W.H. Auden writes of love and clocks in his poem "The Clocks and the Lovers." This poem speaks about the love that we all experience in life that can seem endless at times and inspire us to be forever passionate. This poem tells us also about the truth of time, and how time fades our love right away, making it tough to endure even at times.

Auden tells us how "Love has no ending at the beginning of his poem. He shows this through the lover's perspective. The lover's feelings are strong enough to make a "river jump over a mountain." The overall attitude of the lover is one of never-ending joy and romantic happiness. Just as we grasp these feelings of the lover, Auden quickly turns to the clocks' view, which is mere truth. The clocks immediately end the lover's time and begin the attitude we all face at some point. This is that state of stress and business of society with "headaches and worry, vaguely life leaking away." According to the clocks, this is all lovers' fate.

Auden's language and imagery change dramatically from the lovers to the clocks' point of view. The lover expresses his feelings by song and the clock by "whirr and chime" which set the time automatically for the reader. The language of the lover is filled with the single word, Love. From the salmon, to the geese, then to the rabbits, all things are joyful and loving. The clocks, however, show many signs completely contradicting these feelings of love with coughing, worry, breaking, stares, cracking, and distress. They also boldly state, "You cannot conquer time."

These ideas of reality depict such a sad but true sense to love and how time fades it away in today's world. Auden's purpose for writing such a poem is to show us that this is what really, unexpectedly happens and we should realize it so we can do one of two things, expect it so not to get our hopes up, or never fall into this curse ourselves.