Songs of Ourselves Poetry Anthology

TIME—Allen Curnow

“So do they the measurable world resist”

Allen Curnow

• Born in Timaru, Christchurch in 1911 and died in 2001.

• He attended the University of Auckland.• In 1934, he found a job at “The Auckland Star” and

started writing poems.• Allen Curnow wished to answer questions that did

not present themselves as public and answerable, but questions which are private and unanswerable.

• The poem “Time” was included in his collection in reverse chronological order. They are introduced by a quotation from Samuel Beckett:

‘The Erewhonians say that we are drawn through lifebackwards; or again that we go onwards into the futureas into a dark corridor.’

The concept of “Time”• Try to define ‘Time’. • Share your definition with the

rest of your table.

• Compare findings—did you define ‘Time’ in a logical or scientific way, or did you use a more abstract method?

• What different ways can you think of measuring the passage of time?

Clocks Carbon dating, tree rings, rust, wrinkles….

Imagery—The Senses• Which images relate to the senses?

SIGHT

SOUND

SMELL

FEELING

First StanzaI am the nor'west air nosing among the

pinesI am the water-race and the rust on railway linesI am the mileage recorded on yellow signs.

Time is personified here in many ways.

Time is represented by Curnow as everything.

The water-race”, can refer to a river. The reason why the poem might have used this to try to describe time is because rivers never stop flowing in one direction, same as time. 

Time is present in nature e.g. the wind and in abstract things e.g. mileage

First StanzaHe talks about railway lines

symbolizing the past. How much time it has been since the railway has been used.

Throughout the poem the poet is switching between past, present and future. By doing this he’s achieving the point of how time is always moving and there is nothing we can do to stop it.

Second StanzaI am dust, I am distance, I am

lupins back of the beachI am the sums sole-charge teachers teachI am cows called to milking and the magpie's screech,

Time is expressed as being everywhere at the same time.

Time represents even the tiniest existence in our lives such as “dust”.

“Lupins” are flowers common on South Island in New Zealand where they grow wild

By referring to cows milking and magpies screeching, it points out “Time’s” existence in the countryside. 

Third StanzaI am nine o'clock in the morning when

the office is cleanI am the slap of the belting and the smell of the machineI am the place in the park where the lovers are seen.

Likewise the urban setting with “office” and “park” reveals that it “Time” is also present in the city.

‘I am the slap of the belting and the smell of the machine’, is about factories working throughout the day.

That whole stanza takes the reader through a day in their mind, as the first line is about the morning, the second line is about the middle of the day and the third line is about the evening turning to night.

Fourth StanzaI am recurrent music the children hear

I am level noises in the remembering earI am the sawmill and the passionate second gear.

Time is present in all human made objects

School bell signalling time.

It is present in all sounds.

He mentions all those different aspects of life in order to show that time is always present, in everything, everywhere, constantly. Time is everything, and everything is time.

Fifth StanzaI, Time, am all these, yet these exist

Among my mountainous fabrics like a mist,So do they the measurable world resist.

Time is the largest and most dominating thing on the planet – a mountain. It is personified into one superficial being – something that is responsible for our very own existence. Without time, nothing exists, making time god-like.

It takes the form of an arrogant personality proving itself as the most valuable thing in existence, and making us feel grateful to it.

Fifth Stanza

It refers to itself as the only constant thing in the world, a mountain of firmness, with everything circling around in an uncertain mist.

Sixth StanzaI, Time, call down, condense, confer,

On the willing memory the shapes these were:I, more than your conscious carrier,

“Time” is responsible for giving us memories, and is so great it is beyond anything human imagination can gather. By describing itself like this, it creates an impression upon us of being a mind controlling influence.

Seventh StanzaAm island, am sea, am father, farm,

and friend,Though I am here all things my coming attend;I am, you have heard it, the Beginning and the End.

By giving itself a name (Time) and by using biblical references, time creates for itself a superior identity, include its saying, “I am, you have heard it, the Beginning and the End”. Biblical Reference (Revelations 22 v:13)

This refers to the Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, which are often used to refer to God. Moreover, it presents itself as “…am father…” which also gives reference to God.

“Farm” may refer to biblical shepherd

Concrete Images

Concrete adj 1. solid and real, not imaginary:

able to be seen or touched because it exists in reality, not just as an idea.

2. definite: certain and specific rather than vague or general.

• Which images in the poem are examples of concrete images?

Abstract Images

Abstract adj1. not concrete: not relating to

concrete objects but expressing something that can only be appreciated intellectually.

2. theoretical: based on general principles or theories rather than on specific instances.

• Which images in the poem are examples of abstract images?

Imagery

• What examples of figurative language can you identify in the poem?

• What is the effect?• Choose one of the images from the

poem that you think is particularly interesting and comment on the language used, the effect and why you chose that image.

Mood/Tone• In the first four stanzas, the arrogance and

boasting of time is especially noticed, by its recurrent use of “I am…” which suggests great self-importance and independence, as time does not depend on anybody. Here it is also suggesting the inferiority and absurdity of human beings compared to it, as they are dependent on time, but still often use these words.

• However, apart from being all arrogant, time also presents itself as a friendly and caring companion, much like God himself, when it says “…am father, farm and friend”. This suggests that time isn’t all that bad, but the very best companion one could have, as it is as constant as a mountain, and is god-like in its features.

Form

• Comment on the form of this poem—line length, stanza length, rhyme scheme etc…

• Is it constant or irregular?• How might this contribute to

the poem’s overall effect?• Why does the poet choose to

personify Time?

Form

• The poem is in rhyming triplets, unusual in that all three lines of each stanza rhyme.

Subject and Tone

• Summarise the poem in one paragraph.

• Consider the tone in your writing

FeelingWhat aspects of time are revealed in thefollowing phrases?– ‘rust on the railway lines’Time ages and destroys.– ‘cows called to milking’Nature governed by time as a concept.– ‘nine o’clock in the morning’Human activity shaped by scientific

measurement.– ‘park where the lovers were seen’Sharing a moment in time.

Writing.

• How does Curnow present the concept of time in this poem?

• Write about 500 words and use PEEL.