Comparing Lines Written In The Days Of Growing Darkness And Nothing Gold Can Stay

Life does not stop for anybody, it continuously moves in a cycle of growing up and eventually dying; such as a puppy that loses its youth and becomes mature. In Mary Oliver’s lyric poem “Lines Written in the Days of Growing Darkness” and Robert Frost’s lyric poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay”, both authors demonstrate how life has its ups and its downs. The speaker of Oliver’s poem encourages us directly to “let us go on, cheerfully enough” (18), even though we don’t want things to change; it is bound to happen. On the other hand, Frost’s poem suggests indirectly that although things will process through cycles and we will have to go through lost; something will always be gained. Both authors convey their theme largely through symbolic imagery. To

Moreover, she shows that seasons are changing; more specifically that fall is changing into winter. For example, in the first stanza, the author states that “the world descends into a rich mash” (2-4), meaning that she is comparing dead leaves to the whole “world” which is massive. She does this in order to show how depressing it is that the leaves are falling and mixing together like compost, and to emphasize that the world is so precious and when things die, it feels like the whole world is falling; but it is all a part of a change in a cycle. Similarly, Oliver also adds the image of a “crisping day” (19), which connotes a cold, icy day. This is because during the winter, the dead leaves have a crunchy consistency, which is because of a cycle. In addition to this, she says that it won’t be easy to see the world changing; therefore seeing such beautiful and colourful leaves rot, but that it is a process and that we cannot stop a cycle. Furthermore,

An illustration of this is in the first five sentences which describes one clear idea; a leaf bud. One can see this through the line of “her early leaf’s a flower” (3), where “early leaf” connotes to a leaf bud. The author chooses a leaf bud to show how any innocent and young element will have to grow through changes and grow up sooner or later. In addition, the author states in the second line that a leaf bud is “gold” which connotes beauty, rarity, and its color. Frost chooses to say “gold” instead of its initial meaning of “yellow” to give the reader a clear image of how much a leaf bud can connect with the reader, because we view gold as something luxurious and more valuable than any other colour, so it will emphasize how much a leaf bud is so valuable in the beginning of its life, but as it grows older it may not be seen as rich and pure anymore. Correspondingly, the author uses imagery to describe how in order to gain something, you need to lose something. One can see this through his metaphor “leaf subsides to leaf” (5), since a leaf bud will “subside” to a mature leaf; meaning that it will change into something else. To elaborate, change is key in a cycle of life because nothing in life stays the same, everything around us constantly changes which helps us better understand the world and our cycle of life. Additionally, in the sixth