September 1, 1939  

September 1, 1939

 By W. H. Auden

I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second Street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
Of a low dishonest decade:
Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth,
Obsessing our private lives;
The unmentionable odour of death
Offends the September night.

Accurate scholarship can
Unearth the whole offence
From Luther until now
That has driven a culture mad,
Find what occurred at Linz,
What huge imago made
A psychopathic god:
I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return.

Exiled Thucydides knew
All that a speech can say
About Democracy,
And what dictators do,
The elderly rubbish they talk
To an apathetic grave;
Analysed all in his book,
The enlightenment driven away,
The habit-forming pain,
Mismanagement and grief:
We must suffer them all again.

Into this neutral air
Where blind skyscrapers use
Their full height to proclaim
The strength of Collective Man,
Each language pours its vain
Competitive excuse:
But who can live for long
In an euphoric dream;
Out of the mirror they stare,
Imperialism’s face
And the international wrong.

Faces along the bar
Cling to their average day:
The lights must never go out,
The music must always play,
All the conventions conspire
To make this fort assume
The furniture of home;
Lest we should see where we are,
Lost in a haunted wood,
Children afraid of the night
Who have never been happy or good.

The windiest militant trash
Important Persons shout
Is not so crude as our wish:
What mad Nijinsky wrote
About Diaghilev
Is true of the normal heart;
For the error bred in the bone
Of each woman and each man
Craves what it cannot have,
Not universal love
But to be loved alone.

From the conservative dark
Into the ethical life
The dense commuters come,
Repeating their morning vow;
“I will be true to the wife,
I’ll concentrate more on my work,”
And helpless governors wake
To resume their compulsory game:
Who can release them now,
Who can reach the deaf,
Who can speak for the dumb?

All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie,
The romantic lie in the brain
Of the sensual man-in-the-street
And the lie of Authority
Whose buildings grope the sky:
There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die.

Defenceless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.

Summary of September 1, 1939

• Popularity of “September 1, 1939”: The poem ‘September 1, 1939” by W. H. Auden, a famous American poet, and writer. It is a symbolic poem and was published in 1939 in The New Republic. It later appeared in his collection Another Time in 1940. The unique quality of this poetic output lies in his philosophical rumination of the power of the state, the birth of individuals, and the demonization of Hitler as is usual in literary productions.
• “September 1, 1939” As a Representative of Politics and War: The poem opens with the poet ruminating in the 52nd Street in New York, falling victim to uncertainty over the start of the war on the first of September in 1939. The date of Hitler’s invasion of Poland coincided with the unleashing of a destructive war on Europe. The rise of this psychopath on the same land has left him rather baffled, especially considering Martin Luther King, a reformist. This has led him to contemplate the intellectualism of Thucydides and the relationship between knowledge and democracy. He also ponders over the symbols of capitalism, the daily grind of work, and the innocence and happiness of the people to reach the conclusion that propagandists often feed the public that is not only absurd but also meaningless.
  In his discussion on human desires, Auden provides examples of a ballet dancer and her lover, highlighting how despite our daily vows to avoid wrongdoing, the longing for something more remains unquenched. In this conundrum, the poet thinks that he is only a voice to warn the people, though the people know and believe in this lie that the government is omnipotent. However, it is important to acknowledge that the truth itself cannot exist in isolation; it relies on the presence and actions of individuals. He reflects on the irony that the same people who are vulnerable find hope in his voice, despite his awareness of their vulnerability as a man.  
• Major Themes in “September 1, 1939”: Horrors of war, power of the state, and individual responsibility are three major themes of the poem. The poet opens the poem with the projection of his personality and ends it with the same. In spite of his initial helplessness regarding the impending war, he seeks solace in erudition, scholarship, and intellectualism. He then comes to know that the people are fed with lies. Even the power of the state or government is a lie, for it does not exist without people. The determination of this power lies with the people and not with the state. The poet’s aim is to emphasize individual responsibility, with the mention of Thucydides and other anecdotes serving as mere examples.

Analysis of Literary Devices Used in September 1, 1939

literary devices are tools that writers employ in their writings to effectively convey their messages. The analysis of a few literary devices used in this poem is as follows.

1. Allusion: The poem alludes to the famous poem of William Butler Yeats’s “September” as well as to Thucydides and Hitler, two popular personalities of their times.
2. Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of /ee/ in “On Fifty-second street”, the sound of /e/ in “As the clever hopes expire” and the sound of /oo/ as in “Those to whom evil is done”.
3. Anaphora: It refers to the repetition of a word or expression in the first part of some verses. W. H. Auden has repeated the words “Who can…” in the first stanza of the poem to emphasize the point such as;

Who can release them now,
Who can reach the deaf,
Who can speak for the dumb?

4. Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /c/ in “conventions conspire”, the sound of /d/ in “dishonest decade” and the sound of /m/ in “The music must”.
5. Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /n/ in “Defenceless under the night”, the sound of /g/ in “Whose buildings grope the sky” and the sound of /m/ in “To resume their compulsory game.”
6. Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example;

All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie,
The romantic lie in the brain
Of the sensual man-in-the-street
And the lie of Authority
Whose buildings grope the sky.

7. Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. W. H. Auden used imagery in this poem such as “The windiest militant trash”, “From the conservative dark” and “To resume their compulsory game”.
8. Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects that are different in nature. The poet used waves, fear, darkness, and culture as metaphors.
9. Personification: Personification is to give human qualities to inanimate objects. The poet has personified waves, fear, and culture showing them as having life and emotions of their own.
10. Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from literal meanings. This poem shows Greek, earth, and dark colors as symbols of democracy, life, and barbarism.

Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in September 1, 1939

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

1. Diction: The poem shows descriptive diction in usage as the use of figurative language shows.
2. Rhyme Scheme: The poem does not have a set rhyming pattern.
3. Repetition: There is a repetition of the verse “Who can…” which has created a musical quality in the poem as well as stressed upon the thematic idea.
4. Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are nine stanzas in this poem, with each comprising eleven verses.

Quotes to be Used

These lines from “September 1, 1939” are useful to use when talking about the daily grind of work.

From the conservative dark
Into the ethical life
The dense commuters come,
Repeating their morning vow;
“I will be true to the wife,
I’ll concentrate more on my work.