Auden's If I Could Tell You

This fixed repetition, rather than being rigid and awkward, adds depth to the meaning, because each time the first and third lines are repeated, the line becomes more meaningful in respect to the new ways in which they are being applied. ” These masculine rhymes provide a hard and final closing to each line, a consistently simple end to a complex line. In the fourth stanza, “time will say nothing” as to the origin of the winds, as to the reasons why leaves decay; in the last stanza, “time will say nothing” when our source of life and our protection leave. And overall, this fickleness of time contrasts with the seemingly dependable and loyal nature of the speaker, who says, “If I could tell you I would let you know,” almost as if the speaker has already endured every effect of time, including death, and is trying to advise and warn others so they will be more prepared. Each new stanza in which the lines are repeated add a new application and perspective, thus enhancing the central idea that time will not help with the confusing or unhappy things in life, even though it affects them all. Because each line’s final word rhymes so exactly and simply with the other words, the poem is satisfying to listen to and nearly lullaby-like, again an enormous contrast with the complex idea of time as an unreliable and unhelpful causer of all major events in life. These rhymes also reflect the overall simple diction of the poem: there are no difficult or polysyllabic words to contrast with the inherently difficult and hard to grasp meaning.

In a villanelle, the first and third lines of the first tercet repeat alternately as the refrain closing in the succeeding stanzas, and also as the final couplet. The first line, as it is repeated throughout the poem, continues to provide contrast and variation to the otherwise steady iambic pentameter, insinuating that throughout life, time remains varying and almost untrustworthy—it will say nothing about why we weep or why the leaves decay or inevitably, why we die. Auden adheres fairly strictly to the formal elements of a villanelle, his meaning and tone is not compromised at all. These two lines begin with a stressed syllable to emphasize the word “time,” and the continued variation on meter reflects the unpredictability of time: even though time is frequently viewed as a steady, stable, predictable thing, Auden mixes up the metric pattern to show that time is fickle and changing and undependable.

The rhyme structure of the villanelle consists of only two different rhymes: in this poem, they are the “o” and “a” sounds.