A low dishonest decade - Reader comments at The New York Sun

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Auden & America

Submitted by Paul Dresman, Mar 10, 2008 11:59

In his poem, September 1, 1939, Auden speaks directly about the l930s as "a low dishonest decade." This would include his own awful propaganda poetry for the Spanish republic. The 30s divided between European fascism (big sympathizers inside England) and Soviet communism. They went about their nasty business, whether it was the Moscow trials or the attack on modern art and literature, Jews, etc. During the Spanish civil war each of these monoliths behaved badly enough to ensure the Second World War. The fascists bombed Guernica, the communists massacred the anarchists and socialists on their own side. I think Auden gave up on Europe. And gladly. Notice how his two greatest poems--the elegy for Yeats and the aforementioned poem in NYC at the start of WW II occurred at the transition of his move to the U.S.

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Comment	By	Date
Poor Auden! In death he is a "stick for one and a shield the other". As to facts, I have... [MORE]	Barry Larking	Mar 14, 2008 05:11
In his poem, September 1, 1939, Auden speaks directly about the l930s as "a low dishonest decade." This would include...	Paul Dresman	Mar 10, 2008 11:59
Nope, none of it works. He didn't go to New York to pass some literary baton, he didn't go to... [MORE]	Robert Smith	Mar 10, 2008 05:44
Humorlesss? My goodness. And to charge Auden's "cloudiness" to Kierkegaard seems a real injustice. Has Ormsby read the aesthete's volume... [MORE]	Jack Johnson	Mar 9, 2008 23:46
Auden's defection was the first of two times that a poet's actions sparked debated in the House of Commons (the... [MORE]	Daniel Heinde	Mar 9, 2008 19:26
To assert, as this critic does, that writing prose improved Auden's poetry reveals a tin ear for verse. I defy... [MORE]	lawrence richette	Mar 9, 2008 19:12
While it's true that Auden's literary cohort were pacifists, it is difficult to overstate how much Auden's private life factored... [MORE]	Deschanel	Mar 9, 2008 15:23
As an historian, Auden got it right, I am sure... [MORE]	Artemio Benavides	Mar 8, 2008 17:07
Was Auden so great that he had to be secreted away to England's strategic hinterland like the atomic bomb secrets... [MORE]	Toby Mottram	Mar 8, 2008 16:57
The master of ironic subversion of himself Kierkegaard was anything but humorless. [MORE]	Shalom Freedman	Mar 8, 2008 14:15
I don't think ironic subversion is funny [MORE]	Stephen H	Mar 9, 2008 14:19
I should, perhaps, not take Ormsby's off-hand remark about Kierkegaard's humorlessness too seriously, but it is significant as yet another... [MORE]	Jan Sjåvik	Mar 8, 2008 14:02
A fine article; no complaint, but a quibble. No one who knows the work of Kierkegaard could possibly describe him... [MORE]	David Bentley	Mar 8, 2008 10:59
Migration mean change, and change always bring new biginning.Those who migrate they are unsatsifated bored in their native land .... [MORE]	Ramesh Raghuvanshi	Mar 8, 2008 02:29
Auden deserves all those high praises. Further he presided over the transfer the great Marble Laurel Wreath that passed from... [MORE]	Tom Disch	Mar 5, 2008 06:57
Too bad that all Ormsby can remark about Kierkegaard is that he was 'dismal,' thus faulting Auden's appreciation of Kierkegaard's... [MORE]	F. Major	Mar 9, 2008 01:11
Whatever misguided patriotism may call Auden, no one can call him a coward. In 1939 (as in 2008), living openly... [MORE]	Marcy Haynes	Mar 9, 2008 01:15

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