Hello readers, This blog is a response to the task assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad sir. In this blog I have tries to decode the concealed underlying theme of the lack of acceptance of homosexuality in society through which the poet Auden has tried to create duality in Interpretation of the poem September 1, 1939.
Decoding the underlying theme in September 1, 1939
Theme of the Lack of Acceptance of Homosexuality in Society.
T.S. Eliot in his essay ‘Tradition and Individual Talent' gives the 'Theory of Impersonal' which says ‘Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion but an escape from emotion, it is not the expression of personality but an escape from personality’. I.e. The personal feelings and emotions of the poet should not be involved in the poem and a poet should not be judged based on his poem/work. But when we read the poem we realise that without reading the autobiographical elements one cannot explore the poem completely. For e.g. W.B Yeats’ ‘The Second Coming’. The first interpretation of the poem is as a War poem but once we read the autobiographical elements of the poet's life and his experience of Influenza one can read the same poem with the Pandemic Lens, it provides con-temporariness and deeper meaning to the poem.
Similarly when we red the autobiography of W.H Auden it forces us to read the Poem ‘Sept 1, 1939’ with another interpretation else then how the dishonesty and manipulation of government can lead to war which is theme of the lack of acceptance of homosexuality in society.
W.H. Auden in England in 1907 and had two older brothers. Auden’s Family had to move to various countries due to his father's work. After his education in a school he got a scholarship to Oxford University which influenced him to the profession of poetry. While you are studying in Oxford he had a feeling for the undergraduate student but feelings had gone unexpressed. He also tried to develop heterosexual traits. After graduating to gain education and freedom he settled in Berlin. In Berlin he began a new lie and his self- examination, he indulged himself in various relations that had been unexpressed in college. He wrote to friends back home about male brothels and men who were available for money in the bars and around the neighbourhood. Auden wrote six German poems which were influenced by his love affairs; he used foreign language so that he can freely write about the difficult theme of love. He also tracked many of his feelings and expressions in a journal in which he stated his guilt about his homosexuality which drove him to find new loves.
In 1939, he visited an event organised by the League of American Poets, there he met a young man named Chester Kallman and soon they were lovers until his death. On the other hand, in 1035 Auden married a woman named Erika Mann just to let Mann escape from Nazi’s in Germany. He lived his like with Kallman and Mann both continuing his homosexual relation.
According to Morgan Walker's essay in The Modern American, Auden’s love for Kalmann was very strong and it won't be possible that this matter has not affected his poetry September 1, 1939 which was written in the same year they met. This forces us to read the poem through the Queer theory.
What is Queer Theory?
According to Jay Stewart, "Queer theory and politics necessarily celebrate transgression in the form of visible difference from norms. These 'Norms' are then exposed to be norms, not natures or inevitability. Gender and sexual identities are seen, in much of this work, to be demonstrably defiant definitions and configurations."
Teresa De Lauretis was the first to organise conference on queer Theory in 1990s, while its informal use was already started by Gloria Anzaldua and other scholars. This theory emerged from the Study on heterosexual relations like gay and lesbian which changed the idea of Heterosexual relation is only normal relationship. It tried to give equal place to transgender and homosexual relations. Today we see much difference in viewing homosexual relation then before yet we do have differences in our mind for these different people and is not accepted completely in society but law has accepted and slowly they will attain freedom and will be considered as normal as heterosexual relation.
‘September 1, 1939’ was published during the world war, beginning of World War II which also gives us a view of the United States. The poet expresses political opinion about the war and how the governmental authority was working in that time. It is the primary interpretation of the war which is talking about Dishonesty of the government during the World War II but we can also read the poem from the secondary interpretation which is intolerance of homosexuality and as we discussed the autobiography of poet we can read the duality of the poem in reference of it.
In the poem you find the metaphor created of light and dark where in primary interpretation we can find like to be honest and hopeful for the future as black as corrupt and dishonest. In secondary interpretation, Light is read as the people who are ready for acceptance and embracing homosexual Lifestyle while the dark represent in tolerance and looked down on homosexuality.
“Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth”
‘Anger and Fear’ in above lines suggest fear of the human sexual society. society of that period was not open about the human sexuality and therefore they were not open to accept homosexual society. It can also be read as anger and fear of so called normal society towards Homosexual society.
“The lights must never go out”
The above line suggests ‘if love is lost humans are doomed’. in the first interpretation in terms of War the love in this line suggests honesty and respect between two humans. While in the secondary interpretation it can be read as if we do not learn to love and tolerate others, we are doomed. the world cannot be of one type/ ideology, even the fingers of our hands are of different sizes. Everyone in the world needs to accept all the types of people in the world. Reading about the line of light suggests the people in the world who are ready to accept homosexual and accepting everyone in the world by the dark suggests the conservative Society of the world.
“ …scholarship can
Unearth the whole offence
From Luther until now”
In the above lines Auden has taken a historical context of Martin Luther to which the Hitler also shared a same religious ideology, both were the men of antisemitism and both also spoke against the homosexual. He also took the historical reference of Nijinsky and Diaghilev it is shown by the lines
“is true to the normal heart”
Nijinsky and Diaghilev were homosexual. Auden uses Nijinsky to speak about love.
“…error bred in the bone
Of each woman and each man
Craves what it cannot have,”
In the above line the ‘error’ suggest that error referred to the error of being homosexual which is natural, which is not selected by anyone and it says that ‘craves what it can have’ the ‘error bred’ sexual bred whether it is women or a man are ‘craving for what it cannot have’ are craving for the homosexual partner, same-sex and craving for the acceptance by society.
Another reference Auden makes is ‘Eros’, Eros was the god of love love and sexuality in Greek mythology. Referring to it in the poem he wants to show the equality in all love around the world. He is trying to evoke the feeling of compassion and instructing that love is equal ground for all the people, should feel free to love to whoever they wish whether same sex or opposite sex.
The dense commuters come,
Repeating their morning vow;
"I will be true to the wife,
I'll concentrate more on my work,"
In a primary interpretation the above line suggests that the people are controlled and manipulated by their government propaganda lies and deception. Secondary interpretation of this line, through these lines Auden says, the people who belong to homosexual society always try to remind themselves, repeatedly that they are heterosexual and try to leave a heterosexual life, they live a fake life in society to which they don't belong due to the lake of acceptance of homosexual at the time.
‘Romantic lie in the brain’ line in the poem however suggest that the homosexuals are brainwashed to act heterosexuality and adopt homosexual life. Auden said “All [he has] is a voice] which means that he has the voice to speak against injustice happening in the world and through this poem he is speaking out against the mistreatment happening to the homosexuality.
Here we complete the reading of the second interpretation of the poem Auden talks about the two different subjects in the same poem and that too very strongly. John G. Blair in ‘The Poetic Art of W.H. Auden’ writes about Auden's style and form, his style and form reflect his ideology in writing poetry and creates deeper meaning within them. As we already read about in the above poem. Auden is successful in leading a variety of readers to respond to his poetry in their own way. Auden got successful with form and technique within a poem to make a reader discover a deep and new insight into a poem.
Work Cited:
“Morgan Walker: A Hidden Message: Auden’s Personal Protest in Time of War | Modern American Poetry.” Accessed March 9, 2022. https://www.modernamericanpoetry.org/criticism/morgan-walker-hidden-message-auden%E2%80%99s-personal-protest-time-war.
Poetic Art of W.H. Auden, 2015. https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691623665/poetic-art-of-wh-auden.
Richards, Christina, Walter Pierre Bouman, and Meg-John Barker, eds. Genderqueer and Non-Binary Genders. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51053-2.
Thank you for reading my blog. I hope it was easy, understandable and helpful to you. Also visit my blog on CONTEMPORANEITY IN AUDEN'S POEMS.
useful
ReplyDeleteVery well prepared
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