Consider Auden as a Modern Poet

Premium

Consider Auden as a modern poet W H Auden is one of the greatest modern poets His poetry reflects the spirit of the twentieth century Full of war science fear and doubt He writes about man s loneliness in a mechanical world His poems like The Shield of Achilles Lullaby In Memory of W B Yeats and Mus e des Beaux Arts show true modern life Modern Realism and the Harsh World Auden s poetry shows the ugly truth of modern civilization In The Shield of Achilles he contrasts the old heroic world with the cruel modern world The goddess Thetis looks for beauty but finds horror He writes She looked over his shoulder For vines and olive trees But there on the shining metal His hands had put instead Here Hephaestos makes a shield full of violence and death No glory no joy only pain and emptiness This shows

the broken world after war a perfect image of the twentieth century Loss of Faith and Love Modern life has lost faith and purity In Lullaby Auden shows love as human not divine He joins body and soul equally He says Soul and body have no bounds Love is not spiritual or eternal It is physical and temporary He calls the lover Mortal and Guilty This modern view accepts human weakness There is no romantic dream only human truth Poetry in a World of War and Politics Auden lived in the age of world wars His poems carry that pain In In Memory of W B Yeats he writes after Yeats s death in the year of World War II He says In the nightmare of the dark All the dogs of Europe bark Here Europe becomes a place of fear and hatred He speaks of the seas of pity that are locked and frozen This is the modern world It is full of cold hearts and political madness Auden s poetry becomes the voice of that world Ordinary Life and Indifference Modern poetry talks about ordinary people In Mus e des Beaux Arts Auden writes about human suffering ignored by others He describes Brueghel s painting of Icarus Icarus falls from the sky but no one helps him The farmer keeps working Auden says The ploughman may have heard the splash the forsaken cry But for him it was not an important failure People no longer care about others pain Everyone is busy with their own life This everyday indifference is a strong mark of modern times Psychological Conflict and Loneliness Auden s poems often show man s inner confusion In Petition he prays to cure man s mind and body He writes Send to us power and light a sovereign touch Curing the intolerable neural itch This neural itch means modern restlessness and emptiness People feel sick in heart and mind Auden shows man as a lonely creature searching for peace in a world without love or faith Modern Style and Language Auden uses modern style simple direct and musical He writes about science psychology and politics in easy words In In Praise of Limestone he mixes philosophy with beauty He speaks about the earth man and death in a natural tone His images are modern his rhythm free and his feeling human He joins the personal with the social the heart with history Auden is a true modern voice His poems speak of war fear and broken love Thetis Hephaestos Icarus Yeats and the common man live in a world without peace Through them Auden shows the soul of the modern age restless lonely and deeply human

Lullaby

Contents

Consider Auden as a Modern Poet

Continue Reading

From this writer

W. H. Auden

More Notes