree they weren’t supposed to. This also shows that nothing pleasant and/or perfect in life will stay forever, just like the “gold” in life. Robert Frost uses symbols in this poem, “Nothing Gold Can Stay” to represent how many precious things in life don’t stay in one’s life forever.

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