UNIT 18 AUDEN AND SPENDER

Structure

18.0 Objectives 18.1 Introduction 18.2 W.H. Auden 18.3 On this Island 18.3.1 A Discussion on the Text 18.4 18.4.1 Appreciation 18.5 Stephen Spender 18.6 I think continually of those who were truly great 18.6.1 Discussion 18.7 The Express 18.7.1 Discussion 18.8 Let Us Sum Up 18.9 Suggested Reading 18.10 Answers to Exercises

18.0 OB JECTIVES

Our aim in this unit is to examine closely two each of W.H. Auden and Stephen Spender, two modem English poets who appeared on the literary scene as ranking only next in importance to T.S. Eliot. This unit will help you understand these poets and these poems in a more critical perspective.

18.1 INTRODUCTION

This unit will briefly introduce the poets W.H. Auden and Stephen Spender and then follow up these short biographical notes with textual discussions of the prescribed poems. As you 'know already, for the basic approach to a poem, three main questions ought to be kept in mind: i) What is it about? ii) How is it done? iii) Does it succeed?

The critical appreciations of the poems in this unit will pay special attention to these questions. Verbal analysis will be conducted, and the development of the meaning taking place in the individual poem will be noted. After locating and discussing the theme of the poem, critical comments will be given on the language devices used. Comparison and contrast with other poets and poems will be woven into the textual analysis at the relevant points.

Thus the unit will make you react more sharply and sensitively to the plain sense of the poem and then make you move towards a sensuous apprehension. This is just one of the ways of understanding poetry.

18.2 W.H. AUDEN

Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-73) has been considered to be the most representative of the English poets who wrote with pronounced Marxist affinities during the 1930s. Auden became a member of the Communist Party in 1932 but only to break away from it in 1939 when the Nazi-Soviet Pact was signed. As a poet, Auden is concerned primarily about the social and psychological maladies that have contaminated the modem world. He resorts to plain, matter-of-fact language, and a bitterly ironic style. His drift away from Marxism gradually brought him nearer to religion and some of his poems show a marked proneness to Christian motifs and parallels. His poetical works include Poems (1930), The Orptor (1932), Trends in Post-war Look Stranger (1936), (1940), New Year Letter (1941), : A International Relations Christmas Oratorio (1944), : A Baroque Eclogue (1947), (1955), (1960), (1966) and Epistle to a Godson and other Poems (1972).

Wystan Hugh Auden

In 1945, Auden became an American citizen and his 'The Unknown Citizen' was written soon after. Auden seems to have been ptofoundly fascinated by W.B. Yeats in spite of the latter's romantic, mythical vision of life and poetry and regarded him as one of the greatest poets of the century. In fact, Auden's poem 'In Memory of W.B. Yeats' is an elegy on the death of the poet. Poetry for Auden was no more an instrument to effect desirable changes in the society but a happening that modified the psychic reality of a few readers. According to Auden, a poem once composed and released by the poet was no more under his control but lived its own life, continually formed and re-formed in the minds of the people. Auden's development as a poet, however, has not been of the radical nature of W.B.Yeats or T.S. Eliot, to both of whom, he owes much.

18.3 ON THIS ISLAND

Look, stranger, on this island now The leaping light for your delight discovers, Stand stable here And silent be, That through the channels of the ear May wander like a river The swaying sound of the sea.

Here at the small field's ending pause Where the chalk wall falls to the foam and its tall ledges Oppose the-pluck And knock of the tide, And the shingle scrambles after the sucking surf, And the gull lodges A moment on its sheer side. Far off like floating seeds the ships Auden and Spender Diverge on urgeirt voluntary errands, And the full view I Indeed may enter And move in memory as now these clouds do, That pass the harbur mirror 1 And all the summer through the water saunter. i i I Glossary stable :fixed. b channels :passages ledges : narrow horizontal shilves coming out from a wall

L pluck : courage, Spirit knock : blow shingle : rounded pebbles on the seashore scrambles :crawls sucking : licking, rolling about and squeezing surf : waves breaking in white foam on the sea-shore gull :a large, long-winged sea-bird I lodges :enters and rests sheer : without a slope, very steep diverge : branch away urgent :needing prompt decision or action voluntary : doing without being compelled errands : short journeys to take or get something saunter : move in a leisurely way, quietly, with an unhunied pace.

P 18.3.1 A Discussion on the Text

You must have noticed that this poem is one of place and scene and it suffers from none of I the strain of some of Auden's other poems. In fact, this poem is the first piece in a collection of his poems with the title Look Stranger! (entitled in the U,S.A. On this Island) containing Auden's more serious poetic output of the thirties. You may perhaps be interested io know I that Auden also probably wrote part of the commentary for a production by Strand Films on behalf of the British Travel Association, entitled Beside the Seaside, in which p0eix-y had been applied as a general emotional commentary. It was apparently for this film that he wrote the poem entitled 'Look Stranger, on this Island now', though it was not used in the soundtrack.

Let us now move on to the text itself. What is the pocm about? It is about a coastal scene. In fact, it is a picture of the sea from Dover Cliff in the West Country of England. The poet has artistically plotted his objective description of this natural scene in three stanzas, each of which presents a sense of perspective that shifts slightly in the next one.

The first stanza presents a neat little exposition in which the poet introduces us to the scene itself. Somewhat like Wordsworth in his sonnet entitled Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, Auden here invites us to look at a natural scene at a particular point of time and be conscious of the glory and splendour of that particular sight. Auden asks the stranger10 look at the beautiful scene of that island as revealed by the rays of light primarily for the pleasure of the onlooker. The stranger is advised to stand firmly and silently there so that the swinging sound of the sea may leisurely pass into his ears like a meandering river.

Ih the second stanza, the poet presents a slight shift in his pe;spective, and asks the stranger to pause at the ending of the small field and notice the chalk walls of the cliff falling towards the sea. The stranger is asked to notice the narrow horizontal shelves of these walls braving Trends in Post-war courageously the blow of the waves, and observe the rounded pebbles on the seashore Intcrnationol Relations crawling toward the sea-waves which break into white foam. The stranger can also see a gull entering and resting on the steep side of the cliff.

The third stanza presents a still different perspective in which we obtain a more open-ended, over-all view. The poet presents an almost cinematographic description of the ships in the distant horizon moving out in various directions on different missions. This full view, the poet hopes, may enter the very consciousness of the onlooker and move in to the individual memory very much like the clouds that float over the clearly reflecting mirror of the harbour and wander all through the summer through the water of the sea. .

Let us now look closely at the poet's use of words. The very first line with its directness seems to catch the attention of the onlooker, and the words "Look Stranger" have an urgent appeal. The repetitions of the "1" sound ("leaping light". "delight") in the second line of the first stanza and the "s" sound in the last line of the first stanza ("swaying sound", "sea") give the poem a certain musical effect and help in creating the hushed atmosphere of the scene. This repetition of the consonant sound "s" at the beginning of these words ("swaying sound", "sea") as you may recall is known as alliteration. And the poet uses this figure of speech in the next two stanzas also ("shingle scrambles ...... sucking surf, stanza 2 line 5, "move ...... me'mory", Hanza 3 line 5).

Moreover, the poem is remarkable for the beauty of its imagery. You must have noticed that the phrases "channels of the ear", stanza. 1 line 5, "sucking SUIT', stanza 2 line 5 present powerfully descriptive images that add to the impact being created by the poet. The "sound" is allowed to wander "like a river", and a cdmparison has been made between the two movements. The first line of the third stanza presents a simile "like floating seeds the ships", and the comparison made is indeed unique. The last but one line of the third stanza presents a Metaphor "harbour mirror" where the harbour has been identified as a mirror. You must have also noticed that the words "knock of the tide" (stanza 2 line 4) and "sucking surf' (stanza 2 line 5) imitate the very sounds of the actions they represent, so that you may almost hear those activities taking place. This figure of speech which the poet has used here to add effectiveness to his poetic style is known as onomatopoeia. You must have also noticed that the poet has not used any fixed rhyme scheme. The free verse used by him gives to the poem a certain ease and fluenqy. You have already read about free verse in the previous unit.

e I The poem, therefore, presents a remarkable technical facility, and one can easily find many I brilliant and powerful lines. Auden's easy mastery of free verse contributes to a new lyrical I quality. The poem reminds one of Byron's 'Roll on, Thou Deep and Dark Blue Ocean' I which you read in Unit 9 in Block 111. For both ~udenandByron present tender and true poems, showing rhetorical powers at their best.

Exercise 1 1) Express in not more than 50 of your own words the theme of the poem.

2) Quote a Simile from the poem, and comment on its.aptness. Auden and Spender

3) Quote two examples of the poet's skilful use of alliteration and explain their significance in the poem.

......

4) Identify the figures of speech in the following expressions: a) knock of the tide b) harbour mirror

5) Name the veri pattern that has been used in this poem.

18.4 THE UNKNOWN CITIZEN

(To JS/O7/M/378 This Marble Monument '1s Erected by the State)

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 modem 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. 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 Ieft it cured. Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan And had everything necessary'to the Modem Man, A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire. Our researchers into Public Opinion are content That he held the proper opinions for the time of year ; When there was peace, he was for peace; when there was war, he went. 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. Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd: Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard. - : Trends in Post-war Glossary: International Relations Bureau : government department scab : (colloquial) a workman who refuses to join a strike or his trade union. Eugenist :a scientist concerned with the production of healthy offspring with the aim of improving the human race.

18.4.1 Appreciation In this poem, written after he became an American citizen, W.H. Auden emerges primarily as a satirist. The title seems to have been deliberately chosen to echo the name on the grave of the unknown soldier buried ceremonially after the First World War. Here the poet pungently describes an average citizen who has been analysed by the computer and statistics but whose individuality seems to be still unknown. A sardonic (scomful or cynical) tongue- in-the-cheek humour can be noticed as an underlying strain and the poet's attitude towards his subject reminds one of Thomas Gray's feelings towards the 'mute, inglorious Miltons' in Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.

The poem has an interesting superscription, full of ironic suggestions. JS/07/M/378 is the number which denotes the citizen in the records of the Bureau of statistics. And although a marble monument has been erected by the state in his honour, the human being has been ironically summed up in a mere number, not in a name which would have certainly sounded more personal. Moreover, the marble monument itself has something cold about it.

The first four lines of the poem introduce us to this unknown citizen who has been found by the Bureau of Statistics to be someone against whom no official complaint has been registered. There is an artistic indirectness in such a presentation which aptly reflects the poet's satiric vigour. The reports on the behaviour of this unknown citizen confirm that he was saintly in his conduct. Ironically enough, "saint" has been described as an "old- fashioned word", being used "in the modem sense".

In the next nine lines, the poet talks about the official work of this unknown citizen. Even here there is a subtle indirectness in the presentation and the words seem to meapder. One comes to know that this citizen worked in Fudge Motors (actually an imaginary motor company) and retired serving the greater community of people. He never got a firing from his job and yet he also paid his Union dues and never refused to joip n strike. He was popular with his friends and liked a drink (indicating that he was of a soc~ablenature).

The next four lines present yet another facet of the individual's personality. The Press seems to be agreed that he purchased a newspaper everyday, and that he reacted normally to the advertisements flashed in the newspapers. (There seems to be a tongue-in-the-cheek humour here, and a subtle commentary has been made on the very life of the average modem man.) This unknown citizen was fully insured and his health card showed that he had visited the hospital once and was cured.

In the next seven lines, this satiric commentary on the plight of the modem man seems to have been done with greater concentration. The research done by Producers indicate that this unknown citizen took a great advantage of the instalment plan and possessed everything needed by a modem human being-a phonograph, a radio, a car, a frigidaire. (This is a lightly mocking comment on the materialistic society of today in which utmost importance is gives to such material goods.) The researchers into Public Opinion are satisfied that this citizen held proper opinions according to the need of the hour. When there was peace, this citizen cried for peace, and when there was war, he went in for war. (This hints at the basic opportunism in the very irtner personality of this citizen.)

In the last five lines, the poet concludes by talking about the personal self of this individual. This unknown citizen had, in fact, mamed and had five children. But his five children are described by the Eugenist as just "the right number" for "a parent of his generation". And the teachers of these children report that this citizen never interfered with their education. (This suggests that the unknown citizen took little interest in educating his children, and is, indeed, a sad commentary.) The last two lices are full of caustic irony. Was this unknown citizen free? Was he happy? The poet admits that it is absurd to ask such questions, for, if anything had been wrong, they shoulcbhave heard. Thus it is evident that this poem forms a sardonic elegy on the modem human being. The Auden and Spender colloquial language used here presents a situation at once distinct and mystifying. Although the poet has used a certain rhyme scheme here, he has not used a figurative style. In fact, one notices a taut, bareness of language that has perhaps been deliberately adopted to reflect the waste-land of the twentieth century.

Exercise 2 1) In a short paragraph of 75 words, explain what thoughts and feelings are expressed in this poem.

...... 2) Comment critically on the superscription To JS/07/M/378(in 50 words).

3) What is the rhyme scheme of the first four lines? .

4) What aspect of the unknown citizen's personality is highlighted by the words "when there was peace, he was for peace, when there was war, he went*'. (Tick one). He was a) slow b) opportunistic C) poetic . d) melodramatic 5) what does the poet mean when he says "Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard." (50 words). Trends in M-war InternatM Rrhh

18.5 STEPHEN SPENDER

Stephen Spender

Like W.H. Auden, Sir Stephen (Harold) Spender (born 28th Feb, 4-) dealt with the socio-economic problems of the contemporary world. While Auden has been compared with Bqron, Spender has been compared with Shelley. Actually, Spender's poetry is introspective and individualistic and deals with man and the modem world. Poetry with Spender is still inseparable, in its ebb and flow, from an inspired ardour, that will at times exalt and sublimate even the complexities and subtleties of thought

Spender was born in London, son of a journalist. He was educated at University College School and University College, Oxford. At Oxford, he became friendly with,Auden, Day Lewis and Louis Mac Neice. He travelled extensively with . Spender's volumes of poetry include Nine Experiments (1928); Twenry Poems (1930); The Still Centre (1939); Ruins and Visions (194 1) and Poems of Dedication ( 1947). His other publications are Poems, the Destructive Element (1934). Vienna (1934); The Burning Cactus (1936); Forwardfrom Liberalism (1937); Trial of a Judge (Verse play); 1937; Poems for (1939); Life and the Poet (1942); Citizens in War aruiAfter (1945); Poems of Dedication (1946); European Witness (1946); The Edge of Being ( 1949); essay in The God that Failed (1949); World within World (autobiographical), (195 1); The Creative Element (1953); Collected Poems (1954); The Making of a Poem (1955); Engaged in Writing (stories) (1958). ~chiller'shary~tuart (translated, 1958, staged at old Vic, 1961), The Struggle of the Modern (1963); Selected Poems (1965); The Year of the Young Rebels (1969), The Generous Days (poem) (1971); edited A Choice of Shelley's Verse, (1971); edited D. H. Lawrence: novelist, poet, prophet (1973); Love-hate Relations (1974); T.S. Eliot (1975); edited W.H. Auden: a tribute (1975); The Thirties and After (1978); (with David Hockney) China Diary (1982); Oedipus Trilogy (translated, 1983, staged at Oxford Playhouse, 1983). He has worked as co-editor of Horizon (1939-41), as co-editor of Encounter from 1953. In 1988, he even published a novel The Temple. Spender received the knighthood in 1983. A poet and critic, he has functioned as Professor of English, University College, London University (1970-77), now Emeritus. i Auden and Spender I THINK CONTINUALLY OF THOSE WHO WERE TRULY GREAT

I think continually of those who were truly great. Who, from the womb, remembered the soul's history Through corridors of light where the hours are suns . Endless and singing. Whose lovely ambition Was that their lips, still touched with fire, Should tell of the Spirit clothed from head to foot in song. And who hoarded from the Spring branches The desires falling across their bodies like blossoms.

What is precious is never to forget The essential delight of the blood drawn from ageless springs Breaking through rocks in worlds before our earth. Never to deny its pleasure in the morning simple light Nor its grave evening demand for love. Never to allow gradually the traffic to smother With noise and fog the flowering of the spirit.

Near the snow, near the sun, in the highest fields. See how these names are feted by the waving grass And by the streamers of white cloud And whispers of wind in the listening sky. The names of those who in their lives fought for life Who wore'at their hearts the fire's center. Born of the sun they travelled a short while towards the sun, And left the vivid air signed with their honor. Glossary Continually: going on all the time wittiout stopping hoarded: carefully saved and guarded blossoms: flowers, especially of fruit trees precious: of great value essential: most important traffic :movement of people and traffic along the roads I smother: kill by suffocation feted: honoured by being entertained streamers: long narrow strips vivid: intense, bright

18.6.1 Discussion

In this poem, Stephen Spender pays a glowing tribute to those great people who were dynamically conscious of their glorious traditions. In a tone of eloquence that reminds us of Shelley in A Defence of Poetry, Spender here exalts the geniuses who apprehended the true and the beautiful. And the entire poem becomes a rich fusion of the doctrine with a suggestive complex of emotions and images. The poet presents a magnificent illustration of ' the victory which the genius of man pursues, and which he wins by virtue of the force of creative enterprise. The setting of this\cosmic drama, its actors, its incidents, the pains and the joys of a world restored to its primal purity by a supreme act of liberation, a11 bear the touch of a sovereign grandeur, of a pathos vast in its scope, of a bright or graceful magic.

In the first stanza, the poet presents himself as continually thinking about those valiants who, from the womb, remembered the history of the soul through the corridors of light where hours were suns, eternal and rejoicing. (This picture reminds us of the celestial light found in Wordsworth's 'Ode on the Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early . 37 Trends in Post-war Childhood'.) Spender remembers those wh6 made their lips the lyre and the trumpet of a . International Relations prophecy and who carefully saved from the branches of Spring the desires which appeared to be organically falling across their bodies like the flowers.

The second stanza takes us to the heart of the matter. The poet here admits that what is actua,lly important is to be perpetually aware of the continuity of the stream of consciousness flowing from eternity. What is significant is never to deny the demands of this great historical tradition. It is vitally important never to permit the daily movements of everyday routine to suffocate and kill with its pollution the blossoming of the human spirit. This idea again takes us back to Wordsworth's 'Ode on the Intimations of Immortality' by voicing a similar adoration for the ancient world of purity and innocence.

The third stanza presents a world that seems to be full of Romantic imagination. The references tc Nature can be found here is plenty. The,poet takes us to a plane of reality that can be compared with the one Keats reaches to in his 'Ode to a Nightingale' in which he cannot see what flowers are at his feet. Spender here carries us oqhis wings of Imagination to a world near the snow, near the sun, in the highest fields where the names of these valiant geniuses are honoured by the waving grass and the ribbons of white cloud. These great people who fought to preserve life and possessed inspiration seem to have signed their names on the bright atmosphere as it were. They have indeed left their footprints, not only on the sands of time but also in the very air we breathe.

The poem is reniarkable for its numerous poetic images. The "comdors of light'" where the hours are suns, "endless and singing" the lips "touched with fire", the."ageless springs9'-' are powerfully evocative. The references to Nature made in "Spring branches", "blossoms", "rocks", "morning simple light" "grave evening", "snow", "sun", "white cloud, "whispers of wind",."listening sky", "vivid air" remind us of the Romantic poetry of Wordsworth, Shelley and Keats. The Simile in the last line of the first stanza ("desires falling... like blossoms") adds to the picturesque quality of the poem. Indeed, Spender lends this poem a sweet and liquid harmony, sonorous and sensual, pure in its vehement intensity. The flowing ease with which the words merge into one another, at the same time as the ideas they call . forth join up together, goes to prove that for Spender, the psychological melody and the cadence of syllables, the one as spontaneous as the other, naturally formed but one music.

Exercise 3 1) Express in not more than 75 of your own words the theine of the poem.

2) ExpIain the meaning of the following lines: Never to allow gradually the traffic to smother With noise and fog the flowering of the spirit. (30 words). 3) Make a list of .five objects of Nature referred to in the third stanza. Auden and Spender

4) Quote a Simile from the poem, and comment on its aptness.

5) What does the poet mean when he says: And left the vivid air signed with their honour?

18.7 THE EXPRESS

After the first powerful plain manifesto The black statement of pistons, without more fuss But gliding like a queen, she leaves the station.

I Without bowing and with restrained unconcern She passes the houses which humbly crowd outside, The gasworks and at last the heavy page Of death, printed by gravestones in the cemetery Beyond the town there lies the open country Where, gathering speed, she acquires mystery, The luminous self-possession of ships on ocean. It is now she begins to sing-at first quite low Then loud, and at last with jazzy madness - The song of her whistle screaming at curves, Of deafening tunnels, bakes, innumerable bolts. And always light, aerial underneath, Goes the elate metre of her wheels Steaming through metal landscape on her lines She plunges new eras of wild happiness Where speed throws up strange shapes, broad curves, And parallels clean like the steel of guns,

At last, further than Edinburgh or Rome, Beyond the crest of the world, she reaches night Where only a low streamline brightness Of phosphorus on the tossing hills is white. Ah, like a comet through flame, she moves entranced Wrapt in her music no bird song, no, nor bough Breaking with honey buds, shall ever equal. Lying with your eyes shut, together, secretly, You and she are flung into a darkness beyond the waters of her mouth, Where no hand can clutch and all identity is lost. For then there is a great singing in your ears And your bodies are dashed together by the storm in your flesh, And generations are leaping into creation through your veins, . Through the sttong exultation of your heart. And in creation'your heart is a powerful sun, Quickening the bud that flowers silently In the secret recesses of her body, And her heart, as a moon, draws into her a tide. And lying with her in infinity, You will begin to dream of all women: I The erectitude of their breasts in the night, Trends in Post-war Your fingers tangled in their yellow hair iri the darkness, International Relations The scent of their flesh like the calm earth in summer,- And you will know that she is all women that have ever been, And that like a hunger in yourself You must continue to feed her body on your own. Glossary manifesto :a public declaration luminous :giving out !ight jazzy : loud elate :joyous metre :rhythm eras :times crest :top, end entranced :canied away as in a dream. bough: large branch coming from the trunk of a tree exultation :great joy at I tangled :confused mass of hair

18.7.1 Discussion The Express has been regarded as a typical poem by Stephen Spender glorifying the Express train. The train here becomes a symbol of the modem industrial civilization. The glorious march of the train to its destination is vividly captured by the poet, who considers this machine as an object of great beauty. It is interesting to note that the movement of the lines of the poem mimes the majestic journey of the train. The Express, according to the poet, excels all beautiful objects of nature in beauty and elegance. In this respect, the worl of machine seems to have been to Spender what Nature was to Wordsworth.

The first three lines of the poem set the train in motion. After the first forceful blowing of the engine's whistle, the movement of the pistons announces the departure of the train, which moves away from the station smoothly and majestically as a queen. There is so much beauty in this machine and feminine qualities are attributed to it. Moreover, the train is personified.

The next seven lines trace the first stage of the train's movement. A cross-section view is also given of the surrounding area through this description. The train passes the houses that humbly crowd outside (and these humbly crowding houses give a picture of the average humanity desperately trying to make both ends meet). It moves past the gasworks and then by the cemetery in which the gravestones have printed the heavy page of death. The train next leaves the town and goes into the open countryside where she picks up speed and . becomes mysterious. She now controls herself perfectly like a stately ship moving on the ocean.

In the next four lines, the poet focuses his attention on the various sounds emitted by the train. At first, the Express sings quite low. Then the sound becomes more loud, and ultimately it seems to break into a loud madness. Her whistle screams at curves and tunnels. Her brakes and bolts produce their own music too.

The next six lines describe the joyous rhythm of the train. The Express speeds through the metal track and shows up startling features of the landscape. In the next seven lines, night sets in. The train seems to have moved beyond Edinburgh or Rome, even beyond the very end of the world. And in the night one can notice only a very clear line or phosphorus, the fiery smoke sent out by the train on the edge of the high sky. The train appears now to move like a comet through flame, carried away in a dream as it were. Neither any song of the bird, nor any large branch laden with honey buds can ever match this train wrapt in her own music. (This is where Spender's adoration for the train can be compared with Wordsworth's reverence for Nature.) The next eleven lines take us to a very intimate realization. The passenger and the train are Auden and Spender shut together in a darkness where no one can interfere and'all identity seems to be lost. The poet talks about the physical selves of the passengers when he says that in this state of communion, the bodies seem to bk dashed together by the storm of desire in the flesh, and generations appear to be leaping into creation through the veins. The forceful joy makes the heart a powefful sun bringing ripeness to all.

The last eight lines present an extremely sensuous picture that reminds one of Keats' passionate evocation in his sonnetlright Sbr. The poet moves from the train to the unique associations that she gives rise to, when he admits that while lying with the Express In this eternity, the passenger will start to dream of all women. The whole train of romantic associations will be let loose and the passenger will come to realize that the Express, in fact, represents all the women that have ever been.

Thus it is evident that this poem has admirably captured the various movements, sounds, moods and associations set loose by the Express train. The poem is remarkable for its suggestive expressions and realistic description. The expressions like "black statement of pistons" (line 2) "heavy page of dearh, printed by gravestones" (lines 6-7), "erectitude of - their breasts in the night" (line 41) and "fingers tangled in their yellow hair" (line 42) are indeed so very thought-provoking. The Similes "gliding like a queen" (line 3) "parallels clean like the steel of guns" (line 20) "like a comet through flame" (line 25) "her heart, as a moon" (line 38), "the scent ... like the calm earth in summer" (line 43) add to the richness of the poem. It is not only the train which has been personified. Even the houses crowd outside humbly (line 5) as if they too were living beings. The poem indeed is a powerfully evocative tribute paid by a man to the machine.

Exercise 4 1) Express in 75 words the main gist of the poem.

2) What is the black statement of the pistons? ......

3) Explain what the poet means by : 'she moves entranced Wrapt in her music no bird song, no, nor bough Breakiqg with honey buds, shall ever equal. ,

Trends in Post-war 4) Quote two Similes from the poem, and comment upon their aptness. International Relations

...... 5) What is the "low shamline brightness of phosphorus"?

18.8 LET US SUM UP

In this unit we have acquainted ourselves with two modem English poets W.H. Auden and Stephen Spender with special reference to their poems. You must have observed that while W.H. Auden presents two different facets of life in his 'On this Island' and 'The Unknown Citizen', Stephen Spender presents two different planes of reality in his '.Ithink continually of those who were truly great' and 'The Express'. We have also learnt to react more sharply and sensitively to the poems themselves noting the way in which their plain sense has been made so sensuous and subtle by the use of literary devices.

18.9 SUGGESTED READING

Ih the twentieth century, as throughout the nineteenth, imagination has regularly been regarded as the specifically poetic quality, by which knowledge is obtained and understood. To appreciate W.H. Auden and Stephen Spender better, one should keep some of the poems of Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley and Keats in mind for comparison and contrast: Wordsworth : Composed upon Westminster Bridge Ode on the Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Childhood Daffodils The World is too much with us Byron : Roll on, Thou Deep and Dark blue ocean Shelley : Ode to the Westwind Keats : Ode to a Nightingale Bright star

WORKS OF REFERENCE Bowra, M. The Creative Experiment (London, 1949). Daiches, david Poetry and the Modern World (Chicago. 1940). Ford, Boris (ed) The Pelican Guide to English Literature (7), (Penguin, 1961). Fraser,.G.S. Vision and Rhetoric (London, 1959). - Kerrnode, F. Romantic Image (London, 1957). Leavis, F.R. New Bearings in English Poetry (London, 1950). MacNeice, Louis odei in Poetry (Oxford, 1938). Read, Herbert Form in Modern Poetry (London, 1932). Scarfe, Francis, Auden and After: The Liberation of Poetry 1930-41 (London, 1942). Auden and Spender 18.10 ANSWERS TO EXERCISES

Exercise 1 1) The poem invites the stranger to look at the picture of the sea from Dover Cliff in the West-Country of England and be conscious of the gio~yof that particular sight. It is an artistically plotted objective description of a natural scene done with a gradually widening perspective (50 words). 2) The Simile is in "like floating seeds the ships" in the first line of the third stanza. It aptly presents the numerous ~hi~s'scatteredonthe distant horizon. which seem to be floating like seeds and also appearing to be tiny, like the seeds themselves. 3) Alliterations can be found in: a) "swaying sound" of the "sea" (last line of the first stanza). b) "shingle scrambles ... sucking surf (stanza 2, line 5). These repetitions of the consonant sounds add to the musical effect of the poem. 4) a) knock -Onomatopoeia b) harbour mirror-Metaphor 5) Free Verse:

Exercise 2 1) In this poem, Auden describes an average citizen who has been analysed .by the computer and statistics but whose individuality seems to be still unknown. With a sardonic, tongue-in-the-cheek humour, the poet satirically comments on the ironic fact that this human being has been summed up in a mere number, not in a name which would have certainly sounded more personal. The poem is in fact a sardonic elegy on the modem human being. (75 words) 2) The superscription To JS/07/M/378 is the number which denotes the citizen-in the records of the Bureau of Statistics, and it sardonically comments on the fact that the human being has beeri reduced to a mere number, and not even a name is there to honour and remember him. (50 words) '3) abab 4) He was b) opportunistic. 5) This sardonically comments on the fact that so much of stress has been placed on the information given by the computers, and press these days that we rely entirely on them even to find out about the well-being of individuals. It ironically registers the fact that only apparently this average citizen was allright. Exercise 3 1) This poem is a glowing tribute to those valiant people who were dynamically conscious of their past. According to the poet, it is vitally essential for us to be aware of the continuity of our glorious tradition. The great people who are conscious of this ever flowing stream of consciousness actually and have fought to preserve life have been honoured by the various objects of nature. (75 words). 2) The poet affirms that it isof vital importance to never permit the daily movements of everyday routine to suffocate and pollute the blossoming of the human spirit. (30 words). 3) 'the snow*, 'the sun', 'the highest fields'. 'waving grass'. 'white cloud' 4) The Simile is in 'desires falling ... like blossoms' (last line of the first stanza). It makes the poem more picturesque. 5) The poet means that the signatures of these valiants can be noticed in the air itself.

Exercise 4 1) The poem glorifies the Express train and captures its march from the railway station to its destination. The train is descriFd moving as majestically as a queen and the various stages of its joumey are vividly described. The movement of the lines of the poem mime the joumey of the train. And gradually the train sparks off various romantic, s~nsdousassociations, and even becomes a symbol of all women. (75 words). 2) The black statement of the pistons refers to the movement of the pistons of the railway engine, which announces the departure of the train. Trends in Post-war 3) In these lines, the poet observes tnat the music of the moving train is so melodious that International Relations. . neither any song of the bird nor any large branch laden with honey buds can ever match this sonorous effect. 4) The two Similes are: a) "gliding like a queen" (line 3). b) "like a comet through flame" (line 25).

These figures of speech add tothe beauty of the movement of the train. 5) The phrase "low streamline brightness of phosphorous" refers to the fiery smoke sent out by the train that can be visualized on the edge of the high sky as a clear line.