Clocks and Lovers by WH Auden

The 1983 poem Clocks and Lovers by W.H. Auden presents two different takes on love, which are that of the actual Lovers (the speaker) and the Clock(voice of wisdom).  Both characters offer distinct points of view on the matter through their narration in the poem. While the first is marked by sincere infatuation, happiness, and caution, the second narration from the clock offers a more pessimistic, wise, and analytical attitude. Overall the use of these two differing perspectives works to forewarn of the dangers and inevitable end that all lovers face due to time.

The Lover initiates the poem’s narration. The way he views love reflects the Romantic genera of the poem. He is fixated on the idea that he will love his beloved for eternity. Dreamy imagery from lines nine to twenty reinforce this idea. For example the poet writes I’ll love you, dear, “I’ll love you Till China and Africa meet”, “I’ll love you till the ocean of folded up to dry”. The lover also uses many symbols, and impossibilities to demonstrate his unexplainable means and vast capability of loving another person. This can been seen with dreamy lines such as “Till China and Africa meet And the river jumps over the mountain And the salmon sing in the street.” These impossibilities show that he believes that he can and will love forever. The lover also makes use of animal motions imagery such as “squawking like geese about the sky. The years run like rabbits..” to show the impact time has on his relationship and innocent feelings. This imagery of rabbits and others such as “flower of ages” are reflective of the formulaic love cliques that are apparent in more poems of this Romantic genera.

Midway into the poem the lover dives further into the idea of time(the Clock) having an impact on his relationship. His once quixotic imagery shifts to a more realistic and cautious one. The poet writes, O let not Time deceive you, You cannot conquer time”. Time transforms into a symbol of the enemy which the lover cannot escape. No longer does the lover bask on praising his beloved, but paints Time with darker imagery of a “Nightmare” that “watches from a shadow And coughs when you would kiss.” With this perspective and imagery in mind, the poet introduces a second voice of reason as narrator, the Clock, to counter shine light on the Romantic utopia envisioned by the lover.

The Clock urges the Lover to come to grips with himself, and reexamine his love life. The commanding imagery, “plunge your hands…stare in the basin” invoke just that. The Clock helps reinforce the stressful imagery that come with love overtime such as “headaches” and “worry” which is conflicting imagery of that spoken by the Lover previously. In a sense, the use of the Clock’s language solidifies the idea that the Lover’s relationship may not have been in fact perfect which is supported by “the crack in the tea-cup opens A lane to the land of the dead”. The Clock (time) is what leads to further deterioration in the loving relationship of the Lover. Whether it be simply a matter of dwindling time, aging, or loss of attraction, the “look.. look in the mirror look in your distress” imagery makes it clear that time is a challenging factor in a successful relationship. The final stanza and its language fully affirm the Clock’s superior power over love. “Late in the evening the lovers they were gone” confirms that despite the eternal love one may have for another, the feeling itself never outlasts time.