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Innocence In Robert Frost's Nothing Gold Can Stay

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One of the numerous definitions of gold is “something likened to this metal in brightness, preciousness, superiority, etc. - a heart of gold.” This reminds me of one of the core ideas of Robert Frost’s poem, “Nothing Gold Can Stay”. Frost writes about losing innocence with knowledge, and childhood innocence can be described with the phrase “a heart of gold.” One important line of the poem is “So Eden sank to grief.” The word “Eden” is used to remind readers of the garden of Eden- a place where the first man and woman were innocent, but separate from the rest of the world. However, with knowledge, this carefree nature was gone. The cycle of knowledge causing people to learn about the harsh realities of the world continues today, and causes fanciful childhood reveries to be lost. However, innocence is just one way the idea of gold can be interpreted in the poem. Something else that is gold are …show more content…

Shakespeare does this as well. However, these two writers seem to contradict when Shakespeare writes that “All that glitters is not gold.” This quote means that diamonds, rubies, and other riches that glitter don’t make people happy, and the idea of happiness is thought of as golden because of it’s importance. Frost’s message of time passing, with reference to fall leaves, sunsets, and other beautiful moments in nature that glitter and are gold are just a few ideas in the poem. When Frost writes that gold is “Her hardest hue to hold,” it shows that gold leading to happiness isn’t actually what happens. One can’t hold on to happiness while being greedy. This quote is related to the story of King Midas, who with greed wishes for everything he touches to turn to gold. This backfires when his daughter turns to gold, which also fits with the idea that “All that glitters is not gold”- the glittering statue of his daughter doesn’t help the king be

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For example, when Friar Lawrence compares contrasted nature ideations together, he declares, “The day to cheer, and night’s dank dew to dry,” (2.3.6). It is easy for one to be joyful in the daytime, but behind closed doors one’s face is like a leaf covered in dew drops dripping down their cheeks. The allusion of happiness, in a false attempt to cover up one’s damp and musky emotions, cannot dominate these true thoughts and feelings. They will resurface and come to light. Similarly, when the men are at Juliet’s tomb, Paris utters, “Which with sweet water nightly I will dew, / Or wanting that, with tears distilled by moans, / The obsequies that I for thee will keep/

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Night In Night by Elie Wiesel the Jews suffer greatly because of the Holocaust. The Germans show great prejudice against the Jews. This unfounded hatred causes the Jews to experience a loss of innocence once at Auschwitz. The Germans forced them to become people they aren’t.

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New intelligence comes new emotions and loss of innocence, which is portrayed in Charlie in “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes. Not long after the operation, it is obvious that Charlie was losing his innocence that he had when he was mentally disabled, and that the Keyes’s novel is a coming of age story. When Charlie’s co-workers brought him to a party after the operation, he realized that his co-workers/”friends” were “laughing at [him]. And the kids playing hide-go-seek were playing tricks on [him] and they were laughing at [him] too” (Keyes 42).

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Not only does The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton resemble the importance of “Staying gold”, “Nothing Gold Can Stay” By Robert Frost and “Stay Gold” By Stevie Wonder also support what “Stay gold” symbolizes. Through the novel The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton incorporates many motifs of staying gold. This can include, “...You’re gold when you’re a kid, like green. When you're a kid everythings new, dawn. It’s just when you get used to everything that it’s day.

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Catching a baseball may seem hard, but catching a person is even harder. J.D Salinger 's A Catcher in the Rye depicts the story of Holden Caulfield, a high school dropout who wanders the streets of New York City aimlessly looking for his purpose. A major theme of the novel is preserving the innocence of children. This theme persists throughout the book as Holden erasing profanity, in conversations and other symbols. Throughout the novel, Holden is seen troubled by the thought of the adult world mixing with the innocent world of children.

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Allie, Holden 's younger brother who dies as just a child, is a major symbol throughout the story, which represents the innocence in childhood that Holden strives to save. Allie’s death creates a lot of turbulence in Holden’s life especially because Holden looks up to Allie as a role model. When Holden remembers incidents from his past involving Allie, his attitude changes, such as when he writes the composition about Allie 's baseball glove or when Holden breaks his hand after punching all of the windows after Allie dies. This change in attitude is basically going from happiness to upright anger because the one person that Holden likes, dies and there is nothing he can do to bring him back. Allie makes Holden a better person, and when

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In the context of the poem, gold is not a precious metal, but rather the precious moments that we experience during our lifetimes. Fleeting sunsets, and the innocence of youth will not last very long, but that gives us more reason to cherish them while they do. Though all good things must come to an end, as Frost writes, a sincere appreciation for the impermanence of what is “gold” ultimately develops

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In Anglo-Saxon culture, gold was one of the most valuable possessions a person could own. Gold and treasure was a sign of wealth, honor, respect and power. To the Anglo-Saxons, people lived their lives to become more honorable in the eyes of their peers. People valued others who had more treasure as it was a sign of their accomplishments. The role of wealth, treasure and gold in this poem is important to the power and the honor of the individual.

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One of the main techniques used in this poem was Juxtaposition, as this poem is a comparison between the two very different lives of two men, at first it seems that the wealthy man had it all and the man in poverty had nothing, but by the end of the poem it challenges it by showing what the end of their life had in store for them. In the beginning of the poem the millionaire felt blessed to have their own child as it is said in the beginning of the poem “The rich man said ‘my son shall be a Lordly ruler o’er land and sea’ “whereas the man in poverty took it as another mouth to feed and a part of God’s plan for him to have another child “Tis the Good Gods will that I have another mouth to fill” from these two quotes it seems that the wealthy have it better, but the man in poverty defies it. By the end of the rich man’s life, he has led an unpleasant life in this quote “He scoffed at woman, and doubted God, and died like a beast and went back to the sod.” The man in poverty however, being a working class man has fulfilled his life with the quote “The son of the labourer tilled the soil, and thanked God daily for health and toil. He wedded for love in his youthful prime”.

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The poem creates a picture in your mind of what could or will happen if people don't do anything about it. In the poem, Atwood talks about how the earth was beautiful and the people would respect and loved the earth, but people started to become envious as money improved and made more of an impact. Money became so important that people wouldn't be seen without it, and no one could stop it because it was such a valuable item to have, that it would be disrespectful to throw away. At the fourth age, the author describes the need for this precious coin and says, " We made these deserts from the desire for more money and from despair at the lack of it" (Atwood 5). As money grew and grew, hunger grew with it to the point where humans destroyed everything in their path, including their sacred resources, to get it.

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Which is that beauty comes from within. His purpose is teaching the poet that in order to create true and inspiring art he must look deep inside of himself. He starts to develop this idea with an extended metaphor as he explains that even if you have come to your lowest point in life “you still have your childhood, that jewel beyond all price, that treasure house of memories” (3) to inspire you and give you life again. This statement shows that even when you have been beat up and are lost you still have your priceless jewels of your past. Memories are something so beautiful and priceless that can not be taken away from you, because it comes from within you.

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The days, which were once spent in the serene of the outdoors, are now filled with “getting” the material things that only make the hearts of man grow more selfish. The money as well as youth of people is being “spent” away on items that ultimately will not bring true pleasure to the soul. The materialism that Wordsworth encounters is not much different from that which can be seen in society today. Throughout the poem, diction is also used to explicitly show how the shift to materialism was a cognizant decision made by the society as a whole. These growing material desires did not

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“‘Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay’” (67) and “‘Stay gold, Ponyboy.

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In this poem, we are taught to value everyone because we don’t know their stories and we don’t know what they have been through. An example of this is “He tried to kill himself in grade ten when a kid who could still go home to mom and dad had the audacity to tell him “get over it” as if depression is something that can be remedied by any of the contents found in a first aid

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If you’re in a rough state without a lot of money, you still could know in your mind that you might have more than the richest men in the world at that moment. You could have happiness while Warren Buffett may not. To me, these quotes mean that even the people with the most money in the world like Warren Buffett or Bill Gates still won't but everything just like the saying, money can’t buy happiness. Happiness isn’t bought, you have to get it from inside yourself. These sayings pretty much mean that money can’t buy happiness to me because like the fox said, “the things that are important are the things that aren’t seen.”

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