POETRY FRIDAY: A Poem by W. H. Auden

I came upon a post by John Nichols, Auden’s Love Poem for Humanity, while I was doing some reading at the website of The Nation. It got me to thinking.

I taught a children’s literature course at Boston University for several years. One of the books on my list of required reading was Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars, a historical novel about World War II that is set in Denmark. One semester, I remember asking the students in my class if they could tell me what event precipitated the beginning of WW II. No one could. I thought that was sad. It made me think about how little our students learn about the history of the 20th century in school.

For you today, I have September 1, 1939—a poem written by W. H. Auden after he learned about the German invasion of Poland seventy years ago. I highly recommend the reading of Auden’s poem and the comment by Nichols.

From September 1, 1939
By W. H. Auden

The first stanza:

I sit in one of the dives

On Fifty-second Street

Uncertain and afraid

As the clever hopes expire

Of a low dishonest decade:

Waves of anger and fear

Circulate over the bright

And darkened lands of the earth,

Obsessing our private lives;

The unmentionable odour of death

Offends the September night.

The final two stanzas:

All I have is a voice

To undo the folded lie,

The romantic lie in the brain

Of the sensual man-in-the-street

And the lie of Authority

Whose buildings grope the sky:

There is no such thing as the State

And no one exists alone;

Hunger allows no choice

To the citizen or the police;

We must love one another or die.

Defenseless under the night

Our world in stupor lies;

Yet, dotted everywhere,

Ironic points of light

Flash out wherever the Just

Exchange their messages:

May I, composed like them

Of Eros and of dust,

Beleaguered by the same

Negation and despair,

Show an affirming flame.

You can read the rest of the poem here.

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At Wild Rose Reader, I have a review of Stampede!: Poems to Celebrate the Wild Side of School.

I have two posts over at Political Verses this week—Political Pop Singers: Four Couplets and MARIA: A Song Parody about Maria Bartiromo.

Kelly Herold has the Poetry Friday Roundup at Crossover this week.