Marxist Overtones In Auden's Early Poetry Of Thirties

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Marxist Overtones in Auden’s Early Poetry of Thirties Dr Sujata Rana Professor (English) Department of Humanities D C R University of Sc. & Tech., Murthal (Sonepat) Mobile: 9416260036 The Decade of Thirties The period of 1930’s, opening with the Great Depression of 1929 and ending with the German invasion of Poland in 1939, which signalled the outbreak of World War II, was a highly disturbed one, especially in the European history. Witnessing hunger marches, mass rallies, world-wide unemployment, political manoeuvrings, dictatorial brutalities, ruthless oppressions, protests and wars the entire decade was really a period of uncertainty and distress for the common man as well as the men of letters. Mentioning some of the most important international …show more content…

Man is not only free to choose, he must choose if he has to rise above the level of human behaviour. The more wisely man chooses the more control he would gain over his environment. This paper intends to explore and analyse the influence of this Marxian freedom-necessity-choice concept of human existence on Auden which is evident in many poems of his early thirties volume called Look, Stranger. Marxist Colouring of Shorter Poems “A Communist to Others” starts with the line “Brothers , who when the siren roars “.The poem is in the form of a self conscious address by a liberal intellectual to the workers showing his sense of identity with them: We cannot put on airs with you The seas that hurt you hurt us too (EA …show more content…

The special temper of the poem is linked with a realization that a determined and collective bid to unite the two worlds is a compelling imperative which we shall ignore at our own peril. Another poem “A Summer Night” also attempts at combining the personal world of “Islands” and “gardens” and the political one of “violence”, “tyrannies of love” and “gathering multitude outside”. Although this problem of division between the internal and external worlds is the hallmark of the whole of Auden’s poetry, the poetry of the thirties particularly emphasizes the urgent need of uniting the two opposing worlds. And this can be done effectively when we learn to take sides, choose and act instead of remaining complacently lost in self-enclosed illusionary worlds. Auden had by then learnt to face reality with courage and make definite choices which reflected his partisanship or what can be better called a sense of responsibility towards those who are suffering and are being victimised. Another major shorter poem “The Chimneys are Smoking” is addressed not to the working class but to the lovers. They are urged to postpone their uncertain groping and “choose the crooked” route of attacking the conditions which enslave love to uncertainty and frustration. “Danse Macabre” (It’s a farewell to the drawing room’s mannerly cry”) also uses the dialectic of change in

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