Yes, Mrs. Minor, I can boogie, but I choose not to display that particular gift. I feel the repercussions would be disastrous.
Like we discussed today, your homework is to work "Snowstorm" and mark any and all musical devices you can find. This is preparation for an upcoming paper, or so I am told.
For the blog, you are directed to respond to Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay:" Now I know that you may have read or studied this poem before, but let's not phone this one in. Mrs. Minor strongly advises you all to "stay literal"--let's not drape this one with a bunch of metaphorical meaning before we have looked closely at the literal content and of course, those pesky musical devices.
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Well, since we were asked to stay on a very literal level with the poem, and not hop on the metaphor train, my superficial summary of the poem is this: “Nothing Gold Can Stay” is literally about the various stages of the cycle of nature. Things that start out green must eventually lose their color. Things that live must die. The leaves can only stay it’s golden color for a short amount of time, as depicted in the “hardest hue to hold” before it turns green.
But I’ll turn to musical devices, since that’s what I think we’re supposed to be focusing on. The poem uses an AABBCCDD rhyme scheme (is there a simpler way to say that? My God), and all but one of the rhymes are masculine rhymes, or rhyming words with only one syllable.
“Nothing Gold Can Stay” also utilizes alliteration in three lines—green/gold, hardest/hue/hold, and dawn/down/day. Dawn and down can also be considered slant rhymes, or to have consonance due to the repeated “n” sound at the end of each. Lines six and seven both begin with “so,” and the repetition of the structure draws attention to these two lines, as they are sort of the outcome of the cycle of nature. The repetition and choice of the word “so” makes these fates seem unavoidable. Eden must sink to grief, and drawn must go down to day.
Man, those are a lot of musical devices in that little poem. In such a small amount of space, the amount of alliteration focuses the readers attention on the three lines in which it is present, emphasizing that these lines hold the most meaning of the poem. “Nature’s first green is gold / Her hardest hue to hold,” two lines containing alliteration, describe essentially what the entire poem is illustrating—the inevitable cycle of nature.
In a literal sense the poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" is simply telling us what we already know, that everything has a time and place and that nothing lasts forever. One way in which Frost explains this is through the musical devices within the poem. Sometimes I think it is hard to differentiate between the intentional musical devices, the ones the author put there on purpose, and the musical devices that seem unintentional. However, though assumption is not really a good thing to do, today I am going to assume that all of the musical devices I found were, in fact, on purpose.
Let’s start with alliteration. My favorite example of this is line 2 which reads, “Her hardest hue to hold.” This line is the most obvious usage of alliteration of the poem, and during this the speaker is also explaining how gold might like to stay but how it is hard to old onto and can leave/change at any moment. Another good use of alliteration is in the second to last line (Line 7) which reads, “So dawn goes down to day.” This sentence is great because not only does it have the alliteration of the d’s but it also has assonance of the “o” sound. This sentences works to give the line a kind of slow feeling, sort of like the sluggishness that can be felt at the end of the day. It is a tired and almost bored sounding phrase; the speaker almost slows down a bit here.
The next item of interest is in the rhyming of the poem. The structure is AA, BB, CC, DD end rhyming, but what is interesting is that in line 5 there is repetition and rhyme of the same word in the same line. The line reads, “Then leaf subsides to leaf.” While the word “leaf” rhymes with the word “grief” that appears in the next line, Frost also uses it in the same line to not just rhyme with itself, but to also create/establish the repetition of the word “leaf” which is used in the third line as well. This just puts emphasis on the word “leaf” establishing it as a method for determining at which stage a flower/plant/the season of spring, is at.
That’s all I’ve got for now, good luck everyone.
As advised, I will keep this in the literal realm. Nothing Gold Can Stay seems a description of the briefness of the natural process. It takes advantage of many types of musical devices to create continuity and feel, including alliteration, rhyme, and rhythm (Iambic trimeter is my guess). The alliteration really, to me, is the standout device. Green and gold are used in the first line, which seems a statement of style and tone as well as establishing the rhyme and meter. The second line has "Her Hardest Hue to Hold", an alliteration as well.
The third and fourth line seem different from the rest of the poem, as they are in the same sentence, have no alliteration, and like the fifth and sixth line, contain action that dictate the rest of the poem.
The other alliteration is "Dawn goes down to day"
I don't know what to call this, but in the last line, I like the link between the g in nothing to the g in gold. (My alliteration was for comedic effect, don't worry, it was on purpose)
For such as short poem of only eight lines, “Nothing God Can Stay” packs in a lot of different musical devices, including most of the devices that we discusses in class.
Like Anna said, the rhyme scheme is very simple, in an AABBCCDD format. All the rhymes consist of masculine rhymes of only one syllable and are end rhymes.
Alliteration:
“gold is green”
“her hardest hue to hold”
“dawn goes down to day”
Consonance:
“Her hardest” and “Her early” both contain repetition of the “r” sound
“leaf’s a flower”
“subsides” and “sank” within the fifth and sixth lines
“goes” and “gold” within the seventh and eighth line
Assonance:
“Eden” and “Grief”: repetition of the “e” sound
I think I may have got consonance all wrong. Is it just repetition of consonant sounds or does it have to be at the ends of words?
What I noticed is that in each line the speaker uses musical devices to stress the message of each line. Because each line usually as a stand alone message this works quite well in furthering the unique thought of each line. Granted the poem flows in overall meaning and each line builds on each other, what the musical devices do is emphasize the new thought introduced in each line and build on the thought from the previous line.
The couplet in lines 3 and 4 do this quite well. The third line utilizes assonance of the “E” sound: “Her early leaf’s a flower.” Also the internal rhyme of “her” and “flower” connects the whole line thus making the point that the first things Nature produces in spring are flowers. This thought is then built on with a new message in line four. The speaker says “But only so and hour.” Here the assonance of the “O” sound emphasizes the word “hour” and thus shows that the flower introduced in the previous line does not stay in bloom long enough to please the speaker.
The final two lines (especially line 7) have a ton of musical devices. In line seven there is alliteration of the “D,” assonance of both the “O” and the “A” sounds, and the end rhyme with line 8. This line also has its own assonance of the “O” and “A” sounds as well. By connecting the thought the morning turning into high noon emphasized in line seven to the feeling that “Nothing gold can stay” in line 8 by the use of the end rhyme connects these two messages and allows them to build on one another adding to the overall message of the poem.
Nature is what this poem is referring to, how the seasons change. But maybe not. Because look at how the time in this poem is changing. It's not really moving that fast, "only so an hour", "So down goes down to day" barely any time has passed. So is it the seasons that Robert Frost is talking about? And Nature is personified. "Her early leaf's a flower", "Then leaf subsides to leaf". So does that mean that there is a flower, that bloomed in the early hours, but then it went back into the earth? Is that the reason why Eden has fallen into grief? Because there is no flower to keep it beautiful? I think I've taken this poem too literally, I don't know.
I think everyone else above me has already got the musical devices down pat though.
Hey Michelle, in the book, it says "The repetition of final consonant sounds, as in 'first and last,' 'odds and ends,' 'short and sweet,' 'a stroke of luck' blah blah blah. But if what you said isn't consonance, would it be assonance?
I guess I'll join the club and quote wikipedia nearly exactly, "The relatively simple rhyme scheme is as follows:
AABBCCDD." It's also in Iambic Trimeter, what ever that means :D
So there's some musical deviced like repition and alliteration, the first being alliteration in line 1, "Natures first green is gold" The next is the following line, more alliteration, "Her hardest hue to hold" My first reaction to this line was wow! quite a lot of h's! anyway the next is repition on line 5, where leaf is mentioned twice. Next is the 7th line, "so dawn goes down to day." As for the meaning of the poem I thought it was just describing what happens to everything in nature.
Oh, I can actually answer someone's comment....Scott, the iambic trimeter refers to the rhythm and number of syllables in each line. Each line has six syllables connecting to three pairs of duh-dun sounds. Literally the poem seems to mean that each moment is precious because it all passes so quickly. I will try not to repeat what has been said already. I noted some alliteration? or maybe just some interesting formatting. Lines two and three both start with "Her" and lines six and seven start with "So". The starting and ending lines have an "n" sound to begin. There is a lot of repetition as well especially of the words "gold" and "leaf".
The poem is obviously talking about nature, and I hope that I am not being too metaphorical but I am guessing Frost is talking about the impermanence of seasons or things created by nature, because he talks about nature’s “hardest hue to hold” meaning that it is not there for long, as well as “for only so an hour,” again a limited time, and finally the use of “nothing gold can stay” solidifies the idea of impermanence.
Now I shall talk about the musical devices (or more or less repeat what many others may have already said). On line 4 there is some assonance in “but only so an hour,” with the use of the “o” sound in only and so. I noticed that the second line and the second to last line sort of mirror each other in their placement and excessive use of alliteration, “her hardest hue to hold” and “so dawn goes down to day,” thus it gives the poem some added structure, to the AABBCCDD rhyme as everyone else has already stated. There is also consonance in “her early” on line 3.
A totally non related thought, in actuality aren't things like leaves and flowers and apples, all green then gold? just struck me as odd that green is first gold.
But on the note of musical devices, in the poem there is of coarse the rhyme scheme- aabbccdd. This functions to give the poem a uniform structure and to make it catchy sounding. It gives short poem a nice little ring to it. The alliteration in lines 1 (green/gold) 3 (her/hardest/hue/hold) and 7 (dawn/down/day) also add to the pleasing sound of the poem. In addition they function to give these lines/words special emphasis. Green and Gold are paired together in there similar "Guh" sound, and in that they are both colours, the movement from green to gold in this line reflects the theme of the entire poem of change and fading with time. "Her Hardest hue to hold" the line rolls off the tongue and sticks out in the poem because of the extensive alliteration. Like green/gold this line draws special attention to the theme of the poem-gold is the hardest hue to hold, it is the most precious but also the most fleeting. "Dawn goes down to day" what is interesting in this line is the order of "to" and "day" so that read outloud it sounds like both "to day" as into day, and "today", like dawn is fading right now, go get it before its gone. The words "Dawn/Down/(to)Day" all pop out together generating the essential meaning of this line, time is passing, now. Alliteration functions to group together words like this by similar sound, for the purpose of emphasizing a certain message they form.
Assonance in the poem is much more subtle and less significant, functioning mostly just for pleasing sound and movement than meaning emphasis. Assonance in the poem- "Eden/Grief" "Her/early" "Only/so".
Repetition is the final device I identified in the poem. "So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day" The repetition of "so" links these lines together as both deriving from the same cause, time passes and so... It also has the connotation of as, The previous line "Then leaf subsides to leaf/ So..." like as the leaf subsides to leaf so does/did Eden sink/sank to grief and so does/did dawn goes/go down to day. Because both of these lines begin with so, and the other line begins with then they are separated and the insinuation that they are both being compared to the previous line is made. In the previous line repetition is also used with "leaf subsides to leaf". The slow rhythm of the repetition echos the movement of time in the poem, leaf by leaf, its progressing unstoppably. Repetition in the poem also creates unity and structure as well as giving the words repeated new meaning(s).
Like everyone else has said, “Nothing Gold Can Stay” is about appreciating the little things and that everything has a time and place. The speaker discusses how a season passes and how each small thing is “gold.” Robert Frost uses musical devices to convey that meaning in his poem.
Alliteration is used often in the poem: “green is gold,” “hardest hue to hold” and “dawn goes down to day.” The alliteration in these phrases draws special attention, emphasizing the speaker’s point.
The rhyme scheme is AABBCCDD, like a lot of people have said. The rhyme scheme gives emphasis to the ending of each line, highlighting “gold,” “hold,” “flower,” “hour,” “leaf,” “grief,” “day” and “stay.” These words together express the poem’s meaning.
For me, the rhyme scheme and alliteration take the cake for musical device standouts, although I think I spotted some assonance and consonance in there too.
I didn't realize how hard it was to avoid analyzing metaphors. We've all been brainwashed into being metaphor barometers. Anyways, I believe the "first green" is the beginnings of spring. The hold of winter is ending. I think the gold is more like summer, especially with the golden sun. However the sinking to grief I believe means the leaves starting to fall during autumn, signifying winter will soon return.
As for musical devices, the one that is most notable to me is alliteration. From "green to gold" in the first line to "dawn goes down to day", there's quite a bit of alliteration used. Also, there is end rhyme employed, with the structure that the posters above me pointed out. I noticed a repetition of the word "to" occurring in the middle of multiple lines, such as "hardest hue to hold" and "sank to grief". Also, the last words seem to be the most accented, at least when I read them.
More than anything else, Frost's poem laments the passage of time and the changing of seasons, mourning the departure of "nature's first green" (the "gold" that is the "hardest hue to hold") as "dawn goes down to day". There is a wistfulness about the poem that is hard to ignore, one made more potent by the numerous musical devices Frost employs - in particular, by the poem's rhyme scheme and use of alliteration.
As others have mentioned, the poem follows a fairly simple pattern of rhythm, with most lines of the poem serving as independent couplets ("gold" accompanies "hold", "flower" accompanies "hour", and so on). In addition, each line of the poem is rife with alliteration - in the poem's second line, for example, Frost describes nature's first green as "her hardest hue to hold"; in the penultimate line of the poem, he likens the changing of seasons to the progression of time, as simple as the manner in which "dawn goes down to day". The two devices effectively convey Frost's appreciation for nature and his wary respect of its impermanence. He gives his ideas greater dimension by frequenting masculine rhyme, by using such one-syllabled words as "green", "hue", "leaf", "grief", and "dawn" to underscore the simplicity of nature's processes and the complexity of their motivations. (Forgive me please if that's too metaphorical! I just have many profound thoughts.)
Also deserving attention in the poem is Frost's use of assonance, seen in his pairings of such words as "early leaf" (which share an 'ea' sound) and "only so" (which sharer an 'o' sound), and consonance, appearing most often alongside the poem's alliteration (the example of "dawn goes down to day" repeats a d sound, while the example of "her hardest hue to hold" repeats an h sound). I noticed what I felt might be some slant rhyme near the poem's end, when "goes" and "gold" appear in the middle of the last two lines, but I'm not sure if that was intentional. I also noticed the repetition of "so" in the sixth and seventh line and the repetition of "leaf" in the fifth line" but I wasn't quite sure I could classify them as anything other than just repetition.
The poem begins with two alliterations in the first two lines. Line one has "green...gold" and the second line has "her hardest hue...hold" which emphasizes the colors the poem mentions with the alliteration. As Anna so skillfully pointed out right off the bat, the poem pairs end rhymes throughout (possibly a shorter way of saying AABBCCDD rhyme scheme....which i just said anyways). The rhymes (or "rimes" as Senselessness says) pair the words and their accompanying ideas together (a very boring idea but most literal things are).
At first I thought that "Nature's first green is gold" was a paradox since if something is a specific color it can't take on another color (look at question 1). However, I believe the correct interpretation, in the context of nature, is that 'green' refers to spring. It starts out being 'gold' but it eventually fades ("So dawn goes down to day. / Nothing gold can stay" (7-8)). This indicates that the overall subject of the poem is about the passage of time.
Nature's first green is gold. Taken in a literal manner, it means that the first green (spring) is golden. When the first shoots poke up through the brown soggy mud and dead leaves, that is pure gold. It's the hardest hue to hold, however. It doesn't stay for very long, as it turns into a plethora of other bright colors. The earliest leaves are flowers, but they quickly transform into fruits and are eaten by animals ("Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour"). Then leaf subsides to leaf as the leaves fall off the trees in multitudes, each in its own zigzag pattern, and the Eden of the green garden sinks to grief as its fresh gold hue is taken away to make room for other hues. So the dawn of spring goes to the day of the rest of the year, and the golden hue of the spring is lost until the coming year. ("So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.)
I'll come back a bit later to talk about musical devices.
Since the posts above have thoroughly discussed the actual musical devices themselves, I'll try and connect them to their purpose in the poem a little.
The tightly interwoven musical devices in "Nothing Gold Can Stay," such as the end rime scheme (AABBCCDD), use of alliteration (green, gold [1]; hardest hue to hold [2]; dawn goes down to day [7]), use of assonance (So, goes [7]), use of consonance and internal rime (first, hardest [1-2]; early, only [3-4]), and use of internal rime and approximate rime (dawn, down [7]), make the poem rich and lyrical, giving it a beautifully songlike flow that well suits its subject of natural cycle and flow.
This lyrical quality also nicely accommodates the use of paradox in the poem, softening the blow to logic yet not diluting its meaning.
Now that I put two and two together, that "Now I know that you may have read or studied this poem before..." probably referred to the scenes in The Outsiders where Johnny and Ponyboy consider the poem, huh.
Good times.
Woah---managed to keep a post short. Exciting.
Also, I forgot to mention the non-parallel assonance in "early leaf" (3) and "Eden... grief" (6).
I liked those.
I think the literal meaning of the poem is that nature doesnt'last and the first beuty we see of it, spring, is as beutiful as gold but unlike gold it fades away quickly.
The end of every two lines rhymed and there was a lot of alliteration for example the G in "green and gold" and H in "hardest hue to hold". And there is also assonace in eah line for example in the seventh line "So... goes... down... to...". Overall a very short and pleasent on the ears poem.
The poem has special emphasis on every last word of the line. Gold, hold, flower, hour, leaf, grief, day, and stay are all there to be noticed as the main word. Each word at the end rhymes with the next line’s last word. Gold and hold are rhymes with assonance, because of the o vowel. This is while flower and hour are the pretend rhymes. The words don’t really rhyme with one another, but they sound like they do.
Early on in the poem, Frost uses alliteration to make certain phrases stand out and take on a particular personality; “Her hardest hue to hold” is a phrase full of alliteration. Near the finale of the poem, two lines start with “So”. This type of repetition relates the lines together. He also uses a lot of the same words many times in the short poem, like “gold” and “leaf”.
Putting metaphors aside, ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’ is about the seasons of nature. From the arrival of spring to the coming of winter. Everything starts out green, or rather gold, but must eventually fade away. From spring when everything is in full bloom to winter when everything is dormant.
In regards to musical devices, the most obvious is the end rhymes. The four pairs being gold/ hold, flower/ hour, leaf/ grief, and day/ stay. Another musical device that stood out to me was the use of alliteration: ‘Her hardest hue to hold’ and ‘So dawn goes down to day’.
I really liked this poem. It's well structured and has pretty words.
However, I don't get Robert Frost's whole deal with nature nature nature.
The lines are divided into pairs. Each pair shares an end rhyme. "gold" and "hold" for the first pair of lines, "flower" and "hour" for the second pair, "leaf" and "grief" for the third pair, "day" and "stay" for the fourth pair.
The first pair of lines talks about how plants start green (new and alive) but then turn into gold (older and dying). And gold is a hard color to stay because it's right in the middle between a healthy leaf being able to perform photosynthesis and a dead leaf unable to perform such. Plant death happens fast. There is alliteration in the second line.
The second pair of lines notes that new plant life starts as bulbs, or "flowers." Branches, leaves, and flowers start off as small pretty masses. But plants grow quickly so they don't stay that way for long. Assonance of approximate "O" sounds is in the fourth line. The words with the "O" sounds make a masculine rhyme since they're one syllable.
The third pair of lines states that nature dies. Eden, being a garden and entirely composed of nature related stuff, grows also. It's "grief" comes from the dead plants (because dead plants are sad). There's long "E" sounds in "Eden" and "grief." "Grief" also shares an end rhyme with "leaf."
"So" starts the sixth and seventh lines, creating repetition (or refrain).
The fourth pair plainly says that time ends things. Days end. Nature ends. Color ends. Change happens. "Day" and "stay" are end rhymes. There's alliteration with "dawn," "down," and "day". Plus, they're masculine rhymes.
To follow up, now with musical devices:
The most noticeable musical device is rhyme (as noted by many others before) with the A/A B/B, etc. scheme. Thank you, Anna, for finding a way to say that. Line 2, "Her hardest hue to hold" contains alliteration of the hard "h", and line 7 "So dawn goes down to day" has alliteration of the "d". I found it interesting that the poem itself is somewhat of a palindrome of musical devices. The second lines in from either side contain alliteration, and line 4 has very short syllables, with 5 complementing it with some of the longest words in the poem. Probably nothing major, but interesting nonetheless.
Frost takes advantage of alliterations in this poem. "Nature's first green is gold" is an example of an alliteration. I saw two other places he used alliterations. "So dawn goes down to day" and "Her hardest hue to hold". Like pointed out before this poem uses AABBCCDD ryhming.
Now on to the simple literal meaning of the poem. Its bascailly talking about how the leaves don't stay the same color and that they change from their early glory. THe flowers don't always stay as flowers. Bascailly that nothing lives forever.
For such a short poem, Frost adds several different musical devices. The first device that I noticed was the alliteration. The "green is gold," "Her hardest hue to hold," and "dawn goes down to day." Such devices gives a very rhythmic feeling throughout the poem. Assonance can also be seen in "only so an hour" and "Eden sank to grief." In terms of the meaning of the poem, from the title we can extract the main meaning of the poem. Frost states that "Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold" by referencing the first flowers that begin to bloom in spring-- it is originally gold, but it does not last because when the leaves begin to bloom then the gold hue disappears. Hence the title, "Nothing Gold Can Stay."
"Nothing Gold Can Stay", is about the cycle of seasons. This poem has a AABBCCDD rhyme scheme and is filled with alliteration. Line 1 has alliteration with "green is gold", with the repetition of the "g". The second line's alliteration is "Her hardest hue to hold", with the repetition of the "h". The seventh line's alliteration is "So dawn goes down to day" with the repetition of the "d". The fifth line has repetition of the word "leaf". The 6th and 7th lines both start with the word "So" as well.
Robert Frost's “Nothing Gold Can Stay” is about appreciating the little things in life. The speaker discusses how a season passes and all of the small things that happen during that season are “gold.”
The use of alliteration in the poem like “green is gold,” “hardest hue to hold” and “dawn goes down to day” emphasizes the speaker’s feelings toward the passing of the unappreciated things in life. Frost also uses musical devices, including assonance and consonance, to convey his feelings in the poem.
The rhyme scheme is the common AABBCCDD. This rhyme scheme gives emphasis to the ending of each line, highlighting “gold,” “hold,” “flower,” “hour,” “leaf,” “grief,” “day” and “stay.” These words together express the poem’s as well as poet's meaning.
The rhyme scheme, musical devices, and alliteration all contribute to make the reader feel what the speaker is trying to convey.
There is quite a bit of musical devices packed into this short little poem. The entire second line is alliteration with the "H," so by the end of the line you're running short of breath. Thankfully there is a period there so that a breath can be taken. The next biggest bit of music I see is the assonance of the hard "E" sound in the 5th and 6th lines. This is followed up by some more alliteration, and then the poem is concluded with a repetition of the title. Something else I noticed, though not really a musical device, with that "dawn goes down to day," rather than "today." When looking for a meaning to the poem, either literal or metaphorical, saying that dawn goes down to day shows more than anything that "nothing gold can stay." When you think of the sun at dawn, it is rising on the horizon, but the poem clearly says that dawn is going down to day. It's implying that the quality of the period of time is decreasing, rather than the sun itself descending. Combine that with the rest of the poem, the "first green is gold," and "Her early leaf's a flower," both speak of how what is new and fresh is so much more special than what that same thing is after time has progressed. The sun is still the sun in the middle of the day, but it's at dawn when the sun is most special.
Now, there are all kinds of metaphorical meanings that can be inserted into this poem, but I think that each individual reader will have their own meaning. Personally, I see it as saying that new experiences are more significant the first time you experience them. Imagine the first time you ate icecream, your first trip to Disneyland, even your first day of school so many years ago. Now think about the icecream you ate a few days ago, your 5th trip to Disneyland, the first day of school this year. All of those experiences have diminished over time. What was once new and exciting soon fades into the ever-growing pool of the mundane. It's kind of sad really. You know what we learn about drugs in health? About how users are always looking to try and recreate that first high? I think almost everything is like that. You're always looking to recreate that first experience you had with something (assuming the experience was good, of course). Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a second first time. It's pretty intense, maybe even worth writing a poem about.
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