NAME: _________________________________________

The beauty of poetry is that so much can be said in just a few well-chosen
words. And many poetic sound devices and creative figures of speech can be
packed into just a few short lines like in this 8-line poem by one of Americas
most famous poets, Robert Frost.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

By Robert Frost (1874-1963)
Natures first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leafs a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

POEM ANALYSIS:
NOTE: To help answer the following questions, you may want to refer to the

definitions and examples on your green list of Poetry Devices and Figures of
Speech, your flashcards, and/or the Glossary of Literary Terms beginning on
page 1248 in the back of the literature textbook.
1. Label the RHYME SCHEME by writing the appropriate letter at the end of each of the 8 lines.
2. What is another word (synonym) for the word hue? (see line 2) _________________________
3. Identifying SOUND DEVICES:
A) List TWO examples of ALLITERATION, or repetition of the same consonant sound at the
beginning of words in the same line or close together.
1.
2.
B) List TWO examples of ASSONANCE, or repetition of the same vowel sound within words.
1.
2.
4. Identifying FIGURES OF SPEECH:
A) PERSONIFICATION: What non-human thing in the poem is personified by being given
human
characteristics, or is described with qualities or terms related to a person?
B) Quote/list an example from the poem of a PARADOX, or a statement (sentence) that
seems to
contradict itself -- by saying one thing, then the opposite.
C) Quote/list an example from the poem of a HYPERBOLE, or an obvious exaggeration for
special effect.
5) THEME:

A) What emotion or other words would you use to describe the TONE of the writer, or
poems speaker?
C) (Explain in a sentence or so.) What is the THEME (message or main idea) that the writer
is trying to
get across to the reader?