When Ponyboy Met Robert Frost Trivia Quiz

Answer:

Robert Frost, who lived from 1874-1963, was an American poet. He was the first and only writer to date to receive four Pulitzer Prizes for poetry. While he is best known today for poems like "The Road Not Taken" and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", that were perhaps more philosophical, he also wrote poems about rural life; he had worked and lived on farms in New England and was deeply influenced by the beauty of nature, using it at times to express his own feelings and emotions. As it turned out, however, "Nothing Gold Can Stay" was not only a commentary on nature, but also became philosophical about the changes in life that are inevitable.

He wrote "Nothing Gold Can Stay" in 1923 when he was forty-eight years old. By that time he had lost both of his parents, his younger sister, several friends, and two young children, a son, and a daughter. Problems with depression apparently ran in his family, as he, his mother, and a younger sister suffered from its effects. Perhaps he was feeling just a bit melancholy when he wrote the poem, as that is how it appears to modern readers.

It is clear that the poem begins with a discussion of the changing seasons, especially after reading Frost's first draft. After the first four lines in the final draft that were little altered, he wrote:

"Then leaves subside to leaves.
In autumn she achieves
Another golden flame
And yet it's not the same
It['s] not as lovely quite
As that first golden light".

In New England, many of the trees have leaves that do appear to be a golden hue (color) when they first bud in the Spring before turning green. The line, "Then leaf subsides (declines or recedes) to leaf", indicated that Frost did not find the tree nearly as beautiful in its mature seasonal state with green leaves.

Frost made the poem much shorter, as it originally had three full stanzas that were used to eventually make his point. The published version more abruptly changed the image from the seasons in order to mention man's quick fall from the Garden of Eden and the brief appearance of a sunrise. These lines tell the reader that the theme really wasn't about nature as much as it was about change and the fact that all things that are pure, innocent, and precious, come to an end. Youth, beauty, joy, and the perfect moment cannot last forever.

In "The Outsiders", Ponyboy and his friend Johnny read "Gone With the Wind" to pass the time when they were in a difficult situation. While they were discussing the changing culture of the old South, Ponyboy, who was a great student, remembered and recited Robert Frost's poem. It not only related to the book, but also to the beautiful sunrise they watched together. After hearing the poem, however, both boys admitted that they didn't quite understand what Frost was trying to say.

It was not until the end of the book that it was revealed that Johnny had indeed worked out the meaning of the poem. (See conclusion.) Before he died, Johnny wrote Ponyboy a letter that showed he understood that beauty and innocence did not last long (like the gold buds on trees, sunrises, and man's stay in the Garden of Eden), and he used that idea to urge Ponyboy to "stay gold"; in other words, he wanted his friend to retain his innocence and sensitivity after dealing with the harsh environment in which he lived and the situations that he had experienced.

Robert Frost published "Nothing Gold Can Stay" in a collection called "New Hampshire" in 1923; he won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry the following year. The collection contained other poems that became more famous than "Nothing Gold Can Stay". I must believe that Ponyboy and Johnny were really the ones who made the poem gold.