FREE THE SEA AND THE MIRROR: A COMMENTARY ON SHAKESPEARES THE TEMPEST PDF W. H. Auden,Arthur C. Kirsch | 152 pages | 02 Oct 2005 | Princeton University Press | 9780691123844 | English | New Jersey, United States The Sea and the Mirror - Wikipedia The poem begins in a theater after a performance of The Tempest has ended. The Sea and the Mirror has ambitions far above those which the modest label of 'A The Sea and the Mirror: A Commentary on Shakespeares The Tempest might suggest, and it attempts to clarify an entire aesthetic, both for the poet himself and on a more abstract level for all poetry and art in its relation to reality. Nor was this a question of aesthetics only, for Auden was determined that this work should offer a distinctively Christian philosophy of art, one which could announce, and validate, an entirely new depth and seriousness to his own life and writing. You can find the text in various Auden collections, but you'll never regret investing in this handsome edition of these tender, heartbroken poems. The long speech of Caliban, channeling Henry The Sea and the Mirror: A Commentary on Shakespeares The Tempest, is in itself a marvelment. It is a poem that comes much nearer to being a major salvo in Auden's cultural war with Little Englandism than it does to being the modest academic 'commentary' that on the title page it rather deviously declares itself to be. Arthur Kirsch's edition of this work is a fine addition to the canon of Auden scholarship. This book will fascinate all readers of Auden, and of Shakespeare. Listen to our first episode. The Sea and the Mirror W. Auden Edited by Arthur C. Kirsch Series: W. Auden: Critical Editions. Overview Author s Reviews 5. The Sea and the Mirror | Princeton University Press Written in the midst of World War II after its author emigrated to America, "The Sea and the Mirror" is not merely a great poem but ranks as one of the most profound interpretations of Shakespeare's final play in the twentieth century. Auden told friends, it is "really about The Sea and the Mirror: A Commentary on Shakespeares The Tempest Christian conception of art" and it is "my Ars Poetica, in the same way I believe The Tempest to be Shakespeare's. Arthur Kirsch's introduction and notes make the poem newly accessible to readers of Auden, readers of Shakespeare, and all those interested in the relation The Sea and the Mirror: A Commentary on Shakespeares The Tempest life and literature--those two classic themes alluded to in its title. The poem begins in a theater after a performance of The Tempest has ended. It includes a moving speech in verse by Prospero bidding farewell to Ariel, a section in which the supporting characters speak in a dazzling variety of verse forms about their experiences on the island, and an extravagantly inventive section in prose that sees the uncivilized Caliban address the audience on art--an unalloyed example of what Auden's friend Oliver Sachs has called his "wild, extraordinary and demonic imagination. Besides annotating Auden's allusions and sources in notes after the textKirsch provides extensive quotations from his manuscript drafts, permitting the reader to follow the poem's genesis in Auden's imagination. This book, which incorporates for the first time previously ignored corrections that Auden made on the galleys of the first edition, also provides an unusual opportunity to see the effect of one literary genius upon another. Account Options Sign in. My library Help Advanced Book Search. Get print book. Princeton University Press Amazon. Shop for Books on Google Play Browse the world's largest eBookstore and start reading today on the web, tablet, phone, or ereader. Edward MendelsonWystan Hugh Auden. Princeton University Press- Poetry - pages. Audens Criticism of The Tempest. Common terms and phrases added Alonso Antonio Ariel artist associated Auden wrote audience become believe Berg Buffalo Caliban called Chapter characters child Collection comma completely consciousness corrected course critical dear death described draft dream edition effect evil existence experience eyes fact feeling Ferdinand final flesh forgive galleys give green hand heart Henry hope House human imagination interest kind king later lecture less letter lines look lost magic master mean mind Miranda Mirror nature never once passage person play poem Poetry possible present probably proof Proofreader prose Prospero reference relation remain represented revised seems Shakespeare's side silence sing song speaks speech spirit stand suggests Tempest thing thought tion truth turn University verse voice whole wish wonder York. Garber Snippet view - Bevington Snippet view - Bibliographic information. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh. Shakespeare After All Marjorie B. Auden W. Auden--critical editions. Arthur C. KirschPrinceton University Press. Audenwritten —44, and first published in The poem is a series of dramatic monologues spoken by the characters in Shakespeare's play after the end of the play itself. These are rendered in a variety of verse forms from villanelles, sonnets, sestinas, and finally Jamesian prose, the forms corresponding to the nature of the characters e. Ferdinand addresses Miranda in a sonnet, a form traditionally amenable to expressions of love. A critical edition with introduction and copious textual notes by Arthur Kirsch was published in by Princeton University Press. Caliban to the Audiencethe The Sea and the Mirror: A Commentary on Shakespeares The Tempest section by far of the work, is a prose poem in the style of Henry James. In it, Auden reflects on the nature of the relationship of the author presumably Shakespeare to the audience of The Tempestthe paradoxes of portraying life in art, and the tension of form and freedom. Edward Mendelson asserts that Auden took six months to arrive at its form but the result was a work the poet favoured above all others for many years. The poem itself is in three parts with a short introduction, where the "so good, so great, so dead author" is asked to take a curtain calland being unable to do so, Caliban stands in his place to take the questions. The first section is a meditation on the dramatic arts, in various personifications, the Muse for the dramatic arts, Caliban as the Real World, and Ariel as the Poetic world. The second section is an address to Shakespeare on behalf of his characters, reflecting on the "Journey of Life" — " the down-at-heels disillusioned figure" and the desire for either personal or artistic freedom, with the disastrous results if either is attained. The third section is a meditation on the paradox of life and art, with mutually exclusive goals, where the closer to Art you come, the farther from Life you The Sea and the Mirror: A Commentary on Shakespeares The Tempest, and vice versa. Caliban says he "[feels] something of the serio- comic embarrassment of the dedicated dramatist, who, in representing to you your condition of estrangement from the truth, is doomed to fail the more he succeeds, for the more truthfully he paints the condition, the less clearly can he indicate the truth from which it is estranged. The section ends with a coda of sorts, with the paradox is resolved through faith in "the Wholly Other Life". It was important that the style be as artificial as possible to suggest Caliban's The Sea and the Mirror: A Commentary on Shakespeares The Tempest, neither able to leave the island with the others, nor, because the curtain has fallen in this meta-theatrical medium, remain put. He occupies a limbo of sorts which Auden identified in letters as specifically sexual, having been conceived as 'the Prick'. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Auden: a commentary. London: Faber and Faber. Auden: A Bibliography — Selected Poems. Faber and Faber. Night Mail Auden bibliography. William Shakespeare 's The Tempest. The Tempest Categories : poems Poetry by W. Auden Works based on The Tempest. Hidden categories: AC with 0 elements. Namespaces Article Talk. Views Read Edit View history. Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file. Download as PDF Printable version. Polski Edit links..