tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130830332820181818.post1069086055249896690..comments2024-03-27T13:13:25.164-04:00Comments on johnshaplin: As I Walked Out One Evening by W. H. Audenjohnshaplinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17618981988062495637noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130830332820181818.post-22866498384849667562010-11-22T13:31:11.728-05:002010-11-22T13:31:11.728-05:00W.Auden, 1907-1973, the 'poet companion' t...W.Auden, 1907-1973, the 'poet companion' to Richard Overy's "The Twilight Years""johnshaplinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17618981988062495637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130830332820181818.post-56584640838700122962010-11-22T13:26:45.789-05:002010-11-22T13:26:45.789-05:00September 1, 1939
by W. H. Auden
I sit in one ...September 1, 1939 <br />by W. H. Auden<br /><br />I sit in one of the dives<br />On Fifty-second Street<br />Uncertain and afraid<br />As the clever hopes expire<br />Of a low dishonest decade:<br />Waves of anger and fear<br />Circulate over the bright <br />And darkened lands of the earth,<br />Obsessing our private lives;<br />The unmentionable odour of death<br />Offends the September night.<br /><br /><br />Faces along the bar<br />Cling to their average day:<br />The lights must never go out,<br />The music must always play,<br />All the conventions conspire <br />To make this fort assume<br />The furniture of home;<br />Lest we should see where we are,<br />Lost in a haunted wood,<br />Children afraid of the night<br />Who have never been happy or good.<br /><br /><br />From the conservative dark<br />Into the ethical life<br />The dense commuters come,<br />Repeating their morning vow;<br />"I will be true to the wife,<br />I'll concentrate more on my work,"<br />And helpless governors wake<br />To resume their compulsory game:<br />Who can release them now,<br />Who can reach the deaf,<br />Who can speak for the dumb?<br /><br />All I have is a voice<br />To undo the folded lie,<br />The romantic lie in the brain<br />Of the sensual man-in-the-street<br />And the lie of Authority<br />Whose buildings grope the sky:<br />There is no such thing as the State<br />And no one exists alone;<br />Hunger allows no choice<br />To the citizen or the police;<br />We must love one another or die.<br /><br />Defenceless under the night<br />Our world in stupor lies;<br />Yet, dotted everywhere,<br />Ironic points of light<br />Flash out wherever the Just<br />Exchange their messages:<br />May I, composed like them<br />Of Eros and of dust,<br />Beleaguered by the same<br />Negation and despair,<br />Show an affirming flame.johnshaplinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17618981988062495637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130830332820181818.post-48463631748260614522010-11-22T13:23:12.734-05:002010-11-22T13:23:12.734-05:00The Unknown Citizen
by W. H. Auden
(To JS/07 M 37...The Unknown Citizen<br />by W. H. Auden<br /><br />(To JS/07 M 378<br />This Marble Monument<br />Is Erected by the State)<br /><br />He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be<br />One against whom there was no official<br />complaint,<br /><br />And all the reports on his conduct agree<br />That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint,<br />For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.<br /><br />Except for the War till the day he retired<br />He worked in a factory and never got fired,<br />But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.<br /><br />Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,<br />For his Union reports that he paid his dues,<br />(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)<br />And our Social Psychology workers found<br />That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.<br /><br />The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day<br />And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.<br /><br />Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,<br />And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.<br /><br />Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare<br />He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan<br />And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,<br />A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.<br /><br />Our researchers into Public Opinion are content<br />That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;<br />When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went.<br /><br />He was married and added five children to the population,<br />Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation.<br /><br />And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.<br /><br />Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:<br />Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heardjohnshaplinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17618981988062495637noreply@blogger.com