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
- A Poem of Its Time: “September 1, 1939” by W. H. Auden is a powerful and complex poem that responds to the outbreak of World War II, specifically the invasion of Poland on the same date. It was first published in The New Republic and later included in the collection Another Time (1940). The poem reflects the anxieties and uncertainties of a world on the brink of war.
- Exploring the Roots of Conflict: The poem does not offer a straightforward narrative of war; instead, it delves into the historical, psychological, and social factors that contribute to conflict. Auden references events from the Reformation to the rise of Hitler, suggesting that evil begets evil and that the cycle of violence is deeply ingrained in human nature.
- Themes of Responsibility and Individual Action: A central concern of the poem is the question of individual responsibility in the face of overwhelming political and historical forces. Auden critiques the complacency and self‑deception of ordinary people and the hypocrisy of those in power. He suggests that true change can only come through a conscious rejection of falsehood and a commitment to love and understanding.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in September 1, 1939
- Allusion: Auden employs allusion to enrich the poem with layers of meaning. References to figures such as Thucydides, Luther, and Nijinsky connect the contemporary crisis to historical and cultural contexts, suggesting that patterns of conflict repeat themselves throughout history.
- Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds creates musicality and emphasizes certain words or phrases. For example, the line “Waves of anger and fear” repeats the “a” sound, drawing attention to the emotional turbulence of the era.
- Anaphora: Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses creates rhythm and emphasis. The repeated “Who can…” in the stanza beginning “Who can release them now” highlights helplessness and despair.
- Imagery: Auden’s poem is filled with vivid imagery that evokes anxiety and uncertainty. The “unmentionable odour of death” and the “haunted wood” create a sense of dread and foreboding.
- Metaphor: The poem uses metaphor to explore complex ideas. For instance, the “windiest militant trash” metaphorically represents empty rhetoric and the manipulation of public opinion.
- Personification: Auden gives human qualities to inanimate objects, personifying concepts such as “fear” and “death,” which intensifies their impact on the reader.
- Symbolism: Colors and objects carry symbolic weight. “Dark” can represent ignorance or evil, while “light” symbolizes hope or understanding.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in September 1, 1939
- Diction: Auden’s careful choice of words contributes to the poem’s overall tone and meaning. He blends formal and colloquial language, creating a sense of intellectual depth combined with emotional immediacy.
- Form and Structure: The poem consists of nine stanzas of varying lengths, creating a dynamic rhythm that reflects the turbulent subject matter. While it does not follow a strict rhyme scheme, Auden uses internal rhyme and assonance to create musicality and emphasize key ideas.
- Enjambment: The use of enjambment—where a phrase or clause continues onto the next line—creates flow and momentum, helping to emphasize particular words and ideas.
- Irony: The poem contains subtle irony. For example, the “ironic points of light” suggest that even in the darkest times there is hope and resilience.
Quotes to be Used
The following lines from “September 1, 1939” are particularly powerful when discussing the complacency and self‑deception of ordinary people:
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;
This excerpt vividly captures the desire to escape reality and maintain a sense of normalcy, even in the face of impending disaster. It highlights how social conventions can serve as a form of denial, preventing people from confronting the truth.