I would go with,
The stories time period
The characters environment
And where the story takes place
Or if it is an autobiography, then you can also look at where the author is from! I hope this helps!
Answer:
In simple words, Season's "first green" flowers are connected to golden, earth's most valuable metal, instantly cementing gold as a metaphor of anything that is new, young, and lovely.
The following line, "Her hardest hue to hold," indicates that maintaining the innocent of the initial greens is the most difficult things to accomplish and he adds, "Her first leaf's a blossom / only so an evening." This is the third time he uses an analogy, suggesting that a blade is a bloom (and green is gold).
While I have never read the book (because it is historically inaccurate - so don't get too sad, because it never could have happened), there are many words that would signal a flashback. Flashbacks are a time of reflection, so there are many past tense verbs used. You may also see things like, "Back in my day...", "As I think back...", "When I was a young boy...", "As I remember...".