1. “Nothing Gold Can Stay”
By Robert Frost

2. Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold
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.

10. What is a topic?

11. What are some possible topics for this poem?
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.

12. Possible topics . . . Nature Leaves and flowers
Time—what happens in an hour
A day—sunrise to sunset
Change
Changing friendships

13. How to find the theme Look for repeated words or phrases
Look for synonyms
Watch for comparisons
Figurative language
Study the beginning
Study the ending

14. What is the theme A theme must . . . Convey the author’s message or
Express the central idea
Be timeless
Be universal

15. Possible themes . . . All living things must die eventually.
Youth and innocence cannot last.
The fact that all good things must at some point come to an end.