What is the theme of the poem Nothing Gold Can Stay?

• A. Youth is unlimited and lasts forever
• B. You can't stay young forever...things change and people grow up. So cherish what you have now.
• C. Gold can always be replaced
• D. The poem celebrates wealth and success

Answer: (B)

The main idea tested is that youth, beauty, and the early joys of life are fleeting; change is inevitable, and trying to hold onto them leads to loss. Frost uses nature imagery—Nature's first green is gold, the hour of the early leaf, and the idea that dawn goes down to day—to show that what seems precious is temporary and will fade. Because of that, the theme centers on impermanence and the value of cherishing what you have in the moment. The option that states you can’t stay young forever and that things change and people grow up, so you should cherish what you have now, most accurately sums up this message. The other ideas miss this focus on change and the transient nature of youth, instead suggesting permanence or shifting attention to wealth or success, which isn’t what the poem emphasizes.