Consider Auden as a Modern Poet

Answer

Consider Auden as a modern poet. 

Or, Find out modern elements in Auden’s poetry. 

Or, Auden does not adhere to the romantic tradition. Justify your answer. 

Modernism is a philosophical and art movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-1973) is a poet of modern times. Thematically and structurally, Auden’s poems show the striking feathers of modernism. The elements needed to consider him a modern poet are large in his poems. The characteristics that prove Auden as a modern poet are illustrated in the following passages. 

Lack of Sympathy: Audenn clarifies that modern people have lost their love and sympathy towards others. Even when a man dies, they do not care about it but continue their daily lifestyle. So, Richard Hoggart rightly says, 

Auden combines an intense interest in the human heart with a desire to reform society and he thinks over psychological ills greater than our political.

Scientific Representation of Nature:  In terms of nature, Auden is out and out more realistic than Robert Frost. He never represents nature as a romantic element like Wordsworth. To him, Nature is never affected by the death of the poet or somebody. It remains the same, but people’s minds are in a matter of change. 

Meter and Versification: The most remarkable quality of modern poetry is Meter and Versification. Modern poets use different kinds of meter and versification. Auden is also modern in this respect. He has used free verse and blank verse. From the perspective of meter, Auden uses the ballad meter. 

Lack of Morality:  Auden reveals modern people’s lack of morality in his poems. In the poem “Musée des Beaux-Arts,” Auden represents the philosophical truth about human sufferings. Actually, people in this universe generally remain indifferent to the pain and suffering of another person. While a man suffers, others are engaged. In “Musee Des Beaux Arts,” the poet exposes the lack of morality through the mythical incident of Icarus. Here, he shows that in human suffering, “Human is indifferent.” The painting painted by Brueghel shows that while some people of the world suffer, others are busy doing their work. This human condition leads our poet to the world of suffering. Auden says,

Something amazing, a boy fallen out of the sky

Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

Icarus had the intention to fly to the sun. To put his ambition into practice, he tries to reach the sun with the help of artificial wings made of feathers and wax. But after flying a little distance, his wings melted, and he fell headlong into the sea. But nobody noticed it.  

Lack of emotion: Auden never prioritizes personal emotion in his poems. His most remarkable poems, like Lullaby, The Shield of Achilles, and In Memory of W.B. Yeats, expose his emotional emptiness. He always rejected emotion in his poetry and enriched poetry with actual knowledge. 

Realistic attitude towards love: Auden rejects the traditional treatment of love in his poetry. Instead, he includes intellectual in his love poetry. Poets like Shakespeare, John Keats, W B Yeats, John Donne, and Robert Browning glorify love by revealing excessive passion. But in this sense, Auden is different. His attitude towards love is realistic, as we find in his iconic love poem, “Lullaby.” Here, the lover is aware of his beloved and his faithlessness. But they are human beings. They can make mistakes. Despite his beloved faults, the lover finds his beloved lovable. 

Symbols and Imagery: Auden uses a wide range of Imagery, symbolism, and other figures of speech in his poetry. He adopted the symbolic style to represent his experience in the modern world. In Petition, he represents the old, decaying, rotten Western civilization as the house of the dead. After praying to God, he writes: 

Harrow the house of the dead; look shining at

New style of architecture, a change of heart.

Auden’s imagery is also modern. In the poem entitled In Memory of W.B.Yeats, he represents the atmosphere of then Europe as follows:  

In the nightmare of the dark

All the dogs of Europe bark,

And the living nations wait,

Each sequence in his hate.

Thus, the poetry of W. H. Auden deals with modern themes. His anti-romantic attitude, impersonality, and Versification establish him as a modern poet.