Nothing Gold Can Stay

Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” was first published in 1923 in the October issue of Yale Review. That same year, the poem—along with other notable poems such as “Fire and Ice” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”—was included in Frost’s fourth collection of poetry, New Hampshire, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1924 and was the first of four wins for Frost throughout his career. In eight lines, the poem is a lyrical examination of the transience of time and cyclical element of nature, as well as a discussion on the poignant loss of innocence.

“Nothing Gold Can Stay” is considered one of Frost’s most famous poems and exhibits many of Frost’s trademarks as a poet: a focus on landscape, succinct metaphoric comparisons, and use of what Frost would call “sense of sound”—deliberate rhythm employed to create an overall feeling or tone. Frost is not easily classified in a poetic school; rather, his style firmly lands him between the 19th century poets and the Modernist poets of the early 20th century. Like the 19th century Romantic poets, Frost uses traditional

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