Robert Frost wrote “Nothing Gold Can Stay” in 1923. It appeared in his collection New Hampshire, which won him his first of four Pulitzer Prizes (the most of any American poet). It’s composed in iambic trimeter, with heavy alliteration.
In a few deft strokes, the poem paints images of natural beauty and “golden promise”; it also depicts the decline and fall of that very same promise. The result is a brief, powerful meditation on the transience of both beauty and life.
Here’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay” as recited by Ponyboy in The Outsiders:
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Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning