Lesson 14: “Nothing Gold Can Stay”

Turn and Talk

Say these Directions: Discuss your response to the Lesson 13 homework assignment prompt with a partner.

• Based on your knowledge of the plot and characters, what do you think will happen next to Ponyboy and Johnny? What do you think they might learn about each other and themselves?

  • I think Ponyboy and Johnny will hide in the church until members of their gang come to find them. Their friends seem to care about them and will probably want to make sure they are okay. I think they might learn more about who they are as individuals rather than as members of the group. They might also learn more about each other’s strengths under pressure.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: Today, we’ll read and discuss a poem that can thematically relate to the characters Ponyboy and Johnny. Though the poem is not about Ponyboy and Johnny themselves, its images and symbols can shed light on how these characters evolve and see themselves.

Guide students in reviewing the word subsides using morphology and examples/non-examples. Facilitate partner discussion to deepen understanding and apply the word to different contexts.

Morphology & Vocabulary

Target Word: subsides

Introduce the Word: Present the word subsides to students and pronounce it. Guide students to pronounce the word.

• Ask: Have you seen the word subsides before? Where?

Identify the Roots: Underline the root sid in subsides. Explain that the sid (to settle down, to sink) is related to the Latin word sedere, meaning “to sit”.

• Ask: Do you know any other words with the root sid?

  • reside, resident, preside, president

Language Connection: The Spanish word residente, meaning “one who lives/settles in a place” comes from the same Latin root.

Identify Affixes: Explain that the prefix sub- means “under,” “beneath,” “behind,” or “below.”

• Ask: Do you know any words with the prefix sub-?

  • subtract, substitute, submarine

• Ask: How do you think the prefix sub- applies to the meaning of subtract?

  • When you subtract, you form a number that decreases, or “goes below,” the first number.

• Ask: How do you think the prefix applies to the meaning of submarine?

  • A submarine goes under or beneath the surface of the water.

Determine Meaning: Direct students to use the roots and affixes to find the meaning of the word.

• Ask: Given what we know about the Latin root sid and the prefix sub-, what might the word subsides mean?

  • becomes less strong, severe, or intense; decreases or sinks to a lower level

Introduce Activity: Present each scenario orally and/or project on a board. 

Say these Directions: With a partner, discuss and determine why each scenario is an example or a non-example of something that subsides, and why.

Share student thinking: Invite partnerships to share their examples and non-examples. As students share their thinking, prompt students to share their rationale and explain their connections. For example: 

• Ask: Why is the second choice an example of something that subsides when the third choice is not?

  • In the third choice, you start out interested, but your interest becomes less strong and intense. In the fourth choice, you aren’t interested in the first place, so your interest does not become less strong.

• Ask: What makes something that subsides different from something that is not strong, severe, or intense?

  • Something that subsides decreases, or becomes less, over time. This shows a change, and it is different from something that is already “less than” something else and does not change.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: In the poem you’ll read today, you’ll hear this word used to describe something that changes by decreasing or becoming less than what it was. Pay attention to the use of subsides and the other ways the poem describes change.

Part A: Preparing to Interpret Poetry (RL.7.5, L.7.5.a) (10 minutes)

Robert Frost, Imagery, and Symbolism

Ask if students have heard of the poet Robert Frost or read any of his poems. Explain that Frost wrote poetry about nature, seasons, and rural (country) life. His poems often use elements of nature to reflect on deeper issues such as life changes, choices people make, and the passing of time.

Many of Frost’s poems have simple forms; they may have short lines or short stanzas (remind students that a stanza is a group of lines in poetry, like a verse in a song). He used these forms to present complex themes in a profound way that is easy for the reader to understand and remember. Frost made short poems memorable by using imagery, metaphor, and symbolism.

• Say: Remember when Ponyboy compared Darry’s eyes to “green ice” or “frozen ice”? That is an example of imagery—you can picture Darry’s eyes more clearly because of the author’s visual word choice. In literature, imagery uses sensory details that can appeal to any of the five senses. Even though the word imagery might make you only think of a visual image, imagery can capture how something feels, sounds, or even smells!

• Ask: Why do you think Ponyboy chose to use the image of “frozen ice” to describe Darry’s eyes? What is the effect of that comparison? How does it shape your impression of how Ponyboy sees Darry?

  • Ponyboy uses "frozen ice" because it shows that Darry's eyes aren't just cold; they're hard and impossible to break through. The image makes us feel the emotional wall between them instead of just being told it exists.

Review that a metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things or ideas and shows how they are alike by saying that one is the other. (Ex. “His eyes are cubes of ice.”)

• Ask: What is symbolism? How do you think symbolism might be used in literature?

  • when an object is a symbol of something deeper, like an idea or an emotion

Explain that symbolism uses concrete objects or figures—such as shapes, colors, weather, animals, or people—to represent abstract ideas, feelings, or concepts. Provide one or two simple, widely understood examples of symbols, such as a rose or heart representing romantic love.

• Ask: Recall when Ponyboy and Cherry discuss the sunset in Chapter 3. What ideas or feelings do you think the sunset might symbolize in The Outsiders?

  • connection, similarities, peace

• Say:Listen for imagery, metaphors, and symbols as we read the poem. Also listen for ideas that will help you determine the poem’s theme.

  • Imagery: A literary device that uses sensory details to help readers create vivid mental images

  • Metaphor: A figure of speech that compares two different things or ideas and shows how they are alike by saying that one is the other. (Ex. “His eyes are cubes of ice.”)

  • Symbolism: A literary device where writers use concrete objects to represent abstract ideas or feelings

Analyze a Symbol

Say these Directions: The Frost poem uses the word gold in a symbolic way. With your partner, respond to this prompt by recording words and ideas on a Web Chart graphic organizer with “gold” in the center and your associations with the word in the surrounding ovals.

• What do you think when you hear the words gold or golden? How have you heard those words used literally or figuratively? What can make a moment, person, or experience “gold”?

Have a brief class discussion where partners share with the class their associations with the concept of “gold.” (Ex. valuable, bright, rare, early morning, perfect moments, special)

Provide students with a confidence continuum (i.e., 1–5). As needed, model how to demonstrate a level of confidence using the continuum.

Part B: Interpreting a Poem (RL.7.4, RL.7.5, L.7.5.a) (20 minutes)

Guide students in interpreting the poem by analyzing imagery, symbolism, and sound. Facilitate collaborative discussion to connect the poem’s ideas to characters and themes in The Outsiders.

Preview the Poem’s Role in the Text

Say these Directions: Look at the title of the poem: “Nothing Gold Can Stay.”

• Ask: Based on the title and what you know about Robert Frost, what do you think the poem will be about?

  • nature, light disappearing/changing times of day, changing seasons

Guide students to make initial connections to the characters in The Outsiders.

• Ask: Based on what you know about Ponyboy and Johnny, what do you think is important, precious, or “gold” to each of them?

  • Johnny: friendship, brotherhood; Ponyboy: family, art, childhood memories

If time allows, you may want to “set the scene” by reading the passage preceding the poem in Chapter 5 where Ponyboy and Johnny discuss the sunrise.

• Say: This poem appears in Chapter 5 during the time when Ponyboy and Johnny are hiding in the church. Review the following words from the poem that may be unfamiliar:

  • Hue is a color or a shade of a color.

  • Eden is a paradise or a place of perfect happiness. In some religious traditions, Eden describes a place of paradise that disappeared long ago.

Read and Listen

Read the poem aloud twice: once to introduce it, and the second time to encourage deeper understanding. Tell students not to worry if they don’t fully understand the poem yet, but to try to picture the images Frost is sharing. Encourage students to listen for imagery, symbolism, and metaphors in the poem.

Graffiti/Table Talk

Provide chart paper or a digital board.

• Say: Share words and phrases that stood out to you and images that appeared in your mind during the poem. Add your own ideas to the chart.

Model drawing a connection: One phrase that stood out to me was “only so an hour” because it explains how quickly something special can disappear. I pictured a flower appearing quickly, then disappearing.

Record the phrase on the chart/board.

Invite students to read and summarize patterns from the chart.

• Ask: Which words/images appeared most often?

Think-Pair-Share

Say these Directions: First, answer these questions independently, and then share and refine your ideas with a partner.

• Ask: How did the word subsides help you understand the poem?

  • The word subsides helped me understand that many things in nature disappear, decrease, or become less intense, like the colors on leaves when they change from green to red and brown in the fall and winter.

• Ask: Look back at the words and ideas you wrote on your graphic organizer. Which of your associations with “gold” best connects to how Frost uses the word in this poem? What makes that connection meaningful?

  • When I look back at my graphic organizer, the association that best connects to Frost's use of “gold” is “rare.” In the poem, Frost writes that Nature's first green is gold but it is “her hardest hue to hold,” which suggests that this golden moment is difficult to keep, just like something rare is hard to come by or hold on to.

• Ask: How did the rhyming words and repeated sounds help you remember the images and symbols?

  • The connections between the rhyming words, like gold and hold, helped me remember how the concepts are connected—something gold is hard to hold because it doesn’t last long. The repeated sounds, like the h sounds in the second line, helped the line stick in my mind.

• Ask: How did hearing the poem read aloud help you understand its ideas differently than you would if you read it silently?

  • Hearing the sounds in the poem helped me understand how the author uses rhymes to show connections between different words. I could also hear how the words created a rhythm in the poem; when you read silently, you can’t always hear a rhythm.

Guide students in connecting the poem to characters by discussing its relevance to Ponyboy and Johnny. Support partner discussion to deepen understanding of theme and character experiences.

Think-Pair-Share

Say these Directions: Use the Think-Pair-Share routine to discuss your response to the prompt. use your analysis of the poem to think about and discuss how it relates to The Outsiders.

• Ask: Think about what you know about Ponyboy’s and Johnny’s lives. Why do you think the poem matters to them?

  • Optional Sentence Starter:

    • “I think the poem matters to Ponyboy and Johnny because ____.”

    • Ponyboy and Johnny both want good things to happen in their lives. Ponyboy also has experience with happy moments that do not last, like his life with his parents. I think the poem matters to them because it relates to their experience of good things being temporary.

Instruct students to begin reading Chapter 5 of The Outsiders and take notes in their Journal on the following prompt:

As you read, annotate the text for the following:

• How does being in the church change the way Ponyboy and Johnny see themselves?