Life is full of challenges and problems that make up who we are. Everybody faces adversity , and nobodys perfect, but what determines who you are is how you handle the situations your in, and what you learn from them. Learning and choosing to make the same mistakes, is being immature, but bettering yourself is what makes you more mature, and that’s how humans evolve in life. Though coming-of-age usually applies to humans, the poem Nothing Gold Can Stay, shows us the change in nature.
The world is a pretty place, especially during warm seasons. Plants are bright and vibrant, the sky is clear, and a nice blue. Depending on where and when you are, it is quite the sight. “Nature’s first green is gold” (Frost 1). A good description of what it can be. Gold is cherished and glorified, like someone would see a plain open field during a spring evening. But everything good comes to an end.
When colder seasons come, the radiant world, turns cold as well. Environment begins to change. “So Eden sank to grief” (6). This describes how, something beautiful, like the biblical garden, could fade. Which is what happens with the earth’s timely transition. This shows coming-of-age as when the world returns to its goldness, it’s like it’s maturing. As we grow from immature to mature, we may be cold in struggles we face, but as we grow older we better learn how to cope with life’s challenges and we become more radiant. Growing up is all about going through dark times, but as you mature you may shine one day.
Though you may beam for a period of time, it won’t last forever. One day you’ll come to dismay. Every dynasty ends at some point. “Nothing gold can stay” (8). Death. Life, and everything beautiful and ugly about it holds, but only for an instant. The same way plants die and, new plants grow, we die, and a new generation comes. Over, and over in a cycle.
The Author of Nothing Gold Can Stay, shows us change in immaturity to maturity, coming-of-age. He displays this using nature references and metaphors, which if you interpret a certain way, you can see links to human race as well. Really, the whole Earth in general and how it functions. A cycle of life, with animals, being linked to plants, and many other things, all linked so we can grow. Coming-of-age validates, that change is necessary in life, to better yourself, which in turn is bettering the world we live in.