Clocks and Lovers by W.H. Auden

Clocks and Lovers by W.H. Auden
In this poem by W.H. Auden, he uses imagery as his main component. As the poem’s stanzas continue, time is flying by. The imagery used in this poem consists of complaining how crowds of people where like harvest wheat, indistinguishable. After he tells us how people lack uniqueness and originality, he continues by saying that his lover is different and how his life for her is forever. As the poem goes along time is passing by quickly. From the beginning it starts off possibly at teenage years or early adulthood, when most people find the one. But towards the 10th stanza, the imagery of “plunging your hands in water” and just staring upon them could be him looking at how different his hands look. They are aging and growing weak and tired, that could show how worn out he is becoming as a whole.
The meaning of this poem is simply the fact of a man who lost his beloved and is now wishing or hoping death upon himself. The clocks have a great significance in this poem, as they do in many other stories or poems. In the novel, “Great Expectations”, Miss. Havisham keeps all the clocks in the room to the exact time her beloved left her. Also, the poem states, “The clocks had ceased their chiming.” Clocks have a power to remind you of wonderful memories, or make you reminisce on your old life that you wish you had back. Which I believe is what the narrorator wanted all along, the past.