W.H Auden Poems

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'The Shield of Achilles' - Context
1952, allusion to Homer's epic poem 'The Iliad' to contrast Ancient Greek ideals of harmony, abundance, heroism, liberation, respect and order with the harsh, brutal and immoral reality of modern warfare and totalitarian societies
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'The Shield of Achilles' - Context
'Voice without a face/Proved by statistics' - reference to cruel, detached dictators such as Stalin who dehumanised their victims and manipulated their people through propaganda
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'The Shield of Achilles' - Context
The idea that the urchins has never hard of a world where 'one could weep because another wept' can be seen as indicative of Auden's fears of moral decline and loss of empathy in Western societies - Holocaust during WW2
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'The Shield of Achilles' - Context
Prisoners as 'three pale figures...bound to three posts' - subtle allusion to Christ, positioning the reader to view the men as innocent victims of a barbaric culture
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'The Shield of Achilles' - Structure
8 line stanzas with shorter lines, alludes to Homer's description of shield being made by the god Hephaestus and reports the scenes that Achille's mother expects to find depicted on it (scenes of happiness and peace)
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'The Shield of Achilles' - Structure
Stanzas with longer lines describes scenes H creates which seems to evoke a barren, impersonal and brutal modern world
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'The Shield of Achilles' - Structure
Longer lines written in regular rhyme (ABABBCC) allows Auden to convey a relentlessly bleak, pessimistic view of the modern world
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'The Shield of Achilles' - Structure
Repetition of refrain 'She looked over his shoulder' creates juxtaposition between ancient Greek expectations of the future if mankind and the disappointing reality which Auden seems to see as indicative of the moral decline of Western Civilisation
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'Musee Des Beaux Artes' - Context
Influenced by time he spent observing atrocities in the Spanish Civil War in 1937, where he signed up to be an ambulance driver before working as a journalist
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'Musee Des Beaux Artes' - Context
1938. Title derives from a museum he visited in Belgium. Uses ekphrastic references to 'Landscape with the Fall of Icarus' by Brueghel
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'Musee Des Beaux Artes' - Structure
Free Verse, irregular line length an rhythm, polysyndeton and colloquialisms to create a prosaic, informal, conversational tone - mimetic of the idea that individual human suffering and tragedy is relatively insignificant when juxtaposed
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'Musee Des Beaux Artes' - Structure
with the mundane activities and indifferent attitudes of the world at large
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'Musee Des Beaux Artes' - Structure
Revers artists such as Brueghel for their infallible wisdom in elucidating this idea and imposing order and meaning of life
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'Stop all the Clock' - Context
1936 - originally a satirical poem of mourning for a fictional politician in Auden's play 'The Ascent of F6'
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'Stop all the Clock' - Context
Can be seen as a satirical warning about the dangers of excessive devotion to charismatic politicians
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'Stop all the Clock' - Context
More familiar poem is usually interpreted as an elegy for a dead lover
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'Stop all the Clock' - Structure
AABB with heroic couplets creates an insistent, demanding tone
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'Stop all the Clock' - Structure
Structures so speaker moves from focusing on desire for private silence and isolation to a desire for public recognition and finally to a desire for the world to end - celestial imagery. Structural progression reflects the distorted
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'Stop all the Clock' - Structure
Trochaic emphasis on 'silence' in line 3 breaks the iambic rhythm - mimetic reflection of the speakers desire for the intrusive noise of life to fall away
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'Lullaby' - Context
1937 - unconventional love poem celebrating the impermanence and physicality of ****** love
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'Lullaby' - Context
Not explicitly about homosexuality, however it reflects Auden's open, passionate and promiscuous approach to exploring his sexuality through a series of short-lived affairs at a time when homosexuality was considered disgraceful and illegal
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'Lullaby' - Context
'Fashionable madmen' - reference to extremist populist politicians who were gathering support in the 1930's
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'Lullaby' - Context
Auden's message seems to be that ****** love offers a sense of consolation and meaning during times of political instability, uncertainty and danger
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'Lullaby' - Structure
An unconventional lullaby in that the speaker is addressing an already-sleeping lover
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'Lullaby' - Structure
Employs trochaic tetrameter to create a soothing, gentle tone and express a sense of almost paternal protectiveness
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'Lullaby' - Structure
Half rhyme is mimetic of the speakers acceptance of his lover's imperfections
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

'The Shield of Achilles' - Context

Back

'Voice without a face/Proved by statistics' - reference to cruel, detached dictators such as Stalin who dehumanised their victims and manipulated their people through propaganda

Card 3

Front

'The Shield of Achilles' - Context

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

'The Shield of Achilles' - Context

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

'The Shield of Achilles' - Structure

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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