‘Light each summer thronged the glass’. Light is fundamental to our existence. Every generation that has ever existed has experienced light. It is immortal yet light itself marks the passage of time. The sun never fails to shine through the windows and touch the tomb but on each occasion it records the passing of another year. Like a sundial it is the emblem of life, the passing of time and leads ultimately to death.
Today the tomb is a scrap of history. We cherish it only because it is part of our past, not because we have the interest to learn about it. It demonstrates the lack of depth to our society. We may have even failed to view the tomb in the way the couple intended. ‘Time has transfigured them into untruth’. Evolution through time has altered the human race and altered the tomb, to a point where we fail to see them in the way that they intended. Does this matter? Evolution is the constant refining of nature to improve quality. We have changed but this is not necessarily for the worse. Love still survives and will continue to do so into the future. Love is so powerful that it can stand the test of time. ‘What will survive of us is love’.
‘Here’ was written by R.S. Thomas. This poem examines time but is concerned with the present situation in life. The poem starts with a realisation of who the narrator is. ‘I am a man now’. It indicates that the narrator has experienced change. He can see his past and his history and is trying to comprehend his current situation. It is also recognition of our existence on this planet. The language and imagery indicates that he has experienced the harsh reality of life, the concept of death and his own mortality. This is a 1950’s poem and the memories of war are fresh in people’s minds. Why, then, are my hands red / With the blood of so many dead? / Is this where I was misled? The narrator is struggling to grasp how the human race can inflict pain on its own kind. This is something, which has occurred throughout time and has become part of human nature. He must come to terms with the acts he has committed because he has nowhere to go and no one to turn to. Time will not allow him to alter his actions nor can he escape to the future to a place beyond his own life. He is trapped ‘here’ which demonstrates the difference between the expanse of the universe and the confines of our own lives. The narrator tells his reader through the value of time in his poem, that life is a gift, which should be held on to at all cost. It must not be wasted and every opportunity in life should be grasped with both hands. The poem has religious references, ‘Does no God hear when I pray’ he is asking why he has been forsaken. This probably demonstrates that it is human nature to question afterwards and that the value of time is to learn from our mistakes in the past.
This is echoed earlier in the poem with the idea that Jesus was crucified for humans to be forgiven for our sins. ‘There is blood in my veins / That has run clear of the stain’, early in life the narrator was cleansed of the original sin through baptism but it is inevitable that he would sin during his life. The poem is an analysis of the human condition and it proves that we have been the same since the creation of life. The narrator knows that he has sinned ‘Why then are my hands red’ but cannot understand the pain he feels when he knows he has been forgiven. ‘I must stay here with my hurt’. This is a final comprehension of his own mortality and the vulnerability of our existence on earth. War, death and time has led him to understand this and regret his actions that cut short the lives of others. Time has trapped him in the pain of understanding, whilst he is caught in the present and he is left waiting for God to judge him.
My final poem is ‘All the Things You Are Not Yet’ by Helen Dunmore. This poem explores time though the generations. It is concerned with the future and a mother’s fear and protection for her unborn child. The concept of time is immediate in the poem as the mother contemplates all the possible things her child is yet to be. She carries something, which has the potential to develop beyond her own situation in life. The poem follows the mother’s imagination, as she crafts the life of her child. She dreams of the difficult beginnings of becoming independent ‘not yet the heating you can’t afford and must wait for’. The narrator imagines the details of human experience. Through time she imagines the gradual rise of her child to successful independence ‘Not the smell of the news print, the blur on your fingertips – your fame.’ The practical form of the poem represents the underlying anxiety for the child. The poem follows through the different phases of the child’s life. The mother watches her child change through time; from the baby who only required love to the young woman’s need for more material objects ‘Channel No 5’ until her daughter finally reaches the stage of pregnancy she is currently at and watches history repeating itself.
She hears her own voice ‘and my voice saying, I’ll get you one’. She plays the supportive parent and offers financial contributions in times of need, but hears her own response to her own mother echoed by her daughter. This poem is really concerned with the passage of time through the generations. The mother’s concern for her child never changes but the perils for the child and the fears of the parents change as society evolves. The constant movement of generations also shows what a fragile existence we have on earth. We are tenants on this planet and just form another link between past tenants and future tenants. Life is so brief that within a hundred years time has changed the people and the surroundings beyond recognition. All mothers can do is to try and create a world for their children where they can be confident of their child’s success, quality of life and well being. The role of parent recedes later in life as the child takes the mothers role and death is the final severance of the child’s security. Time has replaced the mother with the child and as the poem portrays the birth of a new generation, so the cycle continues.
In conclusion time is central to these three poems. The first dealt with the historical past, the second, with the confines of the present and the third dealt with the perils of the future and the unknown. As part of the passage of time, death is a recurring topic in the poems and the regeneration that follows. Throughout time cultures have evolved and the future brings new threats and fears. These three poems have explored time and demonstrated its value to humanity.
