Memory of W B Yeats In this poem Auden writes about Yeats s death in a cold and lifeless world He says He disappeared in the dead of winter The image is gloomy and frozen Romantic poets used to glorify death but Auden makes it ordinary and cold He also shows that poetry does not remain pure or timeless Poetry changes with people and history The feeling is calm and factual not emotional or dreamy Loss of Beauty and Faith in The Shield of Achilles Auden uses the myth of Thetis Hephaestos and Achilles to show the loss of beauty in the modern world Thetis hopes to see peace and joy but finds horror She looks for vines and olive trees but sees instead an artificial wilderness This scene contrasts sharply with Romantic beauty Auden s world has A million eyes a million boots in line Love and beauty die in this cruel modern world His tone is bitter not dreamy Harsh Reality of Human Suffering in Mus e des Beaux Arts Auden shows that human suffering is often ignored by the world People go on with their daily lives while pain happens nearby In the story of Icarus the boy falls from the sky but no one helps him The farmer keeps working The ship continues to sail The sun still shines without care There is no emotion no sympathy Life moves forward cold and empty Romantic poets believed in shared feeling but Auden reveals indifference loneliness and the hard truth of modern life Anti-Romantic View of Nature in In Praise of Limestone Auden shows nature as real not holy The limestone land has hills caves and water but it is full of change and decay This is not Romantic worship of nature It is a modern observation Auden looks at nature like a thinker not a dreamer He studies it with reason not emotion He also mocks human pride by showing man as weak and playful His tone is calm ironic and realistic not filled with wonder or divine beauty Prayer for Reason Not Emotion in Petition Auden prays not for beauty or passion but for wisdom and healing He says Send to us power and light a sovereign touch He wants strength to face life not escape it He rejects fake purity His poem is direct not emotional This is the voice of a modern man clear logical and free from Romantic emotion Auden is a true anti-romantic poet He rejects dreams and false beauty His poems face war fear and doubt His lovers are real his world harsh In every poem he chooses truth over illusion Auden s poetry is not an escape it is an awakening