If I Could Tell You by W. H. Auden is a villanelle that revolves around the main idea of time and its continuity. As a result of the type of poem it is, the work follows the strict parameters of a villanelle which contribute to the meaning of the work as a whole to clearly portray the author’s idea and emphasize two main points discussed.
The punctuated characteristics of a villanelle are seen in this work, such as a two rhyme scheme following aba throughout the first 5 triplets and abab in the last stanza, the quatrain. This formal style contributes to clearly portraying W. H. Auden’s main idea by adding a periodical scheme to the work. The first stanza introduces the main argument dealing with a statement concerning the immutability of time and how it doesn’t warn, just passes and goes saying “nothing but I told you so” (1), and the trail of thought continues in the following stanzas. Between the second and fifth stanzas, there is a clear change in the speaker’s attitude towards time, beginning with questioning its purpose in the second stanza to a newly acquired self awareness that time actually could have a reason to come and go and bring forth events without warning. The quatrain at the end helps conclude this idea with the speaker’s reflection on the thought process that just took place, and for the only time in the work, finishing with a question rather than statements when he asks “Will time say nothing but I told you so?” (18).
The structure of the poem also contributes to the work in emphasizing two main points brought forth which together define its theme. The parallelism, personification and capitalization of “Time” (18) and the villanelle poem structure with the first and third lines in the first stanza alternating as the last lines of the following triplets and being the final two lines of the quartet strongly emphasize two distinct statements: “Time will say nothing but I told you so” (1) and “If I could tell you I would let you know” (3). These two phrases depict the speakers understanding of the continuity of time even though he shows to have a desire to know ahead of time what to do before certain events, “if we should weep when clowns put on their show,/if we should stumble when musicians play” (4-5). The speaker, however, does not only want to want to know this but also wishes he could let everyone else know about it, and in the process, help them.
This desire on the part of the speaker is emphasized by the repetition of two phrases by the structure of the poem, which in itself helps portray the author’s idea about time itself and its continuity. Therefore, in the villanelle If I Could Tell You by W. H. Auden, the formal structure greatly contribute to the meaning of the work.
