Hi,
Following a revision session today, this idea was buzzing around my head - so I had to write it down.
Following a revision session today, this idea was buzzing around my head - so I had to write it down.
The starting point was an idea that many of the key quotes in understanding Auden come from 1st September 1939. So, here's what I'm thinking:
1st September 1939 reveals a lot about Auden's view of the human condition. Perhaps it is the key poem in understanding Auden? In it, Auden says that we live in a 'euphoric dream' - in denial of the realities of life beyond our narrow, selfish concerns. The 'error bred in the bone' (ie. human nature) is our selfishness ('to be loved alone') while Auden stresses the importance of 'universal love'. We are 'sensual' rather than cerebral - we want to feel sensations of pleasure and comfort, but we don't want to think. Because of this, Auden depicts us as childlike and innocent: 'lost in a haunted wood / Children afraid of the night / Who have never been happy or good.' Rather than think for ourselves, we'd rather allow ourselves to be shaped by others and by circumstance: parents, societal expectations etc. We drift through life in a euphoric dream with no direction. Only 'the Just' can think beyond these terms - they provide hope for humanity.
Now think of how these descriptions of human nature are reflected in the other poems:
Victor/Miss Gee/James: in all of these poems, the pace of the narrative seems to blur childhood and adulthood. In a way, these characters never grow up and never grow out of their issues - they are still child-like, innocent and naive until their deaths. They're either repressed, insecure, isolated - or all three. They all seem to be products of dysfunctional families - although we don't meet Miss Gee's parents. They all need guidance: from God, from parents, from neighbours. Perhaps this is why the ballad form works so well, as it depicts them in a comical or childish, nursery rhyme-like way.
As I Walked Out: The love poem at the start is innocent, romanticised, childlike. It is the 'romantic lie in the brain'. We are imperfect - see the nursery rhyme references or the 'crooked heart' line.
O What: More imperfect love. More selfishness. War can turn lover against lover. Neighbour against neighbour.
Musee: We are indifferent to the suffering of others. We drift though life with our own narrow concerns, barely noticing what goes on around us. Life juxtaposes the significant and the mundane - and which is which depends entirely on your subjective viewpoint. There is no absolute truth.
I hope this makes sense. Perhaps an even better argument can be made for one of the others as 'key poem', but I do think that 1st September is the poem that gets to the heart of what it is to be human. Make sure you know it!
Any questions, get in touch.
Mr M
1st September 1939 reveals a lot about Auden's view of the human condition. Perhaps it is the key poem in understanding Auden? In it, Auden says that we live in a 'euphoric dream' - in denial of the realities of life beyond our narrow, selfish concerns. The 'error bred in the bone' (ie. human nature) is our selfishness ('to be loved alone') while Auden stresses the importance of 'universal love'. We are 'sensual' rather than cerebral - we want to feel sensations of pleasure and comfort, but we don't want to think. Because of this, Auden depicts us as childlike and innocent: 'lost in a haunted wood / Children afraid of the night / Who have never been happy or good.' Rather than think for ourselves, we'd rather allow ourselves to be shaped by others and by circumstance: parents, societal expectations etc. We drift through life in a euphoric dream with no direction. Only 'the Just' can think beyond these terms - they provide hope for humanity.
Now think of how these descriptions of human nature are reflected in the other poems:
Victor/Miss Gee/James: in all of these poems, the pace of the narrative seems to blur childhood and adulthood. In a way, these characters never grow up and never grow out of their issues - they are still child-like, innocent and naive until their deaths. They're either repressed, insecure, isolated - or all three. They all seem to be products of dysfunctional families - although we don't meet Miss Gee's parents. They all need guidance: from God, from parents, from neighbours. Perhaps this is why the ballad form works so well, as it depicts them in a comical or childish, nursery rhyme-like way.
As I Walked Out: The love poem at the start is innocent, romanticised, childlike. It is the 'romantic lie in the brain'. We are imperfect - see the nursery rhyme references or the 'crooked heart' line.
O What: More imperfect love. More selfishness. War can turn lover against lover. Neighbour against neighbour.
Musee: We are indifferent to the suffering of others. We drift though life with our own narrow concerns, barely noticing what goes on around us. Life juxtaposes the significant and the mundane - and which is which depends entirely on your subjective viewpoint. There is no absolute truth.
I hope this makes sense. Perhaps an even better argument can be made for one of the others as 'key poem', but I do think that 1st September is the poem that gets to the heart of what it is to be human. Make sure you know it!
Any questions, get in touch.
Mr M
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