Time Passes Quickly
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Transcript of Time Passes Quickly
Time Passes Quickly
Title Artist Date (either publication/composition)
How Soon Hath Time the Subtle Thief Of Youth
John Milton 1645
As I Walked Out One Evening
W.H. Auden 1937
Time Long Past Percy Shelley 1870
Time Pink Floyd 1973
Track List
17th Century
How Soon Hath Time the Subtle Thief Of Youth, John Milton
This poem is about how Milton feels time has passed too quickly and that he is not as young as he once was. However he does not exactly mourn this passage of time as he knows it is God’s will. In the first quatrain, Milton explains that he is turning 24 and he feels as though he has bright hopes for his future career but he hasn’t accomplished a lot in his short life. In the next quatrain he shifts to say that his first claim may not be entirely accurate as his maturity probably hides his youthfulness. Then the sestet explains that whether time moves quickly or slowly, it is still given by God and therefore he will use his time to please Him. This is a Petrarchan sonnet with the first two quatrains in an abba rhyme scheme and a sestet with a cdedce pattern. Milton personifies time as the “subtle thief of youth” to convey his feelings that he has unfairly grown old. In the second and third lines he uses personification again to create the metaphor for time being like a bird that carries Milton’s life on his wings as he flies to illustrate how quickly time goes by. In line 4 he uses the words “bud” and “blossom” to represent both physical and personal accomplishments that he has not yet achieved. After the shift in line 5, he uses the word “ripeness” as a metaphor for his maturity. The beginning of this poem seems as it would just be a reflection on the passing of one’s life, but in the sestet he shifts the focus to God making this a religious poem. This is an effective poem about time because it isn’t just complaining about how old he is, he explains that he will use the precious time he has left to do the will of his Master which provides a comforting and inspiring message to the reader.
The Theme we have chosen, time passes quickly, is represented in this poem from the very first line. Milton state that time has robbed him of youthfulness and has passed so quickly that he has nothing to show for it. He also mourns that other people appear to have matured more than he had in their short years. However this poem takes a turn as he looks forward to the future and decides to make good use of that time. Milton’s faith in God shows through this poem as he states that “if I have grace to use it so as ever in my great Task-‐Master's eye.”
John Milton (1608 -1674)
Attended Cambridge University
Wrote Paradise Lost after he was blind
Was very studious even as a child at St. Paul’s School.
Personification
Shift
Metaphor
Imagery
Enjambment
Symbols
Modern Poetry
As I Walked Out One Evening, W. H. Auden This poem appeared to be a love poem to me when I first started reading it, but while it centers around two
lovers the poem is not about love. To me, it was about how anything, including the unshakable notion of love, is subject to an even greater force, time. I liked how instead of simply saying time trumps love he took it seriously by writing several stanzas of good love poetry and then breaking it apart. Instead of referring to love as a broad concept in relation to time he told the story of two lovers and followed their journey exploring the concept that contrary to popular belief time is eternal, not love. The poem, ‘As I Walked Out One Evening’, is not a sonnet. It follows an abcb defe ghih...etc. which is also sometimes expressed as xaxa xbxb xcxc xdxd...etc. This rhyme scheme is also sometimes referred to as a “Ballad Rhyme”. It mainly follows a iambic trimeter. The narrative follows the love of a couple as time takes its toll on their love and eventually continues never-‐ending.A narrator is walking down the street so full of people it looks like a field of wheat. He walks by a river and he overhears one lover singing to another lover. One says to the other that love is never ending. To further his point he make several outlandish claims. He tells his lover that he’ll love her until “China and Africa meet and the river jumps over the mountain and the salmon sing in the street”. These things are clearly not possible which is supposed to emphasize the solidity of his love. He follows by saying he’ll love her until the ocean is folded up and hung to dry like some piece of paper and until the seven stars, inanimate objects, go squawking like birds in the sky. He continues to flatter his love stating the years will fly by sporadically like running rabbits because she is the most beautiful “flower” of the ages and like most lovers he feels like his love is the only one calling it the first love of the world. But, the narrator reminds us, the clocks in the city chime in unison reminding us that the lovers are not in some bubble of love safe from all influence; they are subject to time like the rest of the universe. The lovers are warned to not to fool themselves into thinking their love can outlast time. Looking to the future the poem continues to say “in the burrows of the Nightmare”, which is any foreseeable future that can be “dreamed” up is not devoid of time. The truth is that despite whatever you imagine, time is watching throwing a wrench in any plans you might have. “Time watches from the shadow and coughs when you would kiss.” Little by little, the small challenges accumulate as relentless time continues to bring them forth. The narrator warns that “in headaches and in worry”, life or love is slowly “leaking” away or dying. He completes that stanza by saying that you cannot predict when these struggles will come and that time will have its will whether it be tomorrow or today. The poem continues that time will surprise you when you least expect it comparable to snow storms in unusual places. The narrator continues saying that time disrupts all things and instructs the lover to cleanse himself in water and look at himself and think about all the time that has passed by. It seems so slow in the moment like a glacier but before you know it years have passed by, the poem continues. This stanza is finished describing time like a slow leaking crack in a cup of tea life drains away towards the land of the dead. In this world where time leaves all things behind and anything is possible the poem describes an almost alternate reality in which beggars have money and nursery rhymes have reversed roles. But, the poem states not all hope is lost. Once you are aware of time’s omnipotent presence, you can begin to accept life as it is. Life can be enjoyed as long as you don’t try to control it. The narrative works towards its end by saying that while no one is perfect we must take each other as we are. The narrator completes the poem by saying it was now evening and the lovers were gone and time still moved on. In summation, this poem has the reoccurring concept of carpe diem and is applicable to every one's life in some way. Our theme of time and its passing is the entire concept of this poem. The idea that while we live our lives on our own clocks, there is a constant clock ticking away whether we want to put our lives on hold or not. No matter how happy or in love we are, everything is slowly coming to an end, and we must accept and embrace that. The poem’s twist on the Bible’s instruction to love thy neighbor states that while we are all wrong doers and we have have “crooked hearts” that is even more reason to love thy neighbor because we are all the same.
Biographical/literary facts
W.H. Auden was born in 1907 and died in 1973.
Auden published around 400 poems in his lifetime.
Auden published two book-length poems.
Poetic features
Auden used a lot of personification in this poem and other poems.
Auden explored a vast range of topics in his poems from philosophy to everyday quarrels.
Many of his poems explore religious and ethical themes.
Romantic Period
Time Long Past by Percy Shelley
The poem is written out across three sestets with a rhyme scheme of ababbb. 1- Shelley uses the words ghost and dead, which have similar applications. He uses the past tense so you know the whole poem will be talking about the past. 2- He writes “Is time long past” which he uses throughout the poem to say that the memories are long in the past but not forgotten. It is repeated with different tenses throughout the poem. 3- 4 the author uses repetition of word forever with a combination of fled and past to convey that both the way he felt and the hope he had were long since crushed by his experiences. Line 3 also contains personification of “tone” which is said to have “fled”. 5 - Talks about a love that he lost at some point but the cause is unknown. 7- Talks of “sweet dreams” shared with his lover. This is made clear in line 11 when he uses the word us. 8- Similar to 2 and 6 except the word “Of” shows he is talking as if in a memory in the past. 9-11, Shelley shows the good and bad “sadness or delight” of his relationship, and again “day a shadow” are opposite in meaning. 12- same as 2 but he uses the word “That” which carries the emphasis that it their love has long gone. Lines 13-18 is talking about the hardest memories he has to deal with”There is regret, almost remorse” and line 14 the “For” signifies that this section is that which he feels remorse and regret. In line 15 he uses beloved to show the height of emotion he felt for his child. that was lost, as he waited by his side. Line 17-18 states that like beauty, remembrance fades with “Time long past”. This poem is worthy of reading because it gives insight into the authors grievances against his unfortunate life and the manner that time has flown by.
The theme our group chose, which time is passing by, is prevalent throughout this work. Constantly the Author reminds the reader about “Time long past”, that though something might have just happened at one point it will be far back in time. The repetition of this line is like a memory of a past moment, in that It may surface in the mind every so often only to drift away, and come back again later. Shelley talks of memories and regrets in the past and how although they may be far in the past the memory of the events ties them to the present. I think the best line dealing with time in this poem is “Beauty is like remembrance, cast From Time long past”. This relates beauty with memories and says that as beauty ages and fades with time so do memories and the emotions tied with them. Shelley’s personal life is shown throughout this poem because he is writing about his own past. He talks about a “tone” and “hope” that he once had that were both lost through the path of his life as well as mentioning a lost lover and child that were taken from him.
Percy Byshee Shelley- (1792- 1822)
One of the major English Romantic poets
Married (for the second time) to author Mary Shelley, who wrote Frankenstein
Associated with among others, John Keats and Lord Byron.
Poetic devices used in Poems of Shelley and others of the romantic period-
• Imagery • Personific-
ation • Repetition • Metaphor • Simile
Time
Pink Floyd
Time, by Pink Floyd, illustrates the frustrations of the long days of youth and its infinite possibilities, only to “one day…find ten years have got [ten]
behind you”, and you are left with half dreamed dreams and ambitions. While the theme behind this song is often seen in many literary
movements, it is still considered new and relevant art, as the viewers have changed. Time also looks deeply into how we, as humans perceive time,
that no matter how fast we may run, it will always catch up to us. One of this songs, most interesting lines is “Hanging on in quiet desperation is the
English Way”, this shows that even though we seem to let time have its way, we are constantly trying to fight it.
"Time" is the fourth track from English
progressive rock band Pink Floyd's 1973 album,
The Dark Side of the Moon, and the only song
on the album credited to all four members of the
band. In 1998, Dark Side of the Moon was
certified 15x Platinum, meaning it had sold
more than 15,000,000 copies. In 2003, the album was re-‐released
on vinyl and has sold steadily in that format.