W H AUDEN Irlanda Olave W H AUDEN

W. H. AUDEN Irlanda Olave

W. H. AUDEN Wystan Hugh Auden (21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973, who signed his works W. H. Auden, was an English poet, regarded by many as one of the greatest writers of the 20 th century.

W. H. AUDEN Auden was educated at Gresham' School in North Norfolk and Christ Church College, Oxford. As a student he became associated with the group of leftwing poets which included: Louis Mac. Neice, Cecil Day. Lewis and Stephen Spender

W. H. AUDEN Auden's first collection of poetry entitled Poems was accepted for publication by T. S. Eliot (the poetry editor at Faber and Faber) and appeared in 1930. It was well received by the critics and established him as one of the leading poets of his generation.

Although gay, Auden married Erika Mann in 1935 to enable her to escape persecution in Nazi Germany. In 1939 Auden and Christopher Isherwood left Europe for America. He had earlier collaborated with Isherwood to write the stage play The Dog Beneath the Skin. While in America, Auden met Chester Kallman who was to be his companion for the rest of his life.

W. H. AUDEN Auden was a skilled exponent of traditional verse and meter forms, but also had the knack of making his poems modern and relevant.

MUSEE DES BEAUX ARTS About suffering they were never wrong, The Old Masters; how well, they understood Its human position; how it takes place While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;

W. H. AUDEN How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting For the miraculous birth, there always must be children who did not specially want it to happen, skating on a pond at the edge of the wood: They never forgot

W. H. AUDEN For the miraculous birth, there always must be Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating on a pond

W. H. AUDEN That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.

W. H. AUDEN the dreadful martyrdom… dogs… and the torturer's horse scratches on a tree.

W. H. AUDEN In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away Quite leisurely from the disaster;

W. H. AUDEN the ploughman may Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry, But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green water;

W. H. AUDEN and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky, had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

AS I WALKED OUT ONE EVENING

AS I WALKED OUT ONE EVENING As I walked out one evening, Walking down Bristol Street, The crowds upon the pavement Were fields of harvest wheat.

AS I WALKED OUT ONE EVENING And down by the brimming river I heard a lover sing Under an arch of the railway: 'Love has no ending.

AS I WALKED OUT ONE EVENING I'll love you, dear, I'll love you Till China and Africa meet, And the river jumps over the mountain And the salmon sing in the street,

AS I WALKED OUT ONE EVENING 'I'll love you till the ocean Is folded and hung up to dry And the seven stars go squawking Like geese about the sky.

AS I WALKED OUT ONE EVENING The years shall run like rabbits, For in my arms I hold The Flower of the Ages, And the first love of the world. '

AS I WALKED OUT ONE EVENING But all the clocks in the city Began to whirr and chime: 'O let not Time deceive you, You cannot conquer Time.

AS I WALKED OUT ONE EVENING In the burrows of the Nightmare Where Justice naked is, Time watches from the shadow And coughs when you would kiss. 'In headaches and in worry Vaguely life leaks away, And Time will have his fancy To-morrow or to-day.

AS I WALKED OUT ONE EVENING Into many a green valley Drifts the appalling snow; Time breaks the threaded dances And the diver's brilliant bow.

AS I WALKED OUT ONE EVENING 'O plunge your hands in water, Plunge them in up to the wrist; Stare, stare in the basin And wonder what you've missed.

AS I WALKED OUT ONE EVENING The glacier knocks in the cupboard, The desert sighs in the bed, And the crack in the tea -cup opens A lane to the land of the dead.

AS I WALKED OUT ONE EVENING Where the beggars raffle the banknotes And the Giant is enchanting to Jack, And the Lily-white Boy is a Roarer, And Jill goes down on her back.

AS I WALKED OUT ONE EVENING O look, look in the mirror? O look in your distress: Life remains a blessing Although you cannot bless.

AS I WALKED OUT ONE EVENING 'O stand, stand at the window As the tears scald and start; You shall love your crooked neighbour With your crooked heart. '

AS I WALKED OUT ONE EVENING It was late, late in the evening, The lovers they were gone; The clocks had ceased their chiming, And the deep river ran on.

THE UNKNOWN CITIZEN

THE UNKOWN CITIZEN

THE UNKNOWN CITIZEN He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be One against whom there was no official complaint, And all the reports on his conduct agree That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint, For in everything he did he served the Greater Community. Except for the War till the day he retired He worked in a factory and never got fired, But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.

THE UNKNOWN CITIZEN Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views, For his Union reports that he paid his dues, (Our report on his Union shows it was sound) And our Social Psychology workers found That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink. The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way. Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured, And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.

THE UNKNOWN CITIZEN Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Installment Plan And had everything necessary to the Modern Man, A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire. Our researchers into Public Opinion are content That he held the proper opinions for he time of year; When there was peace, he was for peace; when there was war, he went.

THE UNKNOWN CITIZEN He was married and added five children to the population, Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation. And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.

THE UNKNOWN CITIZEN Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd: Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.

FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL

FUNERAL BLUES Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone. Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, Silence the pianos and with muffled drum Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

FUNERAL BLUES Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead Scribbling in the sky the message He is Dead, Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves, Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

FUNERAL BLUES He was my North, my South, my East and West, My working week and my Sunday rest My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song; I thought that love would last forever, I was wrong.

FUNERAL BLUES The stars are not wanted now; put out every one, Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun. Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood; For nothing now can ever come to any good.

FUNERAL BLUES