Throughout the poem, there are three main colors that are clearly used; green, gold, and white. The color green usually represents nature and youth which is used in the poem to reflect the speaker’s feelings in his childhood. The speaker is seen “happy as the grass was green… And as I was green and carefree… And green and golden… And fire green as grass…” (lines 2, 10, 15, 24). This shows how naïve and innocent the speaker is about the world in his youth. The color gold usually represents something that has value and it is symbolized in the poem to describe time. “Time let me hail and climb / Golden in the heydays of his eyes… Time let me play and be / Golden in the mercy of his means, / And green and golden…” (lines 4-5, 13-15). This shows that the color gold is used to indicate the importance of time in the poem and how it is used to represent the relationship between time and the passing of the speaker’s youth. The color white is usually used to symbolize purity and innocence of the speaker as a child. “And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white… Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days…” (lines 31, 50). This shows how the speaker feels about his childhood and also the change from childhood to adulthood. Thus, symbolism is used in the poem to emphasize the theme that youth does not last forever and time does not stop for
Throughout the poem, there are three main colors that are clearly used; green, gold, and white. The color green usually represents nature and youth which is used in the poem to reflect the speaker’s feelings in his childhood. The speaker is seen “happy as the grass was green… And as I was green and carefree… And green and golden… And fire green as grass…” (lines 2, 10, 15, 24). This shows how naïve and innocent the speaker is about the world in his youth. The color gold usually represents something that has value and it is symbolized in the poem to describe time. “Time let me hail and climb / Golden in the heydays of his eyes… Time let me play and be / Golden in the mercy of his means, / And green and golden…” (lines 4-5, 13-15). This shows that the color gold is used to indicate the importance of time in the poem and how it is used to represent the relationship between time and the passing of the speaker’s youth. The color white is usually used to symbolize purity and innocence of the speaker as a child. “And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white… Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days…” (lines 31, 50). This shows how the speaker feels about his childhood and also the change from childhood to adulthood. Thus, symbolism is used in the poem to emphasize the theme that youth does not last forever and time does not stop for