The Waves is structurally and thematically determined by the passing of time; its organizing structure is the twin timeframes of the lifespan of the six friends and the simultaneous daytime passing of the sun over a shoreline landscape, which is captured in the italicized poetic interludes that begin each section. The experimental juxtaposition of these two timeframes speaks to the novel’s treatment of the inexorability of time, and its elasticity as experienced in life. In contrast to the busy human interest of the narrative sections, the interludes have a stillness and natural quietness to them, focusing on the impressions of an unpeopled landscape. This creates a context of natural eternity, both beautiful and aloof, against which the human narratives are set.

Woolf’s work shows a recurrent interest in time and each of her novels experiments with its expression in a unique way. The Years follows the lifespan of a group of characters across multiple perspectives, but the leaps of the timeframe are marked by formal year chapter headings; The Waves is more impressionistic and flowing in that the narrative passing of time is demarcated only by the poetic interludes that both point out and interrupt the passage of time in the lives of the characters.