INTRODUCTION:
W. H. Auden (1907–1973) is an Anglo-American poet of English literature.
Auden, influenced by Eliot, Hopkins, Kipling, Freud and Marx, is popular as the
most representative poet of the thirties. He has been acclaimed as a war poet
and as a poet of modernism and experimentation. He has written poems on love,
death and war.
AUDEN’S FAMOUS POEMS:
Lullaby, Funeral Blues, Autumn Song, As I Walked
Out One Evening, Epitaph on a Tyrant, In Memory of W. B. Yeats, The Unknown
Citizen, September 1, 1939, The Fall of Rome, The Shield of Achilles
THEMES:
1. Death & Life After
Death:
"In Memory of W.B. Yeats" is all about
death. After all, it's an elegy, a poem written in memory of a a great English
poet, who has passed away. The central idea is that death is inevitable but
there is a life after death in case of the death of the poets like Yeats.
2.
Isolation
"In Memory of W.B. Yeats"
depicts the world as a lonely place. Funny enough, though, people don't even
seem to realize how alone and isolated they are. Poetry may not be a perfect
cure for all this isolation, but according to Auden, it can help people see the
truth of their situation.
Structure of In Memory
of W.B. Yeats
‘In Memory of W.B. Yeats’ by W. H. Auden is a
three-part poem that is further divided into stanzas of different lengths. The
first part of the poem contains six stanzas, the second: one and the third: six
again. Auden does not make use of a rhyme scheme in the first two parts of the
poem but in the third he does. They rhyme pattern of the last part is AABB CCDD.
Poetic Techniques in In
Memory of W.B. Yeats
Auden has used several poetic like enjambment, allusion, and alliteration.
Allusion is an expression
that’s meant to call something specific to mind without directly stating it. In
the second part of the poem, Auden alludes to some of Yeats’ other works,
especially those focused on the Irish Independence Movement The final section
alludes to the tragedies of the Second World War that was being prepared in
1939 when Yeats died.
Alliteration occurs when same
consonant sounds are repeated. For example, “dying day” in the
fourth line of the first stanza in section one, or “Silence” and “suburbs” in
stanza three of the same section are the examples of alliteration found in this
poem.
Enjambment occurs when a line is cut off before its natural
stopping point. Enjambment forces a reader down to the next line, and the next,
quickly. This enjambment is found between lines three and four in the first
stanza of section three and also between lines one and two of stanza three of
that same section.
Analysis of In Memory
of W.B. Yeats
Part I
Stanza One
“He disappeared in the dead winter:
The brook was frozen, the airports almost deserted,
(…)
What instruments we have agree
The day of his death was a dark cold day”
In the first stanza Auden begins by referring to Yeats as having had
disappeared in the “dead of winter”. The poet writes about the sad demise of W.
B. Yeats by using the images of the dead winter, frozen brook, deserted
airports, disfigured statues and so on.
Stanza Two
“Far from his illness
(…)
The death of the poet was kept from his poems.”
In the second stanza of ‘In Memory of W.B. Yeats’ the speaker describes how
despite the death of this great man, things go on. The wolves are still running
through the forests and the “peasant river” is attempted by the more
“fashionable quays”. The normal life goes on even after the death of such a
great poet.
The final two lines of this stanza suggest that though the poet has died
his poems continue to serve his readers.
Stanza Three
“But for him it was his last afternoon as himself,
(…)
The current of his feeling failed; he became his
admirers.”
The third stanza gives the reader a very human picture of Yeats’ death. His
last moments were spent around nurses in the hospital. In the next lines, he
depicts Yeats’ body at war with itself. There was nothing but “silence” in the
suburbs.
In the last line, Auden suggests that his memory lives forever among the
readers who loved his works.
Stanza Four
“Now he is scattered among a hundred cities
(…)
Are modified in the guts of the living.”
In the fourth stanza the poet describes
how Yeats’ soul and essence are “scattered among a hundred cities” among all
his admirers. He is still living through his poems. Here, Auden emphasizes the
theme of life after death.
Stanza Five
“But in the importance and noise of to-morrow
When the brokers are roaring like beasts on the
floor of the bouse,
(…)
A few thousands will think of this day
As one thinks of a day when one did something
slightly unusual.”
Once again Auden speaks on how the human world is going on without pause.
He uses a simile to describe how the “brokers are roaring like beasts in the
Wall Street. He also describes the poor as back to normal as well, they suffer
as they always do.
Yeats’ death is only one more moment of unhappiness in the world. It passes
just like everything else does.
Stanza Six
“What instruments we have agree
The day of his death was a dark cold day.”
The last two lines of this first part act as a refrain. They are a
repetition of the two lines at the end of the first stanza, reemphasizing the
need for different instruments to measure the poet’s death. The poet wants to
say that one cannot measure the death of such a great poet like Yeats.
Part II
Stanza One
“You were silly like us; your gift survived it all:
The parish of rich women, physical decay,
(…)
Raw towns that we believe and die in; it survives,
A way of happening, a mouth.”
The second part of ‘In Memory of W.B. Yeats’ is only one stanza long. Here,
Auden explains that nothing changed in the world due to Yeats’ poetry as poetry
is not supposed to be a tool to bring a
huge change. It is meant to do something different, something more short-lived.
The speaker says that poetry, like water is something that “flows”.
Part III
Stanza One
“Earth, receive an honoured guest:
(…)
Emptied of its poetry.”
The third section begins with Auden addressing the earth. This part of the poem
takes the form of an elegy. He asks it to revive Yeats’ body where he is laid
to rest. This is also the first time that “William Yeats” is mentioned by name.
He was a “vessel” for his poetry and now that’s all that remains. It is empty
of the poetry it once held.
Stanza Two
“In the nightmare of the dark
(…)
Each sequestered in its hate;”
The second stanza gives the reader a few more details about the poet’s
death. It occurred in 1939 in the face of World War II. A nightmare is on its
way and “All the dogs of Europe bark” at its approach. The nations of the world
are “sequestered,” (lonely) separate from one another.
For the first time in this long work Auden is using a rhyme scheme.
Stanza Three
“Intellectual disgrace
(…)
Locked and frozen in each eye.”
Here, Auden is mentioning the countries who are on the verge of war. Nothing
pleasant is occurring at this time in the world. Auden chose to write much
about the political climate of the time in this poem because of Yeats’ own
interest in politics.
Stanzas Four and Five
“Follow, poet, follow right
To the bottom of the night,
(…)
Sing of human unsuccess
In a rapture of distress;”
In the fourth stanza of ‘In Memory of W.B. Yeats’ the speaker celebrates
Yeats’ ability to look into the “bottom of the night” with his “unconstraining
(limitless) voice”. Poetry was a tool that allowed him to see clearly. It still
has power as well. This is another example of life after death that was so
important in the first part of the poem.
Auden uses dark images in the fifth stanza to suggest how Yeats would’ve
spoken about the state of the world during the Second World War. He’d “sing of
human unsuccess / in a rapture of distress”.
Stanza Six
“In the deserts of the heart
(…)
Teach the free man how to praise.”
In the final stanza the image of water appears again. The poet says that
“healing fountain” should “Start” in the hearts of men.
The poem ends optimistically but also with a dark image of the human
condition. He states that life is a “prison” and that by spending time with
poetry, specifically Yeats’ poetry, one can learn how to praise, or be hopeful.
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