In the poem "Clocks and Lovers" by W.H. Auden, the debate on how to use time arises. speaker describes his unfathomable affection to his lover, citing that he would spend eternity with her. The voice of doubt then comes from a clock in the city, who brands the speaker as a fool for wasting his time on love.. Based off the poem, however, it can be inferred that love is a trivial thing, and time will always win out over it. There are several instances in the poem to support this.

            Through the course of the poem, each narrator defends his own viewpoints. The lover begins with his lover being the only one he sees and hears in a, "Field of harvest wheat." (4) He notes that he will love her, "Till China and Africa meet," (10) thereby signifying he will love her for eternity. He uses a metaphor later on to call her, "The Flower of the Ages," (19) supporting the previous statement that she is a rare woman. The clock, however, goes on to debunk everything the speaker has said. He tells the speaker, "Time will have his fancy/To-morrow or to-day."(31-2) Here, the clock is indicating that will they may love each other, time is inevitable, coming whenever it pleases. When the clock tells the speaker, "O plunge your hands in water...and wonder what you've missed," (37/40) he is mocking the speaker for being in almost a dream, thus telling him to wake himself up by putting his wrists into water. More so, by immersing himself in water, he would be cleansing himself of any parasite, in this case the disease of love. Finally, the clock asserts, "Life remains a blessing/Although you cannot bless."(51-2) This statement tells the speaker that life is a blessing because he can savor all that life has to offer, yet he cannot be blessed with it because he is wasting it on love.

            As the poem closes, the lovers are nowhere to be found, yet, "The deep river ran on." (60) This unmistakably asserts the clock's prediction that love does not last forever, and to waste life on it is foolish. If the clock is correct, why then do so many people fall prey to its' seducing ways? Is it because people fall prone to their emotions in lieu of their logic? Perhaps if people were to abandon emotions, the world would be much more rational and worry-free.