In Memory of W. B. Yeats, by W.H. AudenW.H. AudenAuden attended St Edmund’s School, Hindhead, Surrey, where he met Christopher Isherwood, later famous in his own right as a novelist. At thirteen he went to Gresham’s School in Holt, Norfolk; there, in 1922, when his friend Robert Medley asked him if he wrote poetry, Auden first realised his vocation was to be a poet.

Is In Memory of W. B. Yeats an elegy?

‘In Memory of W. B. Yeats’ by W. H. Auden (1907-73) was written in 1939, following the death of the Irish poet W. B. Yeats in January of that year. As well as being an elegy for the dead poet, ‘In Memory of W. B. Yeats’ is also a meditation on the role and place of poetry in the modern world.

What is the theme of In Memory of W. B. Yeats?

‘In Memory of W.B.Yeats’ is about death. Here, death becomes an occasion for Auden to reflect upon the complicated legacy Yeats left behind and the ways in which his work colored the 20th century poetic landscape. Another major theme is the social validity of art or poetry.

What is the structure of In Memory of W. B. Yeats?

Structure of In Memory of W.B. Yeats
‘In Memory of W.B. Yeats’ by W. H. Auden is a three-part poem that is further divided into stanzas of different lengths. The first part of the poem contains six stanzas, the second: one and the third: six again.

What is the tone of In Memory of W. B. Yeats?

Abruptly, the tone of the poem shifts. Suddenly our speaker is addressing Yeats himself, chiding him for all of his mistakes, but also admiring Yeats’s poetry. Finally, the poem lapses into an oh-so-traditional elegiac form.

Why is Auden In Memory of W. B. Yeats considered an elegy?

In Memory of W.B Yeats (1939), written by W.H Auden is an elegy which deals with the death of William Butler Yeats and a tribute written in honour of his contribution to literature. The poem is an elegy that celebrates Yeats writings and at the same time criticizes the modernity.

How does In Memory of W. B. Yeats reflect modernism?

Auden’s elegy to Yeats reflects modernism by depicting a bleak, pessimistic view of the modern world. This becomes most clear near the end of the poem, though it is threaded throughout the verses. Yeats, who is often taken to have prophesied the rise of Hitler and fascism in his poem

How In Memory of W. B. Yeats differ from traditional elegy?

Thus “In Memory of W.B.Yeats” is quite different from all other elegies. We cannot see any artificial or laboured in the grief of the poem as in the conventional pastoral elegies. It has all the quality of a modern civilized man’s expression of grief at the loss of a dear one.

When was the poem In Memory of W. B. Yeats written by W. H. Auden?

1939

W. H. Auden’s “In Memory of W. B. Yeats” (1939) is one of his most celebrated poems: it enjoys a critical reputation as the finest poetic elegy written in English in the twentieth century, a work that boldly recast the conventions of formal elegiac verse for a disenchanted modern age.

Who wrote In Memory of W. B. Yeats?

W. H. Auden

In Memory of W. B. Yeats by W. H. Auden – Poems | poets.org.

How does Auden treat elegiac values ironically in the poem In Memory of W. B. Yeats?

But Auden does nou glorify Yeats. He goes to the extent of calling him “silly,” and further that his poetry could make “nothing happen”, “Ireland has her madness and her weather still.” Thus Auden reverses the traditional elegiac values and treats them ironically.

What is an elegy in literature?

elegy, meditative lyric poem lamenting the death of a public personage or of a friend or loved one; by extension, any reflective lyric on the broader theme of human mortality.

What is a pastoral elegy in literature?

The pastoral elegy is a poem about both death and idyllic rural life. Often, the pastoral elegy features shepherds. The genre is actually a subgroup of pastoral poetry, as the elegy takes the pastoral elements and relates them to expressing grief at a loss.

Is Auden a modernist poet?

To justify Auden as a great modern poet it can be said that Auden stands out among modern poets by his earnest effort to be a great modern thinker. He was well versed in history, philosophy and theology and had a remarkable grip on contemporary currents of thought in political theory, science and psychology.

What type of poetry did W. H. Auden write?

Auden’s poetry is considered versatile and inventive, ranging from the tersely epigrammatic to book-length verse, and incorporating a vast range of scientific knowledge.

What made Yeats a modernist poet?

Yeats as a modern poet: Yeats, like T. S. Eliot, is a representative modern poet and presents the spirit of the age in his poetry. Like Eliot, Yeats also uses myth, symbolism, juxtaposition, colloquial language and literary allusions as a device to express the anxiety of modernity.

What type of poet is W. H. Auden?

W.H. Auden was a poet, author and playwright. Auden was a leading literary influencer in the 20th century. Known for his chameleon-like ability to write poems in almost every verse form, Auden’s travels in countries torn by political strife influenced his early works. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948.

What kind of poet is John Keats?

English Romantic lyric poet

John Keats was an English Romantic lyric poet whose verse is known for its vivid imagery and great sensuous appeal. His reputation grew after his early death, and he was greatly admired in the Victorian Age.

What kind of poem is Musee des Beaux Arts?

‘Musee des Beaux Arts,’ or ‘Museum of Fine Arts,’ by W.H. Auden is a free verse poem that is separated into two parts, or stanzas. It was written in December of 1938 while the poet was living in Brussels, Belgium.

What type of poem is Refugee Blues?

‘Refugee Blues’ by W.H. Auden is a twelve stanza poem that is separated into sets of three lines, known as tercets. These tercets follow a simple rhyme scheme of AAB.

What is the tone of the poem Refugee Blues?

Refugee Blues: Tone
The tone of the poem is melancholic. It is depressing and devastating. The dire plight of the Jews is presented starkly, making the readers uncomfortable, which is its (the poem’s) idea. W H Auden shakes the reader’s heart by presenting the almost brutal situation of the Jewish refugees.

What is the theme of the poem Refugee Blues?

“Refugee Blues” was written by the British poet W.H. Auden. First published in 1939, on the eve of World War II, the poem meditates on the plight of Jewish refugees—forced to flee Nazi Germany, but unable to find refuge elsewhere. As the poem does so, it raises broader questions about isolation, loneliness, and exile.

What is the tone of Refugee Blues?

‘Refugee Blues’ achieves a sensitive, melancholic tone and the use of speech effectively acts as a testimony to the gravity of the current situation.

What is the setting of the poem from poem Refugee Blues?

What is the setting of the poem Refugee Blues? This poem was written in 1939. The poem is set in some foreign country wherein the speaker and his companion took refuge. This is seen from the indifference of people and also from the sentence / verse ‘If we let them in, they take will steal our daily bread.

What is the irony of the poem Refugee Blues?

The bitter irony of the Jewish speaker’s position – a refugee to New York, home of the Statue of Liberty with its inscription proclaiming America the ‘Mother of Exiles’ – is neatly captured through the ambiguous words and phrases Auden includes in ‘Refugee Blues’: ‘Went to a committee; they offered me a chair’ – not a