Life

While humans might like to assume that they have full control over their lives, the opposite is the truth, at least according to the speaker in Madgett’s poem. In this speaker’s worldview, individuals do not have any say over their fate. Rather, the true controller and “keeper” (Line 4) of human life is “a very old man” (Line 4). It is he who holds the pocket watch—symbolizing life—swinging on its “bright gold chain” (Line 1). This old man is the Higher Power, the Supreme Being, who created life and knows everything about everyone. The “very old man” (Line 4) swings the watch of life for his own entertainment and to “amuse a fascinated infant” (Line 3). The watch only stops when this Higher Power is “tired of the game” (Line 5), and he is the one who “lets the watch run down” (Line 6). Everything is done at the whim of this godlike figure, whether it is the Christian God or another entity. Letting “the watch run down” (Line 6) implies death, and it is only this Higher Power who decides if and when someone lives or dies. Everything lies outside of the control of the individual, and everything is within the purview of the Supreme Being.