The Times Are Tidy
The Times Are Tidy - meaning Summary
Stagnation and Small Consolations
The poem presents a compact, ironic portrait of a stagnating society where heroic action and opportunity have dwindled. Public life is mechanical and futile, history has worn down risks, and traditional figures of power or magic have faded. Yet everyday comforts persist — children benefit and domestic abundance continues — suggesting a muted consolation or acceptance amid cultural decay rather than renewal or resistance.
Read Complete AnalysesUnlucky the hero born In this province of the stuck record Where the most watchful cooks go jobless And the mayor's rôtisserie turns Round of its own accord. There's no career in the venture Of riding against the lizard, Himself withered these latter-days To leaf-size from lack of action: History's beaten the hazard. The last crone got burnt up More than eight decades back With the love-hot herb, the talking cat, But the children are better for it, The cow milks cream an inch thick.
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