The boys in The Outsiders refer to “Nothing Gold Can Stay” several times throughout the novel so it must be important.  Lets look at it again.

Task 2: Watch the video above from The Outsiders movie.  You can read along in the poem here.

What is the theme of this poem?  (Remember that a theme is a broad idea or message that the author is saying.)  Then why do you think Ponyboy and Johnny like this poem so much?  How do they relate to it?

In your response, use specific words from the poem and talk about parts of the novel to support your answer.

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Allusion

What is an allusion? 

An allusion is when one literary work makes a reference to another literary work.  In The Outsiders, Ponyboy and Johnny watch the sunrise as they talk about the poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost.  They are alluding to that literary work.