The title of this poem really caught my eye; it made me think of the cliché "all good things must come to an end." This poem is talking about nature and how fast the beauty of springtime comes and goes.
The first line in this poem "Nature's first green is gold," is talking about how the first leaves on the trees are a yellowish green color, almost golden.
The second line "Her hardest hue to hold," means the beautiful young yellow leaves don't stay young for very long, and soon they become the darker green color. I thought about it as meaning to people that you're only young once.
The third line: "Her early leaf's a flower," is referring to the idea of the budding of plants, which are often flowers.
The fourth line, "But only so an hour," talks about how fast a flower can wilt. The budding, blossoming and then wilting of a flower can occur in a matter of days, depending on the flower. Metaphorically, I think the poem is referring to how life happens quickly, and if you're too busy to stop and enjoy the ride, you'll miss all the beauty it has to offer.
The fifth line "Then leaf subsides to leaf," talks about how "special" the flower is once it's gone. When it's no longer in bloom, it doesn't matter, the gold has faded away.
The next couple of lines give examples about how "nothing gold can stay." The sixth line, "So Eden sank to grief," has a biblical reference. The Garden of Eden was so beautiful and lovely until Eve ate the apple. The next line "So dawn goes down to day," talks about how beautiful the colors of the sunrise are, purples, oranges, pinks, and yellows, but once the sun has risen, it's just another day. There is nothing so special in an ordinary day.
The poem then ends with the title: "Nothing gold can stay." It solidifies the idea that Frost is trying to convey: that all good things come to an end.
I really liked the poem, but I wish the "moral" wasn't so widely accepted. We can make "gold" stay it just takes that much more effort.
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