Goethe

Measuring Time

Measuring Time - meaning Summary

Time in Love's Hands

The poem addresses Eros and a pair of hourglasses to explore how love alters subjective time. The speaker notes a paradox: the same god appears to measure time twice, reflecting that hours spent apart by lovers drag, while hours spent together seem to fly. The short poem uses direct address and a compact image to register the emotional distortion of duration in romantic relationships.

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Eros, what have we here! An hourglass in each of your hands! What? Frivolous god, are you doubly measuring time? ‘The hours of lovers apart flow slowly through one: For lovers together the hours through the second one fly.’

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