{"id":664,"date":"2015-11-15T05:15:25","date_gmt":"2015-11-15T05:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/repeatright.com\/engine\/?p=664"},"modified":"2018-10-09T03:53:02","modified_gmt":"2018-10-09T03:53:02","slug":"auden-w-h","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.repeatright.com\/engine\/auden-w-h\/","title":{"rendered":"AUDEN, W. H."},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453315804311{margin-top: -40px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531588223-e020d87d-f7dd094f-cf63957a-c78c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cA poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~W.H. Auden<\/strong>, English-American poet<\/p>\n

\u201cSquares and Oblongs\u201d (1948) Poets at Work: Essays Based on the Modern Poetry Collection at the Lockwood Memorial Library, University of Buffalo<\/em>, ed. Charles D. Abbott, New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1948, p. 171<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531588755-96303790-852e094f-cf63957a-c78c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>[Essay]:<\/p>\n

\u201cA poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language. Whether this love is a sign of his poetic gift or the gift itself \u2013 for falling in love is given not chosen \u2013 I don\u2019t know, but it is certainly the sign by which one recognizes whether a young man is potentially a poet or not.\u201d (p. 171)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ID” tab_id=”1449531589797-29580b31-8c50094f-cf63957a-c78c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Library – Poets at Work: Essays Based on the Modern Poetry Collection at the Lockwood Memorial Library, University of Buffalo <\/em>(1948) Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) No. 426195712<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315829087-ce67c619-0fbc957a-c78c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cAll I have is a voice | To undo the folded lie.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~W.H. Auden<\/strong>, English-American poet<\/p>\n

\u201cSeptember 1, 1939\u201d (18 October 1939) The New Republic<\/em>; reprint \u201cThe Original Versions of Two of Auden\u2019s Most Beloved Poems,\u201d The New Republic<\/em>, New York: The New Republic;\u00a0online via The New Republic, newrepublic.com\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315829475-7c82a017-1e62957a-c78c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0[Poem]:<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I have is a voice<\/span><\/p>\n

To undo the folded lie<\/span>,<\/p>\n

The romantic lie in the brain<\/p>\n

Of the sensual Man-in-the-street<\/p>\n

And the lie of Authority<\/p>\n

Whose buildings group the sky:<\/p>\n

There is no such thing as the State<\/p>\n

And no one exists alone;<\/p>\n

Hunger allows no choice<\/p>\n

To the citizen or the police;<\/p>\n

We must love one another or die.\u201d<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1453315829682-63e8fade-cf4c957a-c78c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: \u201cThe Original Versions of Two of Auden\u2019s Most Beloved Poems\u201d (October 1939|eVersion 2018) online via The New Republic<\/em>: https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/article\/113208\/wh-auden-poems-september-1-1939-and-memory-wb-yeats<\/a><\/p>\n

Source note<\/em><\/strong>: This updated, online version of the original New Republic<\/em> print edition also includes Auden’s poem \u201cIn Memory of W.B. Yeats.\u201d As of March 2018, the updated version also shows a date of 8<\/u> October 1939 \u2013 the \u201cSeptember 1, 1939\u201d poem, however, was published on 18 <\/u>October 1939.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e957a-c78c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cEvil is unspectacular and always human<\/p>\n

And shares our bed and eats at our own table.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~W.H. Auden<\/strong>, English-American author<\/p>\n

\u201cHerman Melville (for Lincoln Kirstein)\u201d (March 1939) in Collected Poems,<\/em> ed. Edward Mendelson, New York: Modern Library, 2007 ed., p. 155<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-ban” add_icon=”true” title=”Re-Quote” tab_id=”1453315828190-b4d7b461-d58d957a-c78c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Re-quote note<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: When this featured quote from “Herman Melville” is cited outside of the context of the original poem, a comma is sometimes included where the poetry line break is found:<\/p>\n

\u201cEvil is unspectacular and always human, and shares our bed and eats at our own table<\/span>.\u201d<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315828385-86abfac4-79bf957a-c78c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>[Poem]:<\/p>\n

\u201cEvil is unspectacular and always human<\/span><\/p>\n

And shares our bed and eats at our own table<\/span>,<\/p>\n

And we are introduced to Goodness every day.<\/p>\n

Even in drawing-rooms among a crowd of faults;<\/p>\n

he has a name like Billy and is almost perfect<\/p>\n

But wears a stammer like a decoration:<\/p>\n

And every time they meet the same thing has to happen;<\/p>\n

It is the Evil that is helpless like a love<\/p>\n

And has to pick a quarrel and succeeds,<\/p>\n

And both are openly destroyed before our eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source note<\/em><\/strong>: Auden dedicated \u201cHerman Melville\u201d to his friend Lincoln Kirstein. Kirstein was an author, art collector, philanthropist, and co-founder of the New York City ballet.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ISBN” tab_id=”1453315828572-dac97b48-68e0957a-c78c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Library – W.H. Auden, Collected Poems<\/em> (2007 Modern Library edition) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 978-0-679-64350-0<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531591105-7edf5f39-feaa094f-cf63957a-c78c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cGoodness is easier to recognize than to define.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~W.H. Auden<\/strong>, English-American poet<\/p>\n

Untitled essay contribution to collection I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Certain Eminent Men and Women of Our Time<\/em> (1939) ed. Clifton Fadiman, New York: Simon & Schuster, p. 3<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531591631-43861bc7-da28094f-cf63957a-c78c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 [Essay]:<\/p>\n

\u201cGoodness is easier to recognize than to define<\/span>; only the greatest novelists can portray good people. For me, the least unsatisfactory description is to say that any thing or creature is good which is discharging its proper function, using its powers to the fullest extent permitted by its environment and its own nature \u2013 though we must remember that \u201cnature\u201d and \u201cenvironment\u201d are intellectual abstractions from a single, constantly changing reality.\u201d (p. 3)<\/p>\n

Source note<\/em><\/strong>: The book I Believe<\/em> was a philosophical follow-up to the publisher\u2019s 1931 publication Living Philosophies<\/em>. In both the earlier book and the 1939 text cited here, the editor invited a number of public figures to contribute a short \u201cpersonal credo\u201d for publication:<\/p>\n

“Briefly, we should like to secure from you a statement of your personal credo; that is to say, a statement of your convictions and beliefs concerning the nature of the world and of man. In a sense, this would be a spiritual and intellectual last will and testament to our generation \u2013 a brief apologia, necessarily subjective, touching intimately on your own hopes and fears, the mainsprings of your faith or the promptings of your despair.\u201d (Introduction, p. ix)<\/p>\n

W.H. Auden was one of twenty-one contributors to the 1939 I Believe <\/em>series.<\/p>\n

Source note<\/em><\/strong>: The I Believe<\/em> series of 1939 was produced in conjunction with The Nation<\/em> magazine. Auden\u2019s essay was also included in an Omnibook<\/em> magazine excerpt of I Believe<\/em>: \u201cMy Belief,\u201d (1939) Omnibook <\/em>magazine, Vol. 2, Issue 1, New York: Omnibook, Inc., p. 6, column 2.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ID” tab_id=”1449531592891-f39e055b-a66e094f-cf63957a-c78c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Editor\u2019s copy – I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Certain Eminent Men and Women of Our Time<\/em> (1939) Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) No. 221119204<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1524347481020-6cdca293-9b05″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cHe knew human folly like the back of his hand,<\/p>\n

And was greatly interested in armies and fleets;<\/p>\n

When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,<\/p>\n

And when he cried the little children died in the streets.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~W.H. Auden<\/strong>, English-American author<\/p>\n

\u201cEpitaph of a Tyrant\u201d (1940) Another Time<\/em>, New York: Random House, 1940, p. 82<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-ban” add_icon=”true” title=”Re-Quote” tab_id=”1524347481140-f05afc9b-4fc8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Re-quote note<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: When this featured quote from “Herman Melville” is cited outside of the context of the original poem, a comma is sometimes included where the poetry line break is found:<\/p>\n

\u201cEvil is unspectacular and always human, and shares our bed and eats at our own table<\/span>.\u201d<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1524347481276-4d439ac8-891d”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0[Poem]:<\/p>\n

He knew human folly like the back of his hand,<\/p>\n

And was greatly interested in armies and fleets;<\/p>\n

When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,<\/p>\n

And when he cried the little children died in the streets.\u201d (p. 82)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ID” tab_id=”1524347481416-e9a27a22-bd19″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Library \u2013 Another Time <\/em>(1940) Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) No. 187258<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1524347481768-330513b8-ad2f”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cHow should we like it were stars to burn<\/p>\n

With a passion for us we could not return?<\/p>\n

If equal affection cannot be,<\/p>\n

Let the more loving one be me.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~W.H. Auden<\/strong>, English-American poet<\/p>\n

\u201cThe More Loving One\u201d (April 1958) Esquire<\/em> magazine, Vol. 49, No. 4, Chicago, IL: Esquire, Inc., p. 82; online via Esquire archives [subscription service] archive.esquire.com<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1524347481962-635b27d5-7e66″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 [Poem. Stanza two.]:<\/p>\n

\u201cHow should we like it were stars to burn<\/p>\n

With a passion for us we could not return?<\/p>\n

If equal affection cannot be,<\/p>\n

Let the more loving one be me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source note<\/em><\/strong>: You can hear Auden reading \u201cThe More Loving One\u201d on the following NPR audio recording:<\/p>\n

[Audio & transcript] \u201cAuden Reads \u2018The More Loving One\u2019 (17 February 2007) Debbie Elliott, \u2018All Things Considered,\u2019 NPR: https:\/\/www.npr.org\/templates\/story\/story.php?storyId=7474255<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1524347482170-a091fb19-69ed”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Source link <\/em><\/strong>[Featured source]<\/span>: \u201cThe More Loving One\u201d (April 1958) Esquire; online via Esquire Archives [subscription service]: http:\/\/archive.esquire.com\/issue\/19580401#!&pid=82<\/a><\/p>\n

Source link<\/em><\/strong>: [Audio & transcript]<\/span>: \u201cAuden Reads \u2018The More Loving One\u2019 (17 February 2007) Debbie Elliott, \u2018All Things Considered,\u2019 NPR: https:\/\/www.npr.org\/templates\/story\/story.php?storyId=7474255<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1524347481276-4d439ac8-891d”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cIt takes little talent to see clearly what lies under one\u2019s nose, a good deal of it to know in what direction to point that organ.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~W.H. Auden<\/strong>, English-American poet<\/p>\n

\u201cWriting\u201d (1962) The Dyers Hand<\/em>, New York: Vintage Books Edition, February 1968, Part I: Prologue, p. 21; online via Open Library [free subscription service] openlibrary.org<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531591631-43861bc7-da28094f-cf63957a-c78c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong>: [Full sentence cited, from Auden chapter of brief anecdotes & thoughts on writing.]\n

\u201cIt takes little talent to see clearly what lies under one\u2019s nose, a good deal of it to know in what direction to point that organ<\/span>.\u201d (p. 21)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1449531592891-f39e055b-a66e094f-cf63957a-c78c”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Library – The Dyers Hand<\/em> (1962|1968 Vintage Books ed.) online via Open Library [free subscription service]: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/dyershandothe00aude#page\/21\/mode\/1up\/search\/nose<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1524347481020-6cdca293-9b05″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cMan is a history-making creature who can neither repeat his past nor leave it behind.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~W.H. Auden<\/strong>, English-American author<\/p>\n

\u201cD.H. Lawrence\u201d (1962) The Dyers Hand<\/em>, New York: Vintage Books Edition, February 1968, Part V: \u2018Two Bestiaries\u2019, p. 278; online via Open Library [free subscription service]\u00a0openlibrary.org<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1524347481276-4d439ac8-891d”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [From Auden’s essay on the author D.H. Lawrence]:<\/p>\n

\u201cMan is a history-making creature who can neither repeat his past nor leave it behind<\/span>; at every moment he adds to and thereby modifies everything that had previously happened to him. Hence the difficulty of finding a single image which can stand as an adequate symbol for man\u2019s kind of existence.\u201d (p. 278)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1524347481416-e9a27a22-bd19″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Library – The Dyers Hand<\/em> (1962|1968 Vintage Books ed.) online via Open Library [free subscription service]: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/dyershandothe00aude#page\/278\/mode\/1up\/search\/history-making<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1524347481768-330513b8-ad2f”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cPolitical history is far too criminal and pathological to be a fit subject of study for the young….Children should acquire their heroes and villains from fiction.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~W.H. Auden<\/strong>, English-American poet<\/p>\n

A Certain World: A Commonplace Book<\/em> (1970) New York: Viking Press, 1970, p. 182<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1524347481962-635b27d5-7e66″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>[Auden\u2019s commentary in a collection of anecdotes and quotations by other authors. This cited commentary appears under a quote Auden attributed to Karl Kraus: \u201cPolitics is what a man does in order to conceal what he is and what he himself does not know<\/em>.\u201d]:<\/p>\n

\u201cPolitical history is far too criminal and pathological to be a fit subject of study for the young. All teachers know this. In consequence, they bowdlerize, but to bowdlerize political history is not to simplify but to falsify it. Children should acquire their heroes and villains from fiction.\u201d (p. 182)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ID” tab_id=”1524347482170-a091fb19-69ed”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Editor\u2019s copy \u2013 A Certain World: A Commonplace Book<\/em> (1970) Standard Book Number (SBN) 670-20994-5<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1524347481020-6cdca293-9b05″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cSome books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~W.H. Auden<\/strong>, English-American author<\/p>\n

\u201cReading\u201d (1962) The Dyers Hand<\/em>, New York: Vintage Books Edition, February 1968, Part I: Prologue, p. 10; online via Open Library [free subscription service] openlibrary.org<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1524347481276-4d439ac8-891d”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>[Full sentence cited, from Auden chapter of brief anecdotes & thoughts on writing.]:<\/p>\n

\u201cSome books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered.<\/span>\u201d (p. 10)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1524347481416-e9a27a22-bd19″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Library – The Dyers Hand<\/em> (1962|1968 Vintage Books ed.) online via Open Library [free subscription service]: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/dyershandothe00aude#page\/10\/mode\/1up\/search\/some+books+are<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1524347481768-330513b8-ad2f”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cSome writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~W.H. Auden<\/strong>, English-American poet<\/p>\n

\u201cWriting\u201d (1962) The Dyers Hand<\/em>, New York: Vintage Books Edition, February 1968, Part I: Prologue, p. 19; online via Open Library [free subscription service] openlibrary.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1524347481962-635b27d5-7e66″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0[From chapter of brief Auden anecdotes & thoughts on writing. Italics original to cited text.]:<\/p>\n

\u201cSome writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about. There is a certain kind of person who is so dominated by the desire to be loved for himself alone that he has constantly to test those around him by tiresome behavior; what he says and does must be admired, not because it is intrinsically admirable, but because it is his<\/em> remark, his<\/em> act. Does not this explain a good deal of avant-garde art?\u201d (p. 19)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1524347482170-a091fb19-69ed”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Library – The Dyers Hand<\/em> (1962|1968 Vintage Books ed.) online via Open Library [free subscription service]: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/dyershandothe00aude#page\/19\/mode\/1up\/search\/confuse+authenticity<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1524347481020-6cdca293-9b05″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cThe greatest educational problem of today is how to teach people to ignore the irrelevant, how to refuse to know things, before they are suffocated. For too many facts are as bad as none at all.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~W.H. Auden<\/strong>, English-American author<\/p>\n

\u201cYale Daily News<\/em> Banquet Address\u201d (6 March 1941) 63rd Annual Banquet, Yale Law School Lounge, New Haven, Connecticut; in The Complete Works of W.H. Auden: Prose<\/em>, Vol. II [1939-1948], ed. Edward Mendelson, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002, p. 123<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1524347481276-4d439ac8-891d”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt <\/em><\/strong>[Yale University banquet speech. Text style as shown in cited source]:<\/p>\n

\u201cTo-day the number of facts which are accessible are prodigious. Newspapers, radios, libraries pour over us every moment of our lives their stupendous floods of information so that perhaps the greatest educational problem of to-day is how to teach people to ignore the irrelevant, how to refuse to know things, before they are suffocated. For too many facts are as bad as none at all.<\/span> Were I ever to write a volume for that famous How To series, it would be on How not to read more than 1500 words a day.\u201d (p. 123)<\/p>\n

Source note<\/em><\/strong>: A brief Yale Daily News<\/em> article & excerpts of Auden\u2019s banquet speech can be viewed via \u201c\u201cNews\u201d Banquet Hears Poet Auden Survey Education\u201d (6 March 1941) Yale Daily News<\/em>, Vol. LXIV, No. 126, pp. 1-3 & 5; online via Yale University Library Digital Collections: http:\/\/digital.library.yale.edu\/cdm\/compoundobject\/collection\/yale-ydn\/id\/17899\/rec\/223<\/a><\/p>\n

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Source<\/strong><\/em><\/span>:\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Library \u2013 The Complete Works of W. H. Auden<\/em>, Vol. II [1939-1948] (2002) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-691-08935-3<\/p>\n

Source link <\/em><\/strong>[Yale Daily News<\/em> speech excerpts]<\/span><\/span>: \u201c\u201cNews\u201d Banquet Hears Poet Auden Survey Education\u201d (6 March 1941) Yale Daily News<\/em>, via Yale University Library Digital Collections: http:\/\/digital.library.yale.edu\/cdm\/compoundobject\/collection\/yale-ydn\/id\/17899\/rec\/223<\/a>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1524347481768-330513b8-ad2f”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none<\/p>\n

“The stars are not wanted now: put out every one,<\/p>\n

Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,<\/p>\n

Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;<\/p>\n

For nothing now can ever come to any good.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~W.H. Auden<\/strong>, English-American poet<\/p>\n

\u201cFuneral Blues\u201d (1940) in Another Time: Poems<\/em>, London: Curtis Brown, Ltd., p. 91; online via The British Library, www.bl.uk<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1524347481962-635b27d5-7e66″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Poem]:<\/p>\n

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,<\/p>\n

Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,<\/p>\n

Silence the pianos and with muffled drum<\/p>\n

Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. […]\n

He was my North, my South, my East and West,<\/p>\n

My working week and my Sunday rest,<\/p>\n

My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;<\/p>\n

I thought love would last for ever: I was wrong.<\/p>\n

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one,<\/p>\n

Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,<\/p>\n

Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;<\/p>\n

For nothing now can ever come to any good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source note<\/em><\/strong>: The first stanza of the excerpt shown above (\u201cStop all the clocks…\u201d) originally appeared in the 1936 play The Ascent of F6<\/em> by Auden and Christopher Isherwood. The additional stanzas cited here, however, did not appear in that version.<\/p>\n

A brief overview of the \u201cStop all the Clocks\u201d\/\u201cFuneral Blues\u201d – plus images of the original text \u2013 can be viewed on the following British Library page:<\/p>\n

\u201cAn introduction to \u2018Stop all the clocks\u2019\u2019 (25 May 2016) Seamus Perry, The British Library; online via British Library, \u2018Discovering Literature: 20th Century\u2019: https:\/\/www.bl.uk\/20th-century-literature\/articles\/an-introduction-to-stop-all-the-clocks<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1524347482170-a091fb19-69ed”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: \u201cFuneral Blues\u201d (1940) Another Time<\/em>; page image online via The British Library: https:\/\/www.bl.uk\/20th-century-literature\/articles\/an-introduction-to-stop-all-the-clocks<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u201cThoughts of his own death,<\/p>\n

like the distant roll<\/p>\n

of thunder at a picnic?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~W.H. Auden<\/strong>, English-American author<\/p>\n

xx<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1524347481276-4d439ac8-891d”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong>:<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1524347481416-e9a27a22-bd19″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>:<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1524347481768-330513b8-ad2f”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cWe must be as tolerant as we dare \u2013 only the future can judge whether we were tyrants or foolishly weak \u2013 and if we cannot dare very far, it is a serious criticism of ourselves and our age.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~W.H. Auden<\/strong>, English-American poet<\/p>\n

Untitled essay contribution to collection I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Certain Eminent Men and Women of Our Time<\/em> (1939) ed. Clifton Fadiman, New York: Simon & Schuster, p. 16<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1524347481962-635b27d5-7e66″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Essay]\n

\u201cIntolerance is an evil and has evil consequences we can never accurately foresee and for which we shall always have to suffer; but there are occasions on which we must be prepared to accept the responsibility of our convictions. We must be as tolerant as we dare \u2013 only the future can judge whether we were tyrants or foolishly weak \u2013 and if we cannot dare very far, it is a serious criticism of ourselves and our age<\/span>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source note<\/em><\/strong>: The book I Believe<\/em> was a philosophical follow-up to the publisher\u2019s 1931 publication Living Philosophies<\/em>. In both the earlier book and the 1939 text cited here, the editor invited a number of public figures to contribute a short \u201cpersonal credo\u201d for publication:<\/p>\n

“Briefly, we should like to secure from you a statement of your personal credo; that is to say, a statement of your convictions and beliefs concerning the nature of the world and of man. In a sense, this would be a spiritual and intellectual last will and testament to our generation \u2013 a brief apologia, necessarily subjective, touching intimately on your own hopes and fears, the mainsprings of your faith or the promptings of your despair.\u201d<\/em> (Introduction, p. ix)<\/p>\n

W.H. Auden was one of twenty-one contributors to the 1939 I Believe <\/em>series.<\/p>\n

Source note<\/em><\/strong>: The I Believe<\/em> series of 1939 was produced in conjunction with The Nation<\/em> magazine. Auden\u2019s essay was also included in an Omnibook<\/em> magazine excerpt of I Believe<\/em>: \u201cMy Belief,\u201d (1939) Omnibook <\/em>magazine, Vol. 2, Issue 1, New York: Omnibook, Inc., p. 7, column 1<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ID” tab_id=”1524347482170-a091fb19-69ed”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0Editor\u2019s copy – I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Certain Eminent Men and Women of Our Time<\/em> (1939) Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) No. 221119204<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1524347481020-6cdca293-9b05″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cWe would rather be ruined than changed<\/p>\n

We would rather dies in our dread<\/p>\n

Than climb the cross of the moment<\/p>\n

And let our illusions die.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~W.H. Auden<\/strong>, English-American author<\/p>\n

\u201cEpilogue,\u201d The Age of Anxiety: A Baroque Eclogue<\/em> (1947) London: Faber & Faber, 1949 [2nd impression], p. 123<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1524347481276-4d439ac8-891d”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Poem. Full stanza cited.]\n

\u201cWe would rather be ruined than changed<\/p>\n

We would rather dies in our dread<\/p>\n

Than climb the cross of the moment<\/p>\n

And let our illusions die.\u201d (p. 123)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ID” tab_id=”1524347481416-e9a27a22-bd19″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0Library \u2013 The Age of Anxiety <\/em>(1947|1949 2nd impression) Online Computer Library Center No. 19102621<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1524347481768-330513b8-ad2f”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cWithout Art, we should have no notion of the sacred; without Science, we should always worship false gods.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~W.H. Auden<\/strong>, English-American poet<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Virgin & The Dynamo\u201d (1962) The Dyers Hand<\/em>, New York: Vintage Books Edition, February 1968, Part II: \u2018The Dyer\u2019s Hand\u2019, p. 62; online via Open Library [free subscription service] openlibrary.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1524347481962-635b27d5-7e66″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong>: [Essay. Excerpt appears under Auden\u2019s points on \u201cThe Two Chimerical Worlds.\u201d]\n

\u201cWithout Art, we could have no notion of Liberty; without Science no notion of Equality; without either, therefore, no notion of Justice.<\/p>\n

Without Art, we should have no notion of the sacred; without Science, we should always worship false gods.<\/span>\u201d (p. 62)<\/p>\n

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Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Library – The Dyers Hand<\/em> (1962|1968 Vintage Books ed.) online via Open Library [free subscription service]: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/dyershandothe00aude#page\/62\/mode\/1up\/search\/without+art<\/a><\/p>\n

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W.H. Auden Misattribution<\/span><\/em><\/strong> –<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here on earth to help others. What the others are here for, I don\u2019t know<\/strong>.<\/span>\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~John Foster Hall<\/strong><\/span>, English stage & radio comedian<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Parson Addresses His Flock\u201d (1923) Columbia records; Audio recording & context online via \u201cWe are all her on earth to help others,\u201d post by Columbia English professor Edward Mendelson, W.H. Auden Society [Audio extract link appears in text of Mendelson\u2019s second paragraph, :26 seconds], www.audensociety.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1524347481276-4d439ac8-891d”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0\u201cThe Fabian Figaro\u201d (23 October 1942) The Commonweal<\/em>, Issue 13 – http:\/\/www.unz.org\/Pub\/Commonweal-1942oct23<\/a><\/p>\n

Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0[Audio excerpt of John Foster Hall recording] \u201cWe are all here on earth to help others\u201d (No date provided) W.H. Auden Society: http:\/\/audensociety.org\/vivianfoster.html<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]\n

Resources<\/h4>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css_animation=”none” el_class=”Wrapper-Author-Resources”]Learn more about W.H. Auden<\/strong><\/span> | Here are a few good places to start –<\/p>\n