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As I walked out one evening, Walking down Bristol Street, The crowds upon the pavement. Were fields of harvest wheat. And down by the brimming river. I heard a lover sing. Under an arch of the railway: ‘Love has no ending. ‘I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you.
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As I walked out one evening, Walking down Bristol Street, The crowds upon the pavement. Were fields of harvest wheat. And down by the brimming river. I heard a lover sing. Under an arch of the railway: "Love has no ending. "I'll love you, dear, I'll love you.
"As I Walked Out One Evening" is W.H. Auden's song of disillusionment, mortality, and love. The poem's speaker wanders out for an evening stroll and overhears a kind of debate between a young lover, who believes that "love has no ending," and all the city's clocks, which counter that "you cannot conquer time."
- Summary
- Structure and Form
- Literary Devices
- Detailed Analysis
- Similar Poetry
‘As I Walked Out One Evening’ by W. H. Auden is a complex poem about life, death, and disillusionment. In the first lines of this poem, the speakerinforms readers that they are recalling a memory. He thinks about going on a walk through the city in the evening and seeing the crowds around him. Near a river, under a railway arch, the speaker hears y...
‘As I Walked Out One Evening’ by W. H. Auden is a fifteen-stanza poem. These fifteen stanzas are four lines each, known as quatrains. The poem takes the form of a ballad. This means that it uses a specific metrical pattern and rhyme scheme. It is also song-like in its descriptions and images. Throughout this piece, Auden chose to use iambic trimete...
Throughout this poem, the poet makes use of several literary devices. These include but are not limited to: 1. Enjambment: can be seen when the poet cuts off a line before its natural stopping point. For example, the transitionbetween lines one, two, and three of the second stanza and lines one and two of the third stanza. 2. Imagery: occurs when t...
Stanzas One and Two
In the first lines of this poem, the poet uses the phrase that later came to be the title of the piece. While describing how they walked out one evening, the poet hears lovers singing under the arch of the railway. They are near a river that is described as “brimming.” This is a wonderful example of imagery that sets the scene for the rest of the piece. The reader should also take note of the use of a metaphorat the end of stanza one. Here, the speaker notes how the people they saw on their w...
Stanzas Three and Four
The third and fourth stanzas are filled with the lovers’ words. They say that their love will last until impossible things happen. For example, the “river jumps over the mountain” and “China and Africa meet.” They believe that their love has an enduring quality that can never be corrupted. There are more examples in the fourth stanza, which should also be noted for its lyricalquality. There’s a wonderful example of alliteration in the third line of the stanza as well, “seven stars go squawking.”
Stanzas Five and Six
The fifth stanza is the last of the lovers’ song. They know they “hold / The Flower of the Ages” in their arms. They are suggesting that the strength of their love, and the connection that they have, is someway going to beat Time. In the sixth stanza, the “clocks in the city” chime in. They tell the lovers that they should “let not Time deceive you, / You cannot conquer Time.” The clocks, as timekeepers, understand the nature of Time better than these lovers do.
Readers who enjoyed ‘As I Walked Out One Evening’ should also consider reading some other W.H. Auden poems. For example: 1. ‘September 1, 1939’ – a poem that was inspired by the start of the Second World War. 2. ‘A Walk After Dark’ – a beautiful and complicated poem in which W.H. Auden uses a series of metaphors and other forms of figurative langua...
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- October 9, 1995
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As I Walked Out One Evening Lyrics. As I walked out one evening, Walking down Bristol Street, The crowds upon the pavement. Were fields of harvest wheat. And down by the...
Oct 5, 2023 · love your crooked neighbour: Inspired by the early English nursery rhyme "There was a crooked man." "As I Walked Out One Evening" is Auden's rhyming ballad about time, love and mortality. With allusions to a nursery rhyme, song and fairy tale, this poem also has vivid and sometimes surreal imagery.
As I walked out one evening, Walking down Bristol Street, The crowds upon the pavement. Were fields of harvest wheat. And down by the brimming river. I heard a lover sing.
