“While I went out one evening” Analysis“While I went out one evening”, is a surprising poem that expresses and exploits some of the restrictions that time imposes on man. Written in the mid-1930s, “While I Went Out One Evening” is one of WH Auden's early works. The work indirectly illustrates the effect of time on man by using different speakers and other references that play a variable in time. The essence of time is represented through Auden's use of form, structure, language, and personification to demonstrate the effect of time. Form is crucial to any piece of literature and in “As I Walked Out One Evening” the form allows the essential tone to be set. The form used by Auden is elegiac, typically associated with the morning. (Fleissner)The mournful form makes clear the desire to stop time. “While I was going out” is told in the first person, giving the personal feeling as if the author was speaking directly to the reader. The poem is conveyed by unidentified characters who witness the events as they unfold, without being personally involved, which places the poem in the narrative genre. (Fleissner) For form to have its full effect on poetry, structure is essential. The structure influences “While going out one evening” with its use of quatrains. Structure is often referred to as the structure of a literary work. It is a literary ballad written in the form of ABCB quatrains and other elements of a lyric poem. Each stanza is four lines long and is a subliminal illustration of the coherence of time. (Fleissner) Auden's use of a masculine end rhyme conforms to the standard criteria used in literary ballads. Iambic trimeter is the most commonly used meter but the meter of the different quatrains is varied and complex...... middle of paper ...... cursed but it seems that the lovers will share the night together. The time lovers spend together would be more meaningful if they knew about the lack of time they have together. The poem ends by noting that “the deep river flowed,” suggesting an eternity or larger story in which the lovers are only a small part. At the same time we have learned that the river will one day no longer exist. Nothing is safe from the grip of time except the memories we create throughout life. Time acts as an illusion for many human beings. Time should not limit our actions or feelings. As the countdown of life continues, one must recognize that fulfillment in life lies not in the years lived but in the memories experienced. Life is about relationships and the love that comes from them, not the years of marriage. Life may be temporary but memories and love live forever in eternity.