But is it be used well? How well does the reader comprehend the meaning? Robert Frost is one of the most praised poets of all time, so as you can guess, he uses imagery affectively. As the poem starts, the image we see is going be something about nature. Perhaps the leaves on a tree, or a flower amongst tall grass. Either way; we picture something green and colorful, filled with life. The poem is called "Nothing Gold Can Stay." Gold essentially means good in this poem, here comes Frost's first use of symbolism. The first line is "Nature's first green is gold", green is good because it means life, healthy bright green, not brown and dead. Using imagery, Frost presents his first use of symbolism. A literary critic, Deirdre Fagan, says, "The gold represents what is most prized, spring's first green and first flower." He explains the similar symbolism that I discussed previously. The poem starts off positive, or gold, then later becomes negative. Because everything that is good is also brief, right? This transition begins with the second line in the poem; "Her hardest hue to hold." Nature, referred to as "Her" in this line, can't hang on to the green and beautiful colors forever. The change is inevitable. Literary critic, Michel R. Little, writes, "all of the images in the poem represent a brief beginning followed by a longer, more sustained existence that is less vibrant." Little states how Frost uses imagery in …show more content…
At this point, Frost starts to write the decline of life and green colors. Nature starts out healthy and beautiful with flowers, "but only so an hour." Readers start to develop imagery that shows bright colors fading to darker, plainer colors. In line six of the poem, Frost implements an allusion; "So Edan sank to grief." Frost is referring to the Bible and the story of Adam and Eve in the garden of Edan. Story goes that Adam and Eve were the first humans to sin and therefore brought sin into this world. This may refer to human impact on nature and how it can be negative. Robert C. Evans, a literary scholar, states; "He associates natural change with the unnatural sin that supposedly unleashed all the forces of decay his poem describes; he implies that change is not something that simply affects external nature but is also an inevitable aspect of human life that causes deep human pain." Evans describes what Frost's meaning was with this allusion. And how the poem takes a turn and starts to become darker due to the natural changes that occur in