Political Symbolism and Ambiguity in W.H. Auden\'s September 1, 1939 and Spain PDF

Preview

Summary

Modern English Poetry; an analysis of Auden’s poetry — notably September 1, 1939 and Spain...

Description

Mukherjee 1 Trishikha Mukherjee A0706118165 5C Dr. Paulami Guha Biswas Modern English Poetry 29 September 2020 Political Symbolism and Ambiguity in W.H. Auden's September 1, 1939 and Spain Since the turn of the Twentieth century, Modernism in Literature has been characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing—both in poetry and prose fiction. Springing out of the philosophical, scientific, political, and ideological shifts that followed the Industrial Revolution, through the shock of the World Wars and their aftermath, the movement was built on a sense of lost community and civilization, embodying not only a series of contradictions and paradoxes but also embracing multiple features of modern sensibility. This era bore several prominent poets—such as T.S. Eliot and W.B. Yeats—who cemented their positions amongst the luminaries and brightened the sky of Modern English Poetry. One such figure was Wystan Hugh Auden, who emerged as a prominent Anglo-American Modernist literary figure. Even much before the time the Second World War broke out, his poems were prescient of it and engaged in highlighting various loopholes in the political systems of the world which engendered flaws in the social apparatus as well as the economic paraphernalia of a country.

Mukherjee 2 A versatile poet, Auden always roused the interest of his critics with his poetry, in which he addressed not only the socio-political problems prevalent in the time of his writing but also the issues of identity, reclamation of space, and the difficulties associated with war-torn nations that breathed perpetual pessimism and existential crises. Notably, after Auden published his compilation, P  oems , in 1930, his detachment and clinical attitude, as well as the arbitrary qualities of his poems roused the interests and gained favorable criticism. In his early years as a poet, Auden experimented with different political stances and poetic styles. Later, however, he revolted against these political agendas, attempting to erase such poems from his past and, therefore, his future legacy. According to Auden’s hand-picked literary executor, Edward Mendelson, in his essay R  evision and Power: The Example of W. H. Auden , “Auden deemed these poems deeply revolting and revised an estimated three quarters of his canon.” (Mendelson, 103) The political climate in which he wrote clearly influenced Auden, but he later expressed anxiety that such politically infused poems did not represent his ‘real’ voice. Furthermore, Auden theorized that the skills required to craft works of art are the same skills that pose danger in politics, leading to campaigns for beautification and sterilization. He, therefore, felt compelled to revise his political poetry. According to Mendelson, Auden “did not drop these poems because he disagreed with their politics… but because he distrusted their power to convince his readers that he and they were on the right side in the great struggles of the age” (Mendelson, 105). He did not want his poems to be “deceptive” or “flattering” and, thus, refused to include September 1, 1939  and

Mukherjee 3  ollected Poems . not wanting to leave open the possibility that his poems Spain in his C would be misused as propaganda (Mendelson, 106). Thus, he preferred to destroy some of his most highly regarded poems rather than leave them to misinterpretation. Nonetheless, Spain and September 1, 1939 both remain two of his most-read, evocative and enduring works till date as they give a striking artistic form to the natural sentiments of a whole generation of young people. Spain , one of Auden’s longest and most complicated poems, is beautiful and compelling. Written in 1937 after his visit to Spain, it addresses the Spanish Civil War. The first version Auden wrote was published as a pamphlet in 1937 and its proceeds went to the war effort, while the second version, revised slightly, was included in A  nother Time  in 1940. Auden would later repudiate this poem as “dishonest”—since, in his view, the poem expounded a “wicked doctrine”. And it is due to this that he considered the whole poem to be immoral. Spain is partly autobiographical. As a sympathizer with the socially progressive forces of the Spanish Loyalists, Auden had gone to Spain to participate in the war as a stretcher-bearer. Once there, he witnessed the viciousness of civil conflict, not only between the opposing armies but also among the Loyalists themselves. The civil war was split between the Republicans and Generalissimo Francisco Franco’s Fascist forces. Franco was a tyrannical brute in the same fashion as Hitler and Mussolini. Auden had written in 1936 to his close friend E.R. Dodds, “I am not one of those who believe that poetry need or even should be directly political. But in a critical period such as ours, I do believe that the poet must have direct knowledge of the major political events.” As a leftist American intellectual, Auden supported the Republicans, but he witnessed the

Mukherjee 4 brutality of both sides. He returned to England embittered with politics, especially the European variety, and would soon leave to establish residence in the United States. Nonetheless, the tone of Spain is generally elegiac—sad and wistful. The poem swings back and forth in time, meditating on the relationship between the three periods—yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The provocative tautology of Yesterday at once brings all of the past close to us, compresses it into the near-simultaneity of a single day, and separates it decisively from us. In what follows there will be no subjects or predicates, but our relation to these events has already been framed. What Auden presents, then, is a brilliant selection of the diversity of historical phenomena detached from their local contexts and chronological relations. Rather than selecting the high points, he stresses what happens over and over again, and his list of Yesterdays does not deliberately exclude a generally progressive direction, but the selected episodes are strangely off kilter and out of order. The poem is full of vitality and political energy, offering a snapshot of the power and intelligence of the human race that creates a civilization, which spreads out along the trade-routes and extends its control of the environment through the advances of science. However, the images are not all taken from the bustling world of commerce and exploration. Rather, Auden reminds the readers, in a most striking image of warfare—“The fortress like a motionless eagle eyeing the valley”—and of superstition. In the opening stanza, Auden uses the imagery of “the counting-frame and the cromlech” to symbolize the conflict between science and superstition. All these illustrations are intended to provide objective pictures of the past, but they also reflect Auden's view of

Mukherjee 5 the significant conflicts of his time. It is perhaps a sign of his insight that he ends this section pessimistically with “the prayer to the sunset, and the adoration of madmen.” His use of ambiguity lies in the diagnostic, abstract, and detached view he presents to his readers in Spain . The poem lacks all the particularities and the feelings that defined the genre of War poetry—for example, there are no battles in the poem, no grotesque imagery, and no personal voice testifying to the atrocities of wars. When it comes to his evocative poem September 1, 1939 , Auden brings out similar hallmarks of Modernism on display—one of them being the fact that it requires interpretation from the readers to understand its allusions and message. In retrospect, the poem's condemnation of propaganda, dictatorship, and political apathy seems almost prescient of postwar attitudes. One reason the poem remains popular and is often quoted is that it captures the anxieties of the world at the war's start—long before anyone could imagine how horrendously costly it would become. September 1, 1939 was written in 1939—just as German troops led by Hitler invaded Poland and began the Second World War—and published in T  he New Republic issue of 18 October 1939, as well as included in Auden's collection, A  nother Time , the following year. Hitler’s invasion of Poland declared his military strength and flouted the agreement of the Munich Conference, shocking the entire world. The United States did not enter the war until 1941. Curiously, Auden came to dislike this work, just like he did with Spain , finding it “dishonest” and a “forgery.” He had his publisher include a note that the work was “trash he was ashamed to have written” and also tried to keep it out of later collections of his poems. Although Auden came to despise the poem later,

Mukherjee 6 September 1, 1939  has gained prominence—especially after the terrorist attacks on New York's World Trade Center on September 11, 2001—and thereby remained a staple of Auden’s work as well as an inspiring call to speak out in hope for justice and brotherhood despite times of war or terror. The poem consoles, inspires, and delights, allowing the readers to get a rare glimpse of a poet in the act of self-intervention and self-reinvention. It also superficially expresses Auden's political opinions regarding the Second World War, as well as skepticism of governmental authorities, offering a comment on the government propaganda during wartime to depict certain groups of people and countries in certain lights. Auden offers a comment on the European culture, explicating that it is difficult to try and research to unearth where it all started—no one person expressed their desire to start a war, be it Luther or Hitler. There have been many revered ideologies that people have taken up—that has “driven a culture mad”. Auden makes historical references to antisemitism, although he does not directly refer to any particular ideology. He also brings in his readings of psychology—of Jung and Freud—to determine what it is that leads a man to become a “psychopathic god”. This is also an indirect reference to the Treaty of Versailles that was made after the First World War. Germany had lost and was made to sign the peace treaty. This loss might have helped in Hitler's resolve to become a global superpower that would be able to negate whatever the treaty asked for. The speaker in the poem also emphasises on the power of rhetoric, saying that a speech on democracy does hold power. Overarching speeches have always been one of the primary tools dictators use to manipulate the public in a way that they will be cleverly

Mukherjee 7 manoeuvred into agreeing with the propaganda. Bringing in the idea of psychology yet again, he not only affirms Thucydides’ belief but also gives the recurrence of war a psychological motive—humans actually want to experience pain, not avoid it. Auden uses the term “Apathetic grave” to offer a commentary on normal, everyday people who are indifferent to the major happenings in the field of politics. These masses are intellectually dead and do not know how to deal with the lessons they have learned from history, as a result of which they “must suffer them all again”. This is also a comment regarding America and its citizens. The USA did not have much participation in the First World War and was only concerned about itself; its citizens were in a place of safety, not really affected by the great war. They were affected during the Second World War, although their government did not take sides until 1942 and tried to maintain an air of neutrality. The speaker believes that America's act of being just a silent bystander and not doing anything earlier to stop Hitler makes them complicit. Auden's use of political symbolism as well as his shift away from affirming socialist principles is visible in September 1, 1939 . His use of the phrase “Blind Skyscrapers” is to offer a comment regarding the capitalist American society. These skyscrapers embody their thoughts of neutrality, and they are also symbolic of all the hierarchies in society. They are described as blind because people are so unaware of how propaganda is used, they live under its shadow and remain complacent. These skyscrapers also reflect the idea of the mass culture and how, by using these technological advancements, the government can share their propaganda with the

Mukherjee 8 collective man. The “blind skyscrapers” also refers to America turning a blind eye with what was going on in Europe. Along with its obvious rebuke of Hitler's totalitarian fascism, the poem expresses skepticism if not hostility toward all forms of populism. The phrase “Collective Man” in the poem—a concept central to both fascism and socialism—is derided as a “vain / Competitive excuse.” Auden doesn't take sides in the ideological struggle of fascism versus socialism and, in its stead, uses the poem to highlight the helplessness of common people in the face of war. It is worth noting, however, how Auden becomes not a seer but merely one of many citizens who desire a just society. He hopes that in his act of being a poet, he would be able to rekindle light at least some people. He ends the poem by offering not a sweeping truth but a modest prayer—to reject the prevalent mood of despair and thereby affirm that life is purposeful.

Mukherjee 9 Works Cited Auden, W.H. Selected Poems . New York: Vintage Books, 2007. Print. Mendelson, Edward. “Revision and Power: The Example of W. H. Auden.” Y  ale French Studies. 89 (1996): 103-106. JSTOR. Web. 23 September 2020....