Theme of Time in Kenneth Slessor’s Poems ‘Out of Time’ and ‘Wild Grapes’': Critical Essay

Texts are able to represent and explore the human experiences that shape our society and world. Have you ever felt like time was running past you? That the world kept spinning, while you just stood still? Time is a central theme in many of Kenneth Slessor’s poems, however it is primarily explored through ‘Out of time’ and ‘Wild Grapes’. Slessor has made it obvious that he is aware that time continues, whether we want it to or not, and this is what allows us to put into perspective the notion of humanity’s power. The poems ‘Out of Time’ and ‘Wild Grapes’ both share themes such as the passing of time and memories. Slessor allows the audience to feel connected by his use of universal themes experienced by every human, he does this through the inclusion of poetic form and literacy techniques. Slessor’s poems enhance perception of time and memory through a range of poetic devices. Slessor’s poetry sheds light on human motivation and behavior as a way of highlighting the paradoxes and anomalies present within the experience of living. This has the capacity to enhance our perception of time and memory in many ways.

The passing of time and nostalgia for the past are both part of the human experience, as everyone will experience this at least once in their life. The poem ‘Out of Time’ is a poem that explores these human experiences and how they have helped to shape our individuality, this is done through the use of many different poetic techniques. In the poem ‘Out of Time’, Slessor presents the poem in a reoccurring pattern that replicates the nature of time. The last line of each verse is the beginning line of the next, indicating a link throughout the poem. Slessor makes this style distinctive by beginning the poem with the simile “I saw Time flowing like the hundred yachts” and ending with “And Time flows past them like a hundred yachts.” His use of repetition and personification of time clearly expresses the main value of this poem. Through these techniques, Slessor cleverly portrays that time is a continuous force that will never come to an end, but will always have its command over humanity’s lifespan. This helps audiences understand and enhance their perception of time and memory. Slessor represents the human experience of the passing of time on several levels, weaving from abstract metaphors to natural imagery. He attempts to capture the human experience of a time passing, rushing our consciousness to the past, and the paradoxical feeling of eternity and dishonesty in the moment. This paradox challenges our assumptions about time being experienced by humans as a constant, and is primarily shown through the personification of ‘Time’ and ‘the moment’ as forces in conflict. Time is represented as unrelenting, violent and destructive through the imagery of ‘the bony knife’ and ‘takes me’, ‘drills me’, and ‘drives through blood and vein’ and the repetition of ‘me’ highlights the subjective and negative experience of time. Throughout the poem ‘Out of Time’, we can see the human experience has been explored through the passing of time and how Slessor uses a wide range of poetry techniques to engage his readers in the poem. This has the capacity to enhance our perception of time and memory in many ways.

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In the poem ‘Wild Grapes’ Slessor describes a place where time has taken its effect on the orchard, and events and memories from the past are both here in the now and a part of the present. In ‘Wild Grapes’ the vivid description of the old orchard is drawn from the present, but is developed and referenced from lucid memories. ‘Wild Grapes’ symbolizes a tone of decaying abandonment, arousing images of overgrowing unkempt vines stretching and reaching out through a now unattended orchard. While it delivers the image of the loss of hope and discourage, it expresses the idea of passing time, creating a disturbing memory of lost ability and the troubling human experience of enduring regret. ‘Wild Grapes’ presents us the theme of death as in connecting the distance of life and death through memory, but remaining sadly realistic by concluding with the defeat of human effort against the consuming perseverance of time itself. In the poem, we are instantly confronted with a setting that is not intended to sound lovely. The orchard is old and ‘full of smoking air’. As we can see here Slessor creates an instinctive taste of anger, a darkness that metaphorically settles upon the orchard. The ‘sour marsh’ and ‘broken boughs’ adds to the decrepit surroundings, now infertile and unsuited for growing fruit. Within the poem it brings us into the past, where the orchard once held increasing life of cherries and apples, filled of hope and promise, bright and almost glowing. Time has passed as now, not a single apple or a cherry remains. This pushes us into the present. The use of terse literal language is blunt and abrupt, shaking us out of the pleasant imagery established in the first two lines of the stanza. Slessor uses many poetic techniques in ‘Wild Grapes’. Slessor uses lexicons throughout the poem ‘Wild Grapes’ to symbolize death and ageing. This can be seen through the words “broken, old vanished and eating their flesh”. This sets the tone for the orchard, in all its ugliness as time has passed. Slessor has explored the human experience of the passing of time through the use of a rhetorical question and alliteration in the phrase “kissed here or killed here, but who remembers now?” It passes the burden of ambivalent perplexity onto the reader, and this shows the effect that the passing of time had on Slessor’s memory. It demonstrates how due to the passing of time people’s memories of other people and experiences can become distorted. Slessor’s journey with time and memory through his own human experience and his use of poetic devices allows the audience to enhance their perception of time and memory.

Through a study of Slessor’s poetry, we can see that texts are able to represent and explore the human experiences that shape our society and world. Slessor uses many poetic techniques throughout his poems ‘Wild Grapes’ and ‘Out of Time’. The human experience explored in the poem ‘Out of Time’ is the passing of time, which is something that can’t be changed, it is something that everyone experiences. ‘Wild Grapes’ is a poem that takes us back and explores the human experience of death and the passing of time. Slessor shows how the passing of time can represent and explore the human experience, and how it has enabled the reader to enhance their perception of time and memory through a consideration of their significance to the human condition.