H. W. Auden's Poems

[Sandra]

I was unfamiliar with my assigned poet, W. H. Auden. I mentioned his name to an enamellist friend and she got all excited as she knew one of his most famous poems from its use in the movie “Four Weddings and a Funeral”. I’ve now have had a chance to read a number of his poems and find that time is a recurring theme. And in many of them, time is expressed using the symbol of clocks. Here’s a few examples:

But all the clocks in the city
Began to whirr and chime:
‘O let not Time deceive you,
You cannot conquer Time.
…
It was late, late in the evening,
The lovers they were gone;
The clocks had ceased their chiming,
And the deep river ran on.
 
(from “As I Walked Out One Evening”)     
 
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Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
 
(from “Funeral Blues”)
 
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You are the town and we are the clock.
We are the guardians of the gate in the rock
…
 
This might happen any day
So be careful what you say
Or do.
Be clean, be tidy, oil the lock,
Trim the garden, wind the clock,
 
(from “The Two”)
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Clocks cannot tell our time of day
For what event to pray
Because we have no time, because
We have no time until
We know what time we fill
 
(from “We’re Late”)
 
I like the idea of making something that features clocks, not only because of their use in Auden's poems, but because enameling has been used to decorate clock faces. Next stage is to sketch out some ideas.

Rich

Love this idea!  Can't wait to see the sketches...