Walking Down Bristol Street Poem

In this poem the speaker talks about taking a stroll in the evening, gazing upon the crowds of people and hearing a lover sing to his beloved about how his love for her will never end, but then he imagines that the clocks start responding to the lover’s words. The clocks respond to the lover with contradiction by suggesting that love will end at some point because life ends. The lover’s tone appears optimistic, but the clocks’ tone contradicts the lover with words expressing candid cynicism. The author utilizes a number of devices, such as personification, symbolism and metaphors, in an effort to demonstrate the idea that we need to cherish the time we have because one day our time will end, and, since life ends, love also comes to an end.
As the speaker is “walking down Bristol Street” (2) and through the crowds of people, the diction and tone that the speaker uses can suggest a calm and serene state of mind. As he walks “down by the brimming river”, brimming meaning at the point of overflowing can foreshadow someone’s death or a catastrophe of some type. While the lover sings to his beloved he states “I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you Till China and Africa meet, And the river jumps over the mountain And the salmon sing in the street,” (lines 9-12) The lovers optimistic tone and euphoric diction conveys that his love will be never ending and …show more content…
O stand, stand at the window As the tears scald and start; You shall love your crooked neighbour With your crooked heart.’” (49-56) Optimistically the clock conveys that although you can not add days to your lifetime, life continues to remain a blessing but understand that you need to make sure you treat people right but also remember that because we live in an imperfect world, we are all imperfect people that are all capable of loving in an imperfect