The Tragic Impermanence of Youth in Robert Frost's Nothing Gold Can Stay

902 Words2 Pages

The Tragic Impermanence of Youth in Robert Frost's Nothing Gold Can Stay In his poem "Nothing Gold can Stay", Robert Frost names youth and its attributes as invaluable. Using nature as an example, Frost relates the earliest green of a newborn plant to gold; its first leaves are equated with flowers. However, to hold something as fleeting as youth in the highest of esteems is to set one's self up for tragedy. The laws of the Universe cast the glories of youth into an unquestionable state of impermanence. It is an inescapable fact that all that is born, pure and clean, will be polluted with age and die. The aging process that Frost describes is meant to be taken literally as well as metaphorically. Literally, the plants that Frost describes are an example of this nonexclusive law of aging. This prooving through common natural phenomenom the tangible and scientific merit of the poem. There is also a spiritual understanding. Frost uses a religious allusion to further enforce the objective of the poem.Whether Frost's argument is proven in a religious or scientific forum, it is nonetheless true. In directly citing these natural occurrences from inanimate, organic things such as plants, he also indirectly addresses the phenomena of aging in humans, in both physical and spiritual respects. Literally, this is a poem discribing the seasons. Frosts interpertation of the seasons is original in the fact that it is not only autumn that causes him grief, but summer. Spring is portrayed as painfully quick in its retirement; "Her early leaf's a flower,/ But only so an hour.". Most would associate summer as a season brimming with life, perhaps the realization of what was began in spring. As Frost preceives it however, from the moment spring... ... middle of paper ... ...f impurity. In Christianity it is called sin. The fact that pollution of the soul is a concept in religion the world over is a testament to the Universal nature of Frosts argument. Frost's poem addresses the tragic transitory nature of living things; from the moment of conception, we are ever-striding towards death. Frost offers no remedy for the universal illness of aging; no solution to the fact that the glory of youth lasts only a moment. He merely commits to writing a deliberation of what he understands to be a reality, however tragic. The affliction of dissatisfaction that Frost suffers from cannot be treated in any tangible way. Frost's response is to refuse to silently buckle to the seemingly sadistic ways of the world. He attacks the culprit of aging the only way one can attack the enigmatic forces of the universe, by naming it as the tragedy that it is.

Show More
Related

  • Martha Graham The Day Dance

    734 Words  | 2 Pages

    Her goal was to move, not dance. She challenged the notions of what a quote on quote “female dancer” was and could do. Dance to her was an exploration, a celebration of life, and religious calling that required an absolute devotion (pg. 11, Freedman). She considered her dancers “acrobats of God”. An example of a dance which symbolized the “essentialized” body was Martha Graham’s Lamentation, choreographed in 1930, which served as an expression of what person’s grief, with Graham as the solo dancer in the piece. The costume, a tube-like stretchy piece of fabric, only allowed her face, hands, and feet to be seen, and, as Graham stated, “The garment that is worn is just a tube of material, but it is as though you were stretching inside your own skin.” In the beginning of the piece, she started out by sitting on a bench with her legs wide spread and arms held tight. Her head was going back and forth as if she was feeling sadness or maybe replaying thoughts in her head. By the way she was holding her hands so tight and close to her body, it symbolized the deep pain within her––the essence of her piece was grief, and she danced it from inside out. Russel Freedman, the author of Martha Graham A Dancers Life, stated, “She did not dance about grief, but sought “the thing itself”- the very embodiment of grief (p. 61).” Graham, dancing with strength and power, was encapsulated with her movement and was completely surrendered

    Read More

  • Influence of Trisha Brown and Steve Paxton on Modern Dance

    2275 Words  | 5 Pages

    Ross, Janice. “Judson Dance Theatre: Performative Traces.” TDR: The Drama Review 53, no. 2 (2009): 161-164

    Read More

  • A Brief Biography of Ana Sokolow

    1458 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1929 Sokolow began her career in dance by joining Martha Graham’s dance company. She spent a lot of time learning and studying under Graham o...

    Read More

  • Vuth St. Denis Theory Of Dance

    1491 Words  | 3 Pages

    At the beginning of the twentieth century, European powers were in the process of mobilizing for the first world war after years of global imperialism, and the United States, after temporarily resolving the problems of Reconstruction and Industrialization, began to resume the course of expansion reaching out toward Asia and the Pacific. This era was consumed by limited choices in popular culture and dance, yet several dances began to emerge as a dominant form of art other than ballet. Born in 1878 to 1968, Ruth St. Denis was an American dancer renowned as a founder of modern dance, a sensational performer, and influential teacher. St. Denis was a pioneer in American modern dance and was able to successfully explore dance forms from diverse world religious and spiritual expression. She became very interested in the dancing techniques and emotions of Eastern cultures and created her own theory of dance based upon all of her early training, performers she worked with, and her reading on mythology and various cultures. She was equally influenced by philosophy, cultural history, and contemporary art. In particular, St. Denis was enamored with spirituality and the orient. For example, St. Denis learned about Buddhism, and the immediate context of spirituality inspired her to translate this energy in to choreographic practices that merged spiritual rituals with dance and movement . One of her earliest pieces, Incense, was first performed in 1906 in New York’s Hudson Theater. Incense is based upon the Hindu ritual of puja, in which an individual worships the deities with offerings of flowers, fruit and incense . Although her choices in dance were limited at the time of the turn of the 20th century, Ruth St. Denis was able to incorporate ...

    Read More

  • Biography on Mrath Graham

    720 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Dance is the hidden language of the soul.” With this quote Martha Graham opines that the body says what words cannot. Martha Graham was a significant American dancer, teacher, and choreographer of modern dance in American history. Graham was a person who never thought about being “different” from anyone else, but she certainly was. Graham employed the psychological concepts of Freud and Jung into her dances. Graham also sought to give “visible substance to things felt”, which was a phrase that became a metaphor central to her art form. Among many things Graham was also a huge advocate of expressionism, a form of art in which an artist seeks to express emotional experience rather than impressions of the external world into their work, and her revolutionary vision and artistic mastery has had a deep and lasting impact on American art and culture.

    Read More

  • The impact of the French Revolution on Ballet

    2173 Words  | 5 Pages

    [6] Cohen, Selma Jeanne. International Encyclopedia of Dance: A Project of Dance Perspectives Foundation, Inc. New York: Oxford UP, 1998. Print.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Out, Out by Robert Frost

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    Frost uses different stylistic devices throughout this poem. He is very descriptive using things such as imagery and personification to express his intentions in the poem. Frost uses imagery when he describes the setting of the place. He tells his readers the boy is standing outside by describing the visible mountain ranges and sets the time of day by saying that the sun is setting. Frost gives his readers an image of the boy feeling pain by using contradicting words such as "rueful" and "laugh" and by using powerful words such as "outcry". He also describes the blood coming from the boy's hand as life that is spilling. To show how the boy is dying, Frost gives his readers an image of the boy breathing shallowly by saying that he is puffing his lips out with his breath.

    Read More

  • The Euro

    2226 Words  | 5 Pages

    To most people in the United States hearing the word Euro brings about blank stares. Ask this same question in England or another European country and it means bringing Europe together under one common currency. The Euro can be defined as the common monetary system by which the participating members of the European Community will trade. Eleven countries Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Finland and Italy will comprise the European Economic Monetary Union that will set a side their national currency and adopt the Euro in 2002. A new National bank, based in Frankfurt Germany, will be constructed and the interest rates that control the economies of these nations will be in the hands of this new system. It is indeed a great experiment, being masterminded in Frankfurt, one that will be felt through out Europe as well as the rest of the world.1

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Robert Frost's Once by the Pacific

    864 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although this poem also is connected with nature, the theme is more universal in that it could be related to Armageddon, or the end of the world. Even though this theme may seem simple, it is really complex because we do not know how Frost could possibly relate to the events leading to the end of the world. It is an "uncertain" and sometimes controversial topic, and even if everyone was certain it was coming, we do not know exactly how it will occur and when. Therefore, how did Frost envision this event? Is he portraying it in a religious context, a naturalistic one, or both? The last line (14) speaks of God putting out the light, which brings out a religious reference, but the bulk of the poem deals with nature entirely. Physical images of water, clouds, continents, and cliffs present a much more complex setting than the simple setting in "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" or the yellow wood in "The Road Not Taken."

    Read More

  • Robert Frost’s, “Design”

    1068 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ed by many scholars as his best work. It is through his awareness of the merit, the definitive disconnectedness, of nature and man that is most viewable in this poem. Throughout this essay, Frosts messages of innocence, evil, and design by deific intrusion reverberate true to his own personal standpoint of man and nature. It is in this, that Frost expresses the ideology of a benign deity.

    Read More

  • The Dark Side of Robert Frost’s Nature

    2355 Words  | 5 Pages

    The vivid imagery, symbolism, metaphors make his poetry elusive, through these elements Frost is able to give nature its dark side. It is these elements that must be analyzed to discover the hidden dark meaning within Roberts Frost’s poems. Lines that seemed simple at first become more complex after the reader analyzes the poem using elements of poetry. For example, in the poem Mending Wall it appears that Robert frost is talking about two man arguing about a wall but at a closer look the reader realizes that the poem is about the things that separate man from man, which can be viewed as destructive. In After Apple Picking, the darkness of nature is present through the man wanting sleep, which is symbolic of death. It might seem that the poem is about apple picking and hard work but it is actually about the nature of death.

    Read More

  • An Insight on Robert Frost's Life

    836 Words  | 2 Pages

    “In three words, I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on” (Frost). These are the words of Robert Frost who was born on March 26, 1874. He was raised by his mother alone since his father died from tuberculosis when Frost was just at the age of eleven. He wrote extravagant poetry as he went through many road blocks during his journey in England. His poetry is read by millions of people all across the world inspired by his in-depth meaning of life through nature. His role in the arts of literature remains well-known not only in American writing, but in different countries as well, as it is analyzed for the difference in structure. Robert Frost is a well-known poet who made a tremendous impression in American literature by overcoming his many hardships, writing various famous works of poetry, and inspiring many modern-day poets.

    Read More

  • The Nature of Frost

    962 Words  | 2 Pages

    Frost uses nature as his scene, natural processes and features, such as the snow in Frost's work "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" are used to signify events in human lives and draw conclusions about human nature.(http://www. litertureclassics.com/authors/Frost/). In this poem the rider is returning home one late evening, but is tempted by the beauty of the snow filled woods, perhaps evil lurks behind the branches. The mystery continues with the contrast between the light of the village and the darkness of the woods. This mystery is an allure to humans, as we try to conquer nature, but it still has the power to drag us behind its change...

    Read More

  • The Euro Versus the Dollar

    1321 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The introduction of the euro will represent the most dramatic change in the international monetary system since President Nixon took the dollar off gold in 1971 [and when] the era of flexible exchange rates began…the euro is likely to challenge the position of the dollar [and hence] this may be the most important event in the history of the international monetary system since the dollar took over from the pound the role of dominant currency in World War I” (Mussa 2002).

    Read More

  • Life and Death in Poetry

    2084 Words  | 5 Pages

    Life and death are two things that we as humans must all face. The road from one to the other, from life to death, is a long and at times, both joyous and painful one. Robert Frost’s poems are a prime example of these times and trials. The poems I chose for this paper highlight them, and with Frost’s allegory, they present a sort of silver lining to the string of dark and dreary words he’s pieced together for these poems. The depressing tone to the poems “Acquainted with the Night”, “Nothing Gold Can Stay”, and “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowing Evening” could be attributed to the death of many of Frost’s family members, and how despite this he overcame it all, and at the end of his life, was a successful writer. These poems to not go into great explanation of the details of Frost’s life, however, I believe that they are representations of the things path that he’s walked, and how he viewed his actions and death in general.

    Read More

More about The Tragic Impermanence of Youth in Robert Frost's Nothing Gold Can Stay

Open Document