H. Auden
H. Auden
communication life-is human-life
Without communication with the dead, a fully human life is not possible.
art creativity desire
A poet feels the impulse to create a work of art when the passive awe provoked by an event is transformed into a desire to express that awe in a rite of worship.
believe ifs
One can only blaspheme if one believes.
self self-pity pity
All pity is self-pity.
mourning tongue poet
By mourning tongues The death of the poet was kept from his poems.
men world action
The true men of action in our time, those who transform the world, are not the politicians and statesmen, but the scientists
helping-others earth helping
We were put on this Earth to help others. Why others were put here is beyond me.
giving facts
A shilling life will give you all the facts.
fairy-tale tales hunts
To hunt for symbols in a fairy tale is absolutely fatal.
blessed self force
Blessed be all metrical rules that forbid automatic responses, force us to have second thoughts, free us from the fetters of Self.
happiness men important
It is nonsense to speak of 'higher' and 'lower' pleasures. To a hungry man it is, rightly, more important that he eat than that he philosophize.
pain mean anxiety
To be happy means to be free, not from pain or fear, but from care or anxiety.
fall home sleep
Warm are the still and lucky miles, White shores of longing stretch away, A light of recognition fills The whole great day, and bright The tiny world of lovers' arms. Silence invades the breathing wood Where drowsy limbs a treasure keep, Now greenly falls the learned shade Across the sleeping brows And stirs their secret to a smile. Restored! Returned! The lost are borne On seas of shipwreck home at last: See! In a fire of praising burns The dry dumb past, and we Our life-day long shall part no more.
unique reality two
One demands two things of a poem. Firstly, it must be a well-made verbal object that does honor to the language in which it is written. Secondly, it must say something significant about a reality common to us all, but perceived from a unique perspective. What the poet says has never been said before, but, once he has said it, his readers recognize its validity for themselves.