Clocks Quote by Dylan Thomas
““Lord Cut-Glass, in his kitchen full of time, squats down alone to a dogdish, marked Fido, of peppery fish-scraps and listens to the voices of his sixty-six clocks, one for each year of his loony age, and watches, with love, their black-and-white moony loudlipped faces tocking the earth away: slow clocks, quick clocks, pendulumed heart-knocks, china, alarm, grandfather, cuckoo; clocks shaped like Noah's whirring Ark, clocks that bicker in marble ships, clocks in the wombs of glass women, hourglass chimers, tu-wit-tuwoo clocks, clocks that pluck tunes, Vesuvius clocks all black bells and lava, Niagara clocks that cataract their ticks, old time weeping clocks with ebony beards, clocks with no hands for ever drumming out time without ever knowing what time it is. His sixty-six singers are all set at different hours. Lord Cut-Glass lives in a house and a life at siege. Any minute or dark day now, the unknown enemy will loot and savage downhill, but they will not catch him napping. Sixty-six different times in his fish-slimy kitchen ping, strike, tick, chime, and tock.””
About This Quote
Source Poem: “Lord Cut-Glass” from the collection “The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas”, 1953
A surreal portrait of a man surrounded by countless clocks, each marking a different year of his life, reflecting on time’s relentless, fragmented nature and his vigilance against chaos.
In simple terms: A man lives among many clocks, each showing a different year, symbolizing fragmented time and constant alertness.
Key Takeaway
Embrace awareness of time’s many layers and stay prepared.
Themes
time
loneliness
vigilance
surrealism
age
Mood
melancholic
contemplative
enigmatic
Type
poetic
literary
philosophical
When to use this quote
- daily routine
- personal reflection
- creative writing
- stress management
- mindfulness
Key Concepts
fragmented temporality
existential awareness
psychological metaphor
Questions to Reflect On
- How do you experience multiple “times” in your life?
- What does vigilance mean to you in everyday moments?
A Different Perspective
The metaphor may overwhelm, obscuring practical insight for ordinary readers.
