Auden versus Pound - Reader comments at The New York Sun

Recent Blog Posts

Reader comment on:
Auden & America

Submitted by Barry Larking, Mar 14, 2008 05:11

Poor Auden! In death he is a "stick for one and a shield the other". As to facts, I have not heard that much about his skipping off to America, though it is mentioned. As to forgiveness (from whom?) the pacifist poets, who included also Isherwood and Spender, were eclipsed by Pound and out done by their fellow travelling contemporaries. Writing a poem in a 'low dive' in mid town Manhattan which is largely of self disgust fades in comparison to directly betraying one's country. Auden was not alone in 'bomb dodging' and he suffered no lasting damage; neither did his contemporary and friend Benjamin Britten, who, together with Peter Piers, his life long lover, also fled to the States. (P G Wodehouse for example had a much rougher ride.) As for homophobic England, Britten and Piers were left in peace and showered with official honours late in life. If one wants to read how to separate a poet's reputation as a poet from a political stance, may I direct readers to George Orwell's essay on Pound? ("The Question of the Pound Award" Partisan Review 1949. This is in the collected edition of Orwell's Journalism and Letters.) This is as clear a statement as one might wish about this question.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.

Other reader comments on this article

Comment	By	Date
Poor Auden! In death he is a "stick for one and a shield the other". As to facts, I have...	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... [MORE]	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

Reader comment on:Auden & America

Other reader comments on this article

Comment on Auden & America

Reader comment on:
Auden & America