In the second stanza, the observer notices the voice of the lover ‘down by the rimming river’ which must have echoed through the noise of the crowd. The lover was singing in an unusual spot ‘under the arch of the rail-way’ which appears an unromantic place to be courting someone as it can be assumed that the lover is actually conversing with someone as well as the lover could be merely singing the song to no one in particular. The lover begins with, which could be, the title and motif of the song ‘Love has no ending’. Love is expressed in a exaggerated assertions ‘...till China and Africa meet, ...till the ocean is folded’. These impossibilities reflect the extent or depth of the love, but could imply that the lover is inexperienced and infatuated as mentioned in the song that this is the lover’s ‘first love of the world’.
In the sixth stanza, Auden makes an abrupt transition using the contrasting conjunction, ‘But’, that contradicts the lover’s unending love with the third voice, time, making an appearance. The strict and uncompromising voice of the time speaks as if it is talking back to the lover ‘O let not Time deceive you’. Time is written in capital ‘t’ to highlight its omnipotence that love ‘cannot conquer’ because it is controlled by time. Auden furthermore, employs a pileup of dark imagery to present time as if it is lurking in the ‘shadow’, carrying cruel justice.
The poem uses quatrain rhyming of ABCB as well as, each stanza being four lines long which highlights the consistency of time along with Auden’s fellow poem, ‘If I could tell you’. The rhythm of the poem is iambic tetrameter and triameter because the rhythms use iambs of four beats with three beats to the line. This poem adopts a music quality. As a whole, the structure attempts to show the characteristics of time.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
The poem 'As I Walked Out One Evening' consists of three separate speakers: the lovers, the clocks and the narrator. Each speaker represents a different measure and attitude towards time. The lover’s song paints time to be conquerable and ignorable – no more than a passing annoyance that they are outside of. The soliloquy of the clocks demonstrates time as a product of society, there to keep its subjects in line, and ultimately a ruling force. Finally, the narrator speaks of love as being outside of both of these things. Time is a constant flow than brings change and opportunity, and any claim to deny or control it is an illusion.…
- 920 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Have you ever felt like time was running past you? That the world kept spinning while you just stood still? Time is a central theme in many of Kenneth Slessor’s poems, however it is primarily explored through ‘Out of time’ and ‘Five Bells’. Slessor has made it obvious that he is aware that time continues whether we want it to or not and this is what allows us to put into perspective the notion of humanity’s dominance.…
- 849 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The sense of the control in time within the poem is set by the final lines “White time ran ahead, along glistening tracks of steel’ and is also contrasted with “Time waited anxiously with us” helps represents that…
- 804 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
As the days roll by with the man away from his heart, he was wondering about their lost love. The 2nd verse emphasizes how the man really wanted for their love to be renewed. He was struggling in those times that he was lonely and disheartened. To ease his sadness, he kept reminiscing their memories together and until then, he wanted to make a move so that his woman can forgive her and they can love again. For the man, his beloved is his life, as the song says, “please love me or I’ll be gone...” Clearly, he can’t live no longer without her by his side.…
- 598 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
The rhyming of the alternating ending lines, “Time will say nothing but I told you so” (1) and “If I could tell you I would let you know” (3) keep the rhyme scheme which stays on the central themes. “Time will say nothing but i told you so” shows that time keeps going, because this is a statement. Although the things of the future are unforeseeable, it is guaranteed that in the end the only one who will know what will happen is Time. “If I could tell you I would let you know” show how unforeseeable Time is. Auden knows that he can not see into the future, which is why he says “If I could...”. These two phrases depict the speakers understanding of the continuity of time even though he shows to have a desire to know ahead of time what to do before certain events. The villanelle itself has a rhythm as a whole through periodical thinking. The beginning shows how Time does not wait for anything or anyone, “nothing but I told you so”. He later goes on to question Time in the second stanza and if we should fight back, which is why he says “weep when clowns put on their show” and “stumble when musicians play” which are juxtapositions since these actions are not likely given the circumstances. The third stanza shows the shift as he begins to understand that Time is necessary and things have to happen for a reason, “the winds must…
- 689 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
In the story, the narrator identifies four different time frames which are used to build suspense, ‘it is near sunset’, ‘it must be near one or two o’clock’, ‘it must be near morning now’ and ‘it must be near daylight’. These time frames are small, yet in each time frame another part of the woman’s history of hardship is explored. ‘The rain will make the grass grow, and this reminds her how she fought a bush fire once her husband was away.’ Henry Lawson…
- 954 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
W.H. Auden poem “Stop All The Clocks”, published in 1938, describes the death of a loved one and the enormous funeral which followed. The poem consists of four stanza, each containing four lines. Auden’s poem, explores the ideas of grief, through the first person pronoun “I”, in order to engage the reader into his personal tragedy. It’s almost as if each stanza expresses a new emotion, with the first stanza expressing grief, the second stanza expressing public notification, the third stanza expressing heartbreak and the fourth stanza expressing morning. This immensely passionate poem commences with a series of harsh commands. In the opening stanza Auden writes “stop all the clock”, “cut off the telephone” and “prevent the dog from barking”, demonstrating his forcefulness and anger for the situation. As well as, demanding the halt in physical time and communication, as he just wants everything to stop. Auden also states “silence the pianos”, indicating he wants silence, so that the “mourners” can arrive, and mourn in peace. While, the phrase, “with muffled drums” refers to pallbearers carrying the “coffin.” The use of hyperbole, conveys the importance of the situation.…
- 528 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The poem is filled with many different literary devices and a certain disliking, possibly hatred, for the idea of love. The opening line the poet uses is, "Farewell false love, the oracle of lies." An oracle is a prophecy, or a foretelling of what is to come. Knowing this, the line means that love is just a foretelling of lies about the future and false pretenses of good things to come. In reality, all love leaves is poison, pain, and despair. This metaphor is also seen in the poet’s comparison of love to “a gilded hook that holds a poisoned bait.” Love is shiny and it makes you want to take a bite, but in the end the bait you take is all poison. In fact, the entire poem is a metaphor to compare with this false love that he is saying goodbye to. Metaphors are the biggest and most obvious literary device that the poet keeps returning to in order to show his utter distaste with love.…
- 986 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The structure of the poem is intuitively assembled to follow a mood of anticipation and then to a feeling of nostalgia. At the beginning of the poem, the reader is presented with the title, “Before Summer Rain”; this phrase has a positive connotation to it, implying a sunny summer’s day with a soft rain shower. However, as one reads the first line of the poem there is an immediate juxtaposition, “suddenly, from all the green around you”. Just from the title to the first line there is a shift in tempo, the pleasant title opposed to the fast first line, not only surprises the reader, but immediately grasps their attention. The poem is four stanzas long, with four verses in the first two stanzas and then only three verses in the third and fourth stanzas. The one less verse in the third and fourth stanzas provides further meaning to the theme. For instance in the first and second stanza the reader is forced into the poem with a fast tempo, “feel it creeping closer”, showing the anxiety building up and up while the storm encroaches. However, in the third stanza there is a shift in tempo, due to the start of the rain. Once the storm starts at the end of stanza two, “requests the downpour”, the narrator talks about the past, “ancient portraits”. The poem does not feel quite as immediate and fast as it did in the first two stanzas, it slows down, and the reader can almost sense this fading recollection of the past, and because of this, the last two stanzas have one less…
- 1084 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
In the first stanza, I think it means that he is always with his lover because he is always thinking about them. No matter where he goes, his lover will be there with him. It is like he is holding his lover in his heart, so therefore they will never be apart. In the second stanza, he at first says that he will never be afraid of anything so long as he is with his lover, that his lover will always, keep him safe. He then says that he doesn’t want anything more in life because he already has everything he needs. He is perfectly happy and content with having just his lover and nothing else. In the third stanza, he’s basically saying that this poem is a secret. He says that nobody knows and will never know how much he loves this other person. In the fourth stanza, he wraps the poem up by reminding his lover that they…
- 546 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
An unusual form of contrast is used in First Love to create a powerful effect. The use of limited vocabulary is part of this, evident throughout the poem. The repetition of “sweet” suggests that the poet has not, or cannot, think of another adjective. This is further shown in the way that he starts the second stanza with “and then”, a very informal and unusual opening in a poem. Combined with this, an informal tone is developed with the use of phrases such as “blood rushed to my face” and “I never saw so sweet a face”. Despite this informal tone, the message of the poem is very insightful, as it shows a view into the poet's mind. Rhythm in the poem is key to this, creating six sections in the poem, with the rhyme scheme for each being A, B, A, B, or for example “hour”, “sweet”, “flower”, “complete”. These sections of four lines each can be seen as individual thoughts of Clare, as they each deal with a slightly separate topic. Rhetorical questions such as “Is love's bed always snow” also contribute to this effect, as they are almost addressed back to the poet, providing an insight into his mind. Creating a thoughtful, musing atmosphere, these make First Love a powerful poem by contrasting the deep insights into the poet's mind and the effects this love has had on him with the simple tone and vocabulary.…
- 782 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The conflict in the second stanza comes from the outside forces of nature that are uncontrollable, and troublesome. A very vivid image of the personification of Time, “a maniac flinging dust”, and Life, “a fury slinging flame” illustrates how helpless the speaker is to Time and Life.This theme is secondary to the state of conquered trust. The feeling tha tlife is over whelming comes because trust has been conquered and they are weak. You can clearly see Father Time ‘slinging’ or wasting not so much wasting time as tossing it…
- 975 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
In conclusion, the song analyzed is about abandonment. The speaker feels as if he is completely alone therefore his love goes to no one.His fairy tale love fantasy no longer exists as well as his hope. Being alone does not need to feel lonely, one should love themselves sufficiently to know that their presence alone is…
- 441 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
To begin with, the poem tells us that time is made up of little things such as “rust on railway lines” and “the magpie’s screech”. To me, the little things are like pieces of gold mixed in with sand. Unless we look closely, we don’t even notice the gold in its infinite worth. I feel that this poem is telling us to slow down and look at the sand so that we can learn to spot and value the gold.…
- 308 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
The poem suggests an unsure attitude, as we see in the first line, ‘year after year’ we don’t know whether this suggest a long, drawn out relationship that could become dull, or whether this means he is happy, and the year after year suggests commitment.…
- 775 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays