Take a quick look at your watch! Or maybe that clock on your Smartphone! If it ain’t no Eight o’Clock in there… get it to Eight! Okay… that was an intro to this post. Let’s get to the point, and do some down-to-earth analysis of “Eight O’Clock” by A.E. Housman, shall we?
The idea of the poem is simple. Time is the most powerful phenomenon in the world and we human beings have no choice. Death is inevitable and it is the ultimate truth of life. The following four-level analysis of “Eight O’Clock” will help you to better understand this masterpiece written by A.E. Housman.
He stood, and heard the steeple Sprinkle the quarters on the morning town. One, two, three, four, to market-place and people It tossed them down. Strapped, noosed, neighing his hour, He stood and counted them and cursed his luck; And then the clock collected in the tower Its strength, and struck.
Four-level Analysis of “Eight O’Clock” by A.E. Housman
Literal Comprehension (Summary)
Literally, this poem is about a man who is going to be hanged by the steeple in an old English town. He is counting the minutes he is left with few moments until 8 o’clock which is when he will be executed. It is really hard for him to fall asleep knowing that he is going to be executed the next morning. No matter how hard he wanted to live, he could do nothing other than wait for his death. At last, the inevitable happens. The clock strikes eight, and he faces his unfortunate fate.
Interpretation
Although the main character in the poem is shown to be a prisoner, it could be any common man from a normal walk of life. On a deeper level, this poem acknowledges the fact that time controls us and our life and death, seeing how it was the clock chime that decided the prisoner’s time of death/execution. Time is the most powerful force in the universe and everyone is helpless in front of it, irrespective of their wealth and social status.
No matter how much you run after money, fame, and prestige, death is the only ultimate truth of life and there’s no way we can avoid it. We are used to taking everything for granted, even the valuable time that we have at the moment. We don’t realize that we had something until it is gone, such as the time we wasted on something insignificant.
The title of the poem “Eight O’Clock” itself is rather symbolic. It refers to the traditional morning hour of execution in England of centuries past. The striking of the clock and the striking of the head of the prisoner is analogous. The speaker is the poet. The dramatic situation is that an unnamed male prisoner is standing, presumably on a scaffold, and waiting to be executed when the clock in the nearby church steeple tolls eight.
Critical Thinking
The poet deserves appreciation for his amazing music-like composition. The beautiful rhyming in the poem gives the reader a sense of inevitability as well as harmony. The significance of the word “struck” is really deep in the poem as it could mean both the time on a clock and the death execution. However, from a critical perspective, the poem is not able to convince its readers on certain points.
There are two sides to life. There are good times and then there are bad times. But the protagonist. Life is full of both happiness and sadness. Life always comes with death, otherwise, life would lose its significance. There is no point in cursing the almighty god for this natural process of life. Rather than staying there and doing nothing, the protagonist could have done something to change his fate or make his life meaningful before actually facing his death. But he just remained idle waiting for his execution. He seems to have a loser mentality.
Assimilation
Until now, I used to just pass my leisure time on insignificant things that made no sense at all. After reading this poem, I have become more self-aware of what I do and how do I spend my time. Time is limited and we have to make the best use of every second we have. I have come to understand the real meaning behind the age-old proverb “time and tide waits for none”.
But just because we are going to die at one point in life doesn’t mean that we die today. We have to give our best and make every day count. It’s worth citing Steve Jobs here with regard to time: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” Make a habit of asking this question to yourself every morning before you start your day.
Good Luck!
