The clocks seem to speak for time, but in fact they represent the human marking of time. Time exists as a continuum, but clocks take the concept of time and force a structure on it. In this way, the clocks speak for time far less than they speak for society’s rules and conventions.The formatting of the poem reinforces this notion. The rhyme scheme is an abcb defe pattern that demonstrates the dichotomy between the constant flow of time and the structure forced upon it by society. The unrhymed lines are constantly changing, flowing throughout the piece. The rhymed lines represent the forced structure – the conventions embodied in the clocks. This image of the clocks within the layout of the poem is further enhanced in that the stanzas are consistent throughout the piece, giving it a segmented feel, like minutes counting down. Similarly, the lyrical rhythm of the lines swings back and forth like a pendulum. The structure is flowing and consistent but is unobtrusive, almost to the point of being ignorable. We can read the poem without noticing the formatting, much like we go about our lives ignoring time because society has made it controllable through structure.

The poem also makes use of unconventional capitalization. In the speech of the clocks, “Time” and “Justice” are treated as names, personifying the concepts as in the line “And Time will have his fancy” (31). This personification reinforces the idea of the keeping of time as a human convention, placing the two concepts on the level of people. They are humanized, and so, flawed products of culture. Rather than passing idly by, “Time watches from the shadow / And coughs when you would kiss” (27-28). It is portrayed more as a monster hiding in the closet, springing out to remind you of your inability to defeat it. Time, in this representation, is a cruel master, even a Grim Reaper. This is in defiance of the lover’s declarations of hope and eternal love. “[Time] coughs when you would kiss” (28) says cultural and convention are more powerful than love. You may love truly and deeply, but you are still subject to Time. Furthermore, that it interrupts a kiss – a fairly mundane display of love and affection – demonstrates that it is commonplace occurrence that Time conquers love.

This contention between love and convention could possibly stem from Auden’s personal struggles with courtship, marriage, and sexuality. Auden married Erika Mann in 1935, though it was ostensibly more of a contract of mutual benefit than a romantic union. Auden himself is said to be homosexual. His marriage to Erika Mann would grant her British citizenship, and therefore allow her to escape the persecution she would face in Nazi Germany, and would allow him to fulfill social expectations. It is said that their marriage was never consummated ("Auden, W.H."). Auden moved to the United States in 1939, where he would live out the rest of his life, gaining U.S. citizenship in 1946. There he met a fellow poet, Chester Kallman. Kallman became his companion, and, for all intents and purposes, their relationship was more of a marriage than his relationship with Erika Mann ever would be (“Historic Figures: WH Auden”).

It would not be unreasonable to infer that Auden struggled with aligning the public persona, where he was married to Mann and a close friend and confidant with Kallman, with the reality which was the opposite. Such a stilted love life that, given the time frame, would be demoralized by the society at large would easily instill a sense of fragility in ways of romantic relations. The meaningless contract of convenience is legally and socially legitimized, where the long term, emotional commitment is rejected. This would easily explain the transcendental romanticism and its debasement by societal conventions evident in this poem.

Despite this conflict, Auden seems to be tentatively optimistic, as illustrated through the voice of the narrator. This third speaker’s lines are characterized by images of nature which Auden ultimately uses to illustrate the true passage of time. In the first stanza, he says “The crowds upon the pavement / Were fields of harvest wheat” (3-4). Harvest, in this case, is key. The harvest indicates the end of the growing season, and so a life with an end in sight. The crowds represent humanity as a whole, and so encompass both the conventionality symbolized in the clocks, and the romantic idealism of the lover’s song. They are in fruition now, like the harvest wheat, but their time will end. Similarly, in “Into many a green valley / Drifts the appalling snow” (33-34) the snow indicates the ending of a season. Snow is often linked with the notion of purity, or wiping something clean. In this way, all creations, experiences and conventions will eventually be erased, overtaken by a new season.

This theme is continued with the image of the “brimming river” that frames the poem. In the second stanza, it is all but ignored by the characters, functioning as nothing more than a set piece. It is not until the final line, “And the deep river ran on,” that the reader understands its significance. In fact, that the river is ignored at all is telling. The lover’s declaration claims that their love is eternal and unaffected by the passage of time. The lovers ignore the river in the same way that they ignore the inevitability of time. The river demonstrates time as a continuum, constant and always flowing, but unlike the clocks, it gives the impression of change and possibility. The image of the river is in both the beginning and end of the poem. This framing demonstrates that the river, both literally and symbolically, existed before the lovers and the clocks and will continue to be after they are gone. “The lovers they were gone; / The clocks had ceased their chiming, / and the deep river ran on” (58-60). These people will pass, leaving no evidence of their ever having been, but the river remains the same as ever, just as time will run constantly well before and after we are around to see it. But the river is “brimming” and “deep,” so rather than being nihilistic, it is hopeful.

The three speakers of the poem offer a complex look at the nature and perception of time. The differing views range from the esoteric to the oppressive, but ultimately, time, like the river, is dynamic. It is not escapable as the lover’s song suggests, but neither is it the cruel and controlling tyrant as described by the clocks. Rather, it is a quiet and consistent force of possibility that proves everything to be in transition.

The lovers have left, the clocks have ceased their chiming, but the river inexorably runs on: a clear indication that time continues to pass despite the absence of time personified. The poem as a whole could quite easily be remembered through these two lines, something which makes the conclusion of this poem rather similar to that of a sonnet. All of these aspects are rather vague and open for discussion, but that is one of the many things which make the interpretation of poetry such a diverse subject. As stated in the opening paragraph, the boundaries between the various genres of poetry are quite loose, and poets often use elements of several categories when creating their poem. In my opinion, “As I Walked Out One Evening” is a literary ballad, with elements of the dramatic (namely dialogue), and a clear influence of the sonnets dualistic division of content and concluding couplet. Auden has utilized portions of each genre when sculpting his poem, narrative, dramatic and lyric, proving that each form play an essential role in the creation of a work of poetry, regardless of the genre it might be classified as on completion.