NPPF - Canto Two Shade's maths

[James Kyllo]

"We have been married forty years.  At least
Four thousand times your pillow has been creased
By our two heads..."

Forty years = 14,610 nights.  So:

a) he's away from home a lot;
b) they have separate beds and haven't visited each other more often than
not
c) Shade's maths isn't too good

"...four hundred thousand times
The tall clock with the hoarse Westminster chimes
Has marked our hour"

It could be the maths, as

Forty years = 350,640 hours

but perhaps that's close enough for poetry?


James