As people move from the past to the future, they are always traveling through time. However, time travel refers to the change of rate that people travel into the future or the reversing of time so that people can travel in the past. Since the 19th century, time travel has been used as a plot device in literature. This essay describes how the passage of time is depicted in various literature works for instance the short story of “Missing One’s Coach: An Anachronism”, Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle as well as “All The Myriad Ways” by Larry Niven, and the poem “As I Walked Out One Evening” by W.H. Auden.
In all the piece of work, the narrators focus on the underlying theme of time passage. In the short story of “Missing One’s Coach: An Anachronism,” the narrator is transported back over a thousand years. 3 In “Rip Van Winkle,” the narrator wanted to show how things can change over time. Over a period of twenty years, rural villages have grown into big towns, and people have become more active and so on. In the Larry Niven’s short story of “All the Myriad Ways,” there are multiple alternative histories that are coexisting. 2
The narrator explains how a person can go to a new timeline where there are different historical events compared to the new one. According to the poem “As I Walked Out One Evening” by W.H. Auden, one never knows when his or her time on earth has come to an end.1 In the poem, time cuts short a love affair. Time determines everything that people do. The nature of time is a reality. Time plays a vital role in poetry as well as a personal role in the lives of human beings. Various poets have expressed their positions on the concept of time either to show optimism or pessimism.
1. Auden, Wystan Hugh, and Edward Mendelson. As I walked out one evening: songs, ballads, lullabies, limericks, and other light verse. Vintage, 1995.
2. Niven, Larry. All the myriad ways. Ballantine, 1971.
3. Rouhi, Leyla. "L’HE ANACRONOPETE."
The power of relationships has caused artists from diverse backgrounds explore similar themes. When people connect with each other, there is change. Communities achieve significant goals when they build a strong relationship. People have to work with others from different cultures as well as ethnic groups to achieve better education and so on. For instance, after the colonization of the Native Americans in Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle, the members of the community achieved economic development. 4
Although entirely unaware, most artists are influenced into writing about a certain topic. Artists imitate others while being different at the same time. The issue of time travel has been in the discussion for many years now. Artists write about it to remind people that time can impact lives either positively or negatively. Over time small villages have grown to be big cities enhancing economic development. On the other hand, time travel has broken relationships as well as destroyed empires. Artists warn people that what people see today cannot be there the next day.
The theme of time passage has been exposed differently in the works. For instance, they used metaphors, utopias, alternative histories, as well as moralistic tales of characters. To some extent, all stories take place in time. Passage of time allows stories to unfold, regardless how a story deals with time. Passage of time allows plots to unfold as well as characters to be drawn.
In most cases, the artists have used poetic tools for instance metaphors to demonstrate the passage of time. For instance, in the work of Auden, metaphors were used together with events. For instance, the artist used the metaphor “A Life is a Day” to demonstrate how short life can be. Most of the time the generic level metaphor “Time Conquers” was used in a proxy way.
4. Irving, Washington. Rip Van Winkle. Copp, Clark, " Company, 1884.
This shows that time can be stealthy in the way it deals with life or relationships. To add to this, all the metaphors talking about time were more novel in matters of their location on the conventionality scale. Throughout the piece of work, the specter of time hangs over life. Time can destroy both. Metaphors have been used to show how time can destroy a whole world.
Time travel has been portrayed by showing how characters fall asleep to wake up many decades later and notice changes in the society. The protagonist wakes up to realize the progress made for instance children have grown up, as well as large buildings and so on. The theme of time travel is demonstrated in the story of Rip Van Winkle to show the change that took place in the United States after the revolutionary war. The people of America moved forward and created a new country. With time, all the states came together and created a government.
In conclusion, the artists approached the topic differently, although the poems, as well as short stories used in the context, are about time travel. The concept of change in time can have a different outcome to society. Since in all the work time travel has been used as the common theme, the artists produced a specific level of emotion that allows readers compare the effects of time travel on a society.
Bibliography
Auden, Wystan Hugh, and Edward Mendelson. As I walked out one evening: songs, ballads, lullabies, limericks, and other light verse. Vintage, 1995.
Irving, Washington. Rip Van Winkle. Copp, Clark, " Company, 1884.
Niven, Larry. All the myriad ways. Ballantine, 1971.
Rouhi, Leyla. "L’HE ANACRONOPETE."
