W.H. Auden's poem about the contrast between "eternal love" and the impersonal march of time shows the irrationality of people in love, and the blind, callous nature of time, through the use of language and imagery. The lover's attitude is one of pleasant optimism. He is filled with poetic thoughts, and given to metaphor, such as his view of the crowds as fields of wheat. He sees love as an eternal, ever-lasting phenomenon, immune to the ravages of time. The author's use of poetic language gives the character of the lover a sense of unconq ....