On Frost

[Nomik]

In keeping ing with Ka, I'm starting a thread about Robert Frost. For the sake of making an SK connection, Frost is from Derry. Has most well-known works are Mending Wall and Nothing Gold Can Stay, less known for "The Dog Barks Backwards . ." (Can't recall the title)
I would like to go beyond the obvious! My great grandfather owned the farm next to his. I'm starting to wonder why he used to color gold, was he emphasizing green over gold (life is more important than money)? Oh that might've been a spoiler for those of us that haven't been spoonfed Robert Frost since birth. He mostly wrote about the New England Weather, gossiped about his neighbors, and transformed mundane moments into literary treasure. I sing Stopping by Woods ( on Snowy Evening ) to my little guy every night to put him to sleep, and it works.

 

[skimom2]

gold=treasure. "Nature's first green is gold"=innocence is treasure, "the hardest hue to hold"=it doesn't last. Reiterated in the last line: "Nothing gold can stay."

(not sure if this was a serious question. If I've missed a joke, it won't be the first time I'm a Frost fan.)

 

[Lee9900]

In Skyrim life's greatest illusion is innocence.

Not making a joke, but i think I can understand it to a certain extent.

 

[Nomik]

It was not a joke. Not everyone understands frost the way he used to be understood. Not a joke! I am trying not to alienate anybody who doesn't understand poetry or appreciate it. . . I had a little reality check the other night while teaching frost for the umpteenth time.

 

[skimom2]

It was not a joke. Not everyone understands frost the way he used to be understood. Not a joke! I am trying not to alienate anybody who doesn't understand poetry or appreciate it. . . I had a little reality check the other night while teaching frost for the umpteenth time.

Thank goodness! I didn't mean to be insulting in asking if it was a joke. I'm a wordlover, and sometimes I get miss the joke when it comes to stuff I like. I love poetry, and Frost is a particular favorite. "Nothing Gold Can Stay" is one of his most accessible poems, I think. The inevitable loss of innocence is such a sorrow to him.

 

[Nomik]

Thank goodness! I didn't mean to be insulting in asking if it was a joke. I'm a wordlover, and sometimes I get miss the joke when it comes to stuff I like. I love poetry, and Frost is a particular favorite. "Nothing Gold Can Stay" is one of his most accessible poems, I think. The inevitable loss of innocence is such a sorrow to him.

Thank you for responding! Consider me an analogy for the devil's advocate: are you sure? ( I only ask to keep this going) Think about the colors, specifically. What is the difference between green and gold in a larger context? How can someone who has never seen actual springtime access this poem?

 

[skimom2]

I'm positive, given the imagery in the rest of the poem. I've analyzed the first line, so here's the rest:
"Its early leaf a flower, but only so an hour"=nature flowers early, but flowers don't last
"So leaf subsides to leaf"=time passes
"So Eden sank to grief"=Biblical allusion. Eden was lost when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Good and Evil (or Tree of Knowledge in some translations).
"So dawn goes down to day"=the beauty and delicacy of the earliest times, innocence, inevitably turns to maturity
"Nothing gold can stay"=loss of innocence is inevitable

To access this poem without experience of spring requires knowledge of the English language, familiarity with Biblical allusion, an understanding of seasonal changes, even if that knowledge comes from books, and an understanding of figurative language.

Green is typically used for youth or inexperience ('greenhorn'), but I can see it signifying something pliable and fresh while gold could signify something set and rigid. That would mean that Frost was saying that the rigid will fall to the flexible; that doesn't work with the rest of the imagery in the poem, though, so I will stick by my original posit

 

[Nomik]

Rigidity will fall to its synonym?
Excellent point, I could not have done that better myself. Green: life, gold:wealth? ( :=is to. ,=as)

 

[danie]

Frost lover here. My favorite poem is One Step Backward Taken. I also love The Pasture and The Tuft of Flowers.

I see you used to teach. I have taught for 29 years; I'm presently teaching 6th- and 8th-grade science, and will begin teaching speech and drama in August as well. I plan to throw in a bit of poetry.

 

[Nomik]

7-12 Language Arts in my day, now I only tutor
Weird, I was attempting to post a reply to a different thread just now and it had the word lightning in it. I was completely kicked out of the entire thing. I read it and lightning, what of it?(yep, no caps) I LIVE IT

 

[Nomik]

I'm positive, given the imagery in the rest of the poem. I've analyzed the first line, so here's the rest:
"Its early leaf a flower, but only so an hour"=nature flowers early, but flowers don't last
"So leaf subsides to leaf"=time passes
"So Eden sank to grief"=Biblical allusion. Eden was lost when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Good and Evil (or Tree of Knowledge in some translations).
"So dawn goes down to day"=the beauty and delicacy of the earliest times, innocence, inevitably turns to maturity
"Nothing gold can stay"=loss of innocence is inevitable

To access this poem without experience of spring requires knowledge of the English language, familiarity with Biblical allusion, an understanding of seasonal changes, even if that knowledge comes from books, and an understanding of figurative language.

Green is typically used for youth or inexperience ('greenhorn'), but I can see it signifying something pliable and fresh while gold could signify something set and rigid. That would mean that Frost was saying that the rigid will fall to the flexible; that doesn't work with the rest of the imagery in the poem, though, so I will stick by my original posit

7-12 Language Arts in my day, now I only tutor
Weird, I was attempting to post a reply to a different thread just now and it had the word lightning in it. I was completely kicked out of the entire thing. I read it and lightning, what of it?(yep, no caps) I LIVE IT

You guys rock, thank you for not ignoring poetry. I love it! Speech and drama I never touched for pay, just volleyball. I knew nothing about sports but they were offering 1k per semester for a teacher who could coach. I learned very quickly . .year two: we took second district wide ( a much bigger deal than it sounds like)

 

[GNTLGNT]

 

[Moderator]

In keeping ing with Ka, I'm starting a thread about Robert Frost. For the sake of making an SK connection, Frost is from Derry. Has most well-known works are Mending Wall and Nothing Gold Can Stay, less known for "The Dog Barks Backwards . ." (Can't recall the title)
I would like to go beyond the obvious! My great grandfather owned the farm next to his. I'm starting to wonder why he used to color gold, was he emphasizing green over gold (life is more important than money)? Oh that might've been a spoiler for those of us that haven't been spoonfed Robert Frost since birth. He mostly wrote about the New England Weather, gossiped about his neighbors, and transformed mundane moments into literary treasure. I sing Stopping by Woods ( on Snowy Evening ) to my little guy every night to put him to sleep, and it works.

I've moved your thread over to this area as the Everything Else forum is only for Hot Topics (i.e. anything that may be controversial but does not fit into the Politics or Religion topics).

 

[Nomik]

Stopping by woods on snowy evening
Who's woods these are?
I think I know
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
to stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake to ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sounds the sweep of easy wind and downy flake
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's 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.

 

[skimom2]

Rigidity will fall to its synonym?
Excellent point, I could not have done that better myself. Green: life, gold:wealth? ( :=is to. ,=as)

Flexible is its antonym, and it's a pretty image : flexibility being more enduring than stolidity. Doesn't work with the biblical allusion, though. I don't think this has anything at all to do with money.

 

[danie]

Flexible is its antonym, and it's a pretty image : flexibility being more enduring than stolidity. Doesn't work with the biblical allusion, though. I don't think this has anything at all to do with money.

I just think the poem means that anything that we hold as dear/beautiful/innocent/lovely cannot last.
Those eight lines convey so much meaning, don't they?

 

[Nomik]

Flexible is its antonym, and it's a pretty image : flexibility being more enduring than stolidity. Doesn't work with the biblical allusion, though. I don't think this has anything at all to do with money.

I misread your original post (for some reason, the word flexible looked like "inflexible") I am sorry!
Have you ever read Paradise Lost?
Milton's take was that the fall was all Eve's fault. Something to consider . . .

 

[skimom2]

I have, in college. Women are ALWAYS at fault in classic literature written by men. Fall guys are ever with us, unfortunately. Have you read The Penelopiead, by Margaret Atwood? It has a really interesting take on that classical truism.

 

[Nomik]

I have not read that one! Thanks for the recommendation.

I have, in college. Women are ALWAYS at fault in classic literature written by men. Fall guys are ever with us, unfortunately. Have you read The Penelopiead, by Margaret Atwood? It has a really interesting take on that classical truism.