Eight O' Clock

Eight O' Clock : A.E. Housman

Summary:

The poem "Eight O' Clock" is alliterative and rhythmic which has dramatic plot was composed by A.E Housman. The poem deals with the continous powerful time and inevitable death.

The protagonist (main character) stood and heard the bell of the church tower. In the morning the bell was heard all over the town and it reminded the people of their task and pushed them out. After every fifteen minutes the clock hit bell- one, two, three, four. An unpleasant event was about to happen. The hour was quite near against his desire. He stood and counted the quarter strike. It was four. Therefore, he cursed his luck because he could do nothing to protect himself from the unhappy thing. Then, the clock collected all its strength and struck eight.

Application of Four Levels

1. Literal Comprehension:

The speaker of the poem stood by the church tower and heard the ticking sound of the clock. In every quarter, the ticking sound spread over the morning town and woke up the people. Not only the speaker but all the people are routined by time. The speaker counted his time and cursed his luck. The clock of the tower collected its strength and gave final struck to the speaker.

2. Interpretation:

In this poem, the protagonist shows the helplessness of all creatures in front of powerful death and time. Time is eternal and death is inevitable. But our life is momentary and mortal. No one can live forever. Everyone of us should die sooner or later. In every moment, our life is becoming shorter and weaker. The time is always striking us. When it gives the final struck, we have to leave this world. The protagonist may also be trying to tell us that we should be punctual and utilize our time properly. May be the poet of this poem is in a great critical and serious situation because he could not utilize his time properly. So, we all should be able to perform our duty and responsibility within our time limitation. The poet may also be trying to convey the message that poor, needy, helpless and old people are always ignored by the busy modern people. Everybody are busy in their own selfish private life and works. Lastly,the poet may be suggesting to live our this short life meaningfully being conscious of the limitation of time and without being worried of death.

3. Critical thinking:

Like a musical composition, this poem has used a beautiful repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of the words. For example we find the repetition of 'st' sound in the first line and 'str' in the last line. The final word 'struck' is a serious pun, that is, an amusing use of word with two meanings. The first meaning of the word 'struck' is to inform the time by the hitting of the bell and its second meaning is to hit the protagonist forcefully. However some ideas presented in the poem are convincing. How can be the protagonist deal with the dark side of life only? If the protagonist knows the time is limited and death is inevitable,why should he curse his luck? Why didn't the protagonist make any effort or attempt to solve his problem or change his bad time rather than just counting his time aid waiting for his death? Why didn't the writer made us clear about the identity of the main character?

4. Assimilation:

The poem has made me aware of the value of limited time. For mortal human beings, time is brief. Time and tides wait for no one.Time is ever moving and it is chewing in every moment with its powerful teeth. Thus, i have determined to utilize every moment to make short life meaningful.

(Subedi, K.P. and Bhandari, M.B. (2014). Business English. Kathmandu: Highland Publication P. Ltd.)