1. Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost
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.

2. “Nothing Gold Can Stay”
Annotate the poem, making sure to look for examples of the following poetic devices:
Personification
Rhyme scheme
Alliteration
Allusion

3. “Nothing Gold Can Stay”
What does it tell us about Ponyboy that he remembered this poem?
What does Johnny’s reaction to the poem tell us about him?

4. “Stay Gold” by Stevie Wonder
Written for The Outsiders movie by Stevie Wonder, a popular recording artist at the time, and Carmine Coppola, the film director’s father
Of all the important scenes in the book, why did they choose to use the 'Nothing Gold Can Stay' scene and Frost’s poem as inspiration for the song?
What phrases and elements did Wonder add?

5. “Stay Gold” by Stevie Wonder
Seize upon that moment long ago One breath away and there you will be So young and carefree Again you will see That place in time...so gold
Steal away into that way back when You thought that all would last forever But like the weather Nothing can ever...and be in time Stay gold

6. “Stay Gold” by Stevie Wonder
But can it be When we can see So vividly A memory And yes you say So must the day Too, fade away And leave a ray of sun So gold Life is but a twinkling of an eye Yet filled with sorrow and compassion though not imagined All things that happen Will age to old Though gold

7. Let’s Compare
Create a Venn Diagram that compares and contrasts the poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” and the song “Stay Gold” 

8. “The Road Not Taken”
Get out your annotated copy of the first Frost poem we’ve studied
How can this poem also connect to the themes and characters of The Outsiders?

9. Options to Connect Option 1 Option 2
Similar to Stevie Wonder’s “Stay Gold,” write two original stanzas & a chorus of song lyrics based on the poem “The Road Not Taken” & The Outsiders.  You can write it to a familiar tune, but the words have to connect to the themes of the poem and the book.
Write a 1-2 paragraph response about how Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” could be applied and connected to The Outsiders

10. Questions that may help…
Was there a character in the novel who chose “the road not taken”?
How do you think choosing “the road not taken” will affect this character’s future?
How did making a choice “make all the difference” in the plot or in a character’s life?
Is there a choice that you think a character would make differently if he/she had known the outcome?
What were the “two roads” or two choices some characters had to choose between in The Outsiders?