Chapter 5 and 6: Poem analysis:

Chapter 5 and 6:  Poem analysis: 

“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."

In chapter 5, Ponyboy recites this poem “ Nothing Gold Can Stay” written by Robert Frost. This poem is about Ponyboy and Johnny’s lives. It shows how their lives change from one accident. This poem demonstrates that things do not always turn out the way we hope for. “Nothing gold can stay.” It means nothing stays the same forever. As the poem mentions, “Her early leaf’s a flower” this means to Pony and Johnny that even a leaf can be as beautiful as a flower, so that little things and simple things in their life; like taking the girls for a ride home. Sometimes situations start well but turn out bad. This is seen when Johnny and Pony were in a fight and it turned out that they killed a guy by accident. 

The poem has a lot of meaning personally for Ponyboy and Johnny because the poem reflects their lives. This is seen when the poem begins with “Nature’s first green is gold” and closes with “Nothing gold can stay.”  When Ponyboy was little everything was great until his parents died. For Johnny’s parents do not care about him and in this way it is almost like they do not exist. Now that Ponyboy and Johnny are old enough to understand their life, they realize that life is not as easy as when it starts. This also relates to the other boys in the Greaser because they are all living a tough life often getting jumped now and then and being treated as criminals even if they are innocent.