16 pages • 32 minutes read
Life
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Themes
Life Is Outside of Our Control
While humans might like to assume that they have full control over their lives, the opposite is the truth, at least according to the speaker in Madgett’s poem. In this speaker’s worldview, individuals do not have any say over their fate. Rather, the true controller and “keeper” (Line 4) of human life is “a very old man” (Line 4). It is he who holds the pocket watch—symbolizing life—swinging on its “bright gold chain” (Line 1). This old man is the Higher Power, the Supreme Being, who created life and knows everything about everyone. The “very old man” (Line 4) swings the watch of life for his own entertainment and to “amuse a fascinated infant” (Line 3). The watch only stops when this Higher Power is “tired of the game” (Line 5), and he is the one who “lets the watch run down” (Line 6). Everything is done at the whim of this godlike figure, whether it is the Christian God or another entity. Letting “the watch run down” (Line 6) implies death, and it is only this Higher Power who decides if and when someone lives or dies. Everything lies outside of the control of the individual, and everything is within the purview of the Supreme Being.
Life Is Fleeting
The symbol for life in Madgett’s poem speaks to its precarious nature. Madgett’s speaker refers to the watch as “a toy that swings on a bright gold chain” (Line 1). The swinging motion highlights how life is always in constant motion, oscillating like a pendulum from high to low moments. Though the motion might initially seem predictable, it can stop at any moment. Life is counted in seconds, or “ticks” of a clock, that track each moment of life. The speaker specifically notes that the watch ticks only “for a little while” (Line 2). After this short period of time, the “watch run[s] down” (Line 6). At times, people might think that they have plenty of time before them to accomplish all of their life goals. However, life often feels as if it comes to an end in the blink of an eye, the amount of time it takes for a second hand to move on a clock.
What One Person Values, Another Devalues
Quotes abound both online as well as in print about how precious and priceless life is. However, what is precious and valuable to one person might not be so to another. In Madgett’s poem, the life under question is subject to the whim of its “keeper” (Line 4). The “keeper” (Line 4) who is “a very old man” (Line 4) only seems concerned with life as it relates back to him. He uses the “toy” (Line 1) of life to “amuse” (Line 3) the “infant” (Line 3) who is with him. This old man/God only seems to value this life (represented by the pocket watch) insofar as it serves his purposes. However, when the old man “Becomes tired of the game” (Line 5), he simply stops the watch of life without further concern of life itself. Life no longer serves him, and he therefore has no further need for it. Its value is based simply upon its utility, and different individuals/entities will share different values and expectations.
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