Love Versus Time-Josh Naqvi

    Time is something that everyone feels the effect of but rarely considers. The poem "As I Walked Out One Evening" by W.H. Auden brought this thought to my mind. The poem begins with a lover making grandiose promises to the one they love. The promises go beyond the boundaries of space and time. This is common to see in a relationship. The couple does feel that they can truly survive anything. Auden however has a differing opinion. He seems to believe that you "cannot conquer time". Can love conquer time? I would like to think so, but perhaps a deeper inspection is in order before such an assumption can be made. For the sake of keeping my post a reasonable length, I will only be discussing love among two people. So I will stick within the context of the poem which is a Lover calling out. 

    The Lover in the poem seems to be ignorant of time. Time is depicted as an almost threatening force. It seems to be watching the Lovers, waiting for the opportune time to strike. I think that time can have a negative effect on a relationship. People may change: someone may pass away, or someone may end up having feelings for another.  However, time can also be positive. I would argue that the Lover's could grow in affection, age together into a happy life, enjoy countless memories, and eventually pass on together. In either case, time is unavoidable. It will pass. The poem mentions how it passes in nature, "Time will have his fancy".  It is obvious enough that time is unavoidable and that as mortals we are bound to it. Love is also unavoidable. Most people care about someone, whether it is a parent, sibling, friend, lover, or business associate. Love is just as inevitable as time. Which is a greater force? Time is the beginning and end of a mortal. It is its own downfall because it must always pass. Love is what sets people apart from other creatures. Love by concept alone is here to stay. That is the goal of romance is it not, to remain "in love". The point of family is to stick together because you love one another. Of course, love occasionally does fall apart. Yet, I will argue that its end goal is to remain. Auden ends the poem with an ominous tone. He seems to think that time will always have its way. Love can resist the effects of time because it is not easily forgotten. Even if a loved one dies due to the effects of time, we do not forgot them. They are held dearly until we pass away as well, and then I would hope our memory is held dear as well. Time and love are in a constant foot race. I disagree with Auden upon the premise that love is somehow always bested by time. Both are essential aspects in the lives of humans, but love in the end is what drives us due to it by. nature is meant to remain, even when time passes us. 

I Responded to
-Madalyn Dillard
-Emily Otts
-

Comments

  1. Emma Kate PattersonJanuary 31, 2022 at 3:47 PM

    I think that it is true we as humans can not conquer time. We can not freeze time or make it slow down or speed it up. Although this may sadden some people the good news is that we can cherish it. Instead of spending life trying to make time for things and dreading not having enough time, cherish the time you have because that is where you will get memories.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A House Divided//Emily Otts

The words Jesus spoke in Matthew 12 remind me so much of this play: "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand." (Matthew 12:25) King Lear, at the end of the day, is about a family being divided multiple ways. These divisions arise over greed and hatred for one another and cause the whole family to be ruined because of it. King Lear first divides the kingdom after his daughter Cordelia does not proclaim her love to him, so he banishes her. Later, his daughters go against him for not doing as they asked, believing he is unfit and unworthy to be king, secretly plotting against him. But all of this comes to a head in Act 5. After capturing King Lear and Cordelia, Edmund plans to have them killed. You would believe the sisters would be able to work together because their plan is working, but an even greater division has risen between them. Both of them wish to have Edmund for themselves, and they plot against each o...
Read more

The Plague in Everyone// Emily Otts

     In part 4 of the Plague , Tarrou tells Rieux about how he has had the plague forever. Except, this is not the same plague as the one ravaging the town. Tarrou speaks of how his father was a lawyer who believed in the death penalty, how he saw so many people support it and be comfortable about it, and how he had to witness the executions of prisoners. He explains how this sort of mindset is a plague itself, one Tarrou had been fighting for a long time. " That's why everybody in the world looks so tired; everyone is more or less sick of plague. But that is also why some of us, those who want to get the plague out of their systems, feel such desperate weariness, a weariness from which nothing remains to set us free except death" (Camus, part 4, chapter 6). Tarrou wants to desperately not submit to such awful ways of thinking.      Tarrou does not realize it, but the plague he is talking about is sin. Everyone has it, some people give in to it and let...
Read more

The Thirst for Knowledge

     With Book Seven of Milton's Paradise Lost, Raphael is continuing his exposition on Satan's apostasy. The plan is to expose Adam and Eve to the wretched fate of those who cross God's will. The more he shed's light on the subject, however, the more Adam is inclined to ask for more information. He wants to know everything about the subject, as well as God and His creation.      However, while the taste of such knowledge leaves Adam yearning for more, there are boundaries. It is like a toddler eating a cookie... and eventually begging her mother for the rest of the jar. Is it a coincidence that the one thing Adam and Eve are not to touch is the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? Most readers know how the story ends: these toddlers are never going to be content with a few cookies. They're going in for the jar.   There is a statement in the Bible that is constantly being repeated throughout the Old Testament: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of ...
Read more