|
[1] 2 3 4
Comment 34 of 34, added on September 14th, 2009 at 6:31 PM.
Keep in mind to analyze a poem it is very helpful to know the authors background:
The mistake of me and my classmates was that we assumed this poem was from a man to a women...when in fact it was from a man to a man. You also have to consider that at this time homosexuality was misunderstood as it still even is today. And how he is afraid that time will make the factors that are tearing him and his lover apart will only grow stronger and his lover and him will only grow weaker. Growing up he felt very isolated, alone, abandoned and he is petrified of going back to that after he has finally found out what true love is.
Paige from United States
Comment 33 of 34, added on March 12th, 2009 at 12:04 AM.
We were given this poem to analyze as a test to qualify for AP English. We got it without the actual title. This was the first time I seriously enjoyed reading a poem. Peoples different interpretations of love fascinates me. Reading through the comments, a lot of people said "he" as the lover, but it could be a girl too right? i thought that he was saying love between two people can be forever, like time; but people can't live forever, like when a clock stops ticking. i wrote something like that in my essay.
My favorite lines were what the lover sang. =D Oh and i noticed the "t" in time was capitalized in the poem. it personified time as if it were a person. i thought that was pretty cool.
Jean Cool from United States
Comment 32 of 34, added on January 20th, 2009 at 2:29 PM.
The poem main theme is that pure love cannot last forever and time will take control and break down love.
"O let not Time decieve you
You cannot conquer Time."
The lovers song in stanzas 2-4 uses many poetic techniques to describe how their love will go on forever. Their love will only cease to exist when impossible things happen such as, "the river jumps over the mountain" and if "the seven stars go squaking like geese in the sky".
In stanza 6 Auden personifies Time. Time is portrayed as evil and sleezy,"oh let not Time decieve you".
"Time watches from the shadow//And coughs when you would kiss" suggests that Time is a voyeur and is disgusted by one the most common ways of showing love, kissing.
The word "coughs" also suggest that Time is spreading illness and disease which will get to you eventually.
"O plunge, plunge your hands in water
Plunge them in up to the wrists
Stare, stare in the basin
And wander what you have missed"
This stanza is Time commanding the lover to commit suicide as they have reached a comlete opposite from the song they where singing early, ultimate despair as the no longer "hold the Flower of Ages " in their arms.This stanza also conveys the power time has over you with the use of command verbs "stare" and "plunge".
"The glacier knocks in the cupboard
The desert sighs in the bed
And the crack in the tea cup opens
A lane to the land of the dead"
This part of the poem is suggesting that the lovers have seperated and that the space they previously shared is no barren and lifeless like a desert and that all the Love had brought life to the bed and cupboard but know it has gone there is nothing.
The crack in the tea cup is metaphorically linking back to "Vaguely life leaks away" as small amounts of you life fall away from you and you barely notice except you begin to become frail and weak.
Towards the end of the poem Auden changes the tone from a pessimistic veiw to that of a slightly more optimistic and hopefull tone.
"You shall love your crooked neighbour
With your crooked heart"
Here the poet is corrupting the bible as one of the commandments was to love your neighbour. Auden is suggesting that your love will never be pure like in the lovers song but you can still love your neighbour but selfishness and jealousy will always be in humans as we( i am sorry to say) are not perfect!
The very last stanza of the poem "As I Walked Out One Evening" shows that the lovers have seperated and that man has been beaten and the clocks have fallen and ceased but still time continues.
"The clocks has ceased their chiming
And the deep river ran on"
William Robert from United Kingdom
Comment 31 of 34, added on December 1st, 2008 at 11:42 PM.
I have spent the last hour reading all the comments and heavily passioned opinions of many people, and have arrived to the conclusion that....there is no way in heck I could ever learn to interpret these poems like you all have. So please accept my BRAVO, for i am envious of your understanding of these great works of literature. So I am interested to know what your minds find interesting. What poems are you also fond of? what poets do you connect with? Please leave some suggestions!!! It is wonderful to know that some people in this world can understand the deeper meaning of things. Perhaps, it is you who will salvage the good of humanity from the wreckage of society:)
Heidi from United States
Comment 30 of 34, added on October 1st, 2008 at 6:32 PM.
If the poem is removed from the site why not remove it from the listing
Gismo from Jamaica
Comment 29 of 34, added on October 10th, 2007 at 9:06 AM.
this one is simple & nice.
gjg from United States
Comment 28 of 34, added on September 23rd, 2007 at 11:54 PM.
Looking for information and found it at this great site…h
fox from United States
Comment 27 of 34, added on September 20th, 2007 at 1:06 PM.
O, super project.
Melly from United States
Comment 26 of 34, added on August 4th, 2007 at 8:43 AM.
Thank for making this valuable information available to the public.
Jennifer from United States
Comment 25 of 34, added on July 31st, 2007 at 3:48 AM.
Really perfect!
Kim from United States
This poem has been commented on more than 10 times. Click below to see the other comments.
[1] 2 3 4
|
Keep in mind to analyze a poem it is very helpful to know the authors background:
The mistake of me and my classmates was that we assumed this poem was from a man to a women...when in fact it was from a man to a man. You also have to consider that at this time homosexuality was misunderstood as it still even is today. And how he is afraid that time will make the factors that are tearing him and his lover apart will only grow stronger and his lover and him will only grow weaker. Growing up he felt very isolated, alone, abandoned and he is petrified of going back to that after he has finally found out what true love is.
Paige from United States