Essay: September 1st 1939 by W H Auden (Complete Version)

The following essay will talk about one of the most famous poems written by Wystan Hugh Auden: “September 1st, 1939 whose title, which is a date, refers to what happened in that day. It talks about the beginning of the Second World War and the tragic results of that conflict. In this essay I will focus on some of the stanzas that called my attention in order to reflect on what the author felt about that event which entails several consequences for people who lived there.

The poem “September 1st ,1939” was written as a way to express Auden’s disappointment for a decade in which violence among nations affected citizens in different ways. These will be explained through a brief historical review in order to understand the poem better. On September 1st, 1939, the invasion of Poland by German-Nazi armies entailed the beginning of the Second World War. German forces led by Hitler decided to expand their territory and spread the Nazi ideology in different nations, especially in Poland, a country whose army was easily defeated. As a consequence of that conflict, many people, especially Jew people who lived in the surrounding, were tortured and killed and a large amount of houses where destroyed. People felt overwhealmed for those moments of panic because of the violent situation that affected them.

In the first days of the Second World War, the poem was written by W. H Auden as a description of the context in which the poem took place. In the first stanza Auden describes the situation as a “dishonest decade” by emphasizing his disapproval of the destruction of the places and the killing of their inhabitants after the war. Therefore, Auden depicts the landscape which had been affected by the conflict:

“Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth,
Obsessing our private lives;
The unmentionable odour of death
Offends the September night”.

The last two sentences of this stanza demonstrate Auden’s repudiation for this situation which was regarded as the cruellest in that decade: The “oduor of death” that represents people who died as a result of the conflict which was regarded as the bloodiest one ever seen in the history, because of the torture and the killing of innocent people.

The last four lines of the second stanza are even more surprising. In this part of the poem, readers can rescue a kind of message concerning to the importance for schoolchildren in learning about the unfavourable results of a conflict in where both sides harm each other:

“I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return”.

The third stanza is based on Auden’s disagreement about the concept of “Democracy” which had been wrongly interpretated by dictators in that decade. The author makes a critique on “the elderly rubbish they (dictators) talk”, which affects the real concept of Democracy. Auden expresses that dictators’ speeches are mostly based on wrong ideologies that increase suffering and pain in a nation.

Personally I think that this is a poem in which the disapproval of a context affected by the war is clearly stated. As a reader, I could focus on that historical event by reading it. By this I mean I could imagine the context of the conflict: destroyed places, oppressed people, and armies fighting for what they wanted, and so on. What most impressed me is the emphasis put by the author when they described the event.

From my point of view, the poem itself is a good one and it is also a good way to reflect on the main topics that are conveyed there, such as violence, death, suffering, conflicts, among others. The last four lines of the eight stanza made me think a lot:

“And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die”.

I felt the emphasis that Auden put when he expressed his concerning about the way people relates to their peers. People must make love and not war, otherwise the opressor and the oppressed will face in a confict which could entail serious consequences. I also agree with what Auden said about “those to whom evil is done, do evil in return”. When I read that part of the poem think about people who face the consequences of doing wrong things against the rest. That statement can be conected with the golden rule: “Don't do to others what you don't want others do to you”. Conflicts are just made to harm people without any reason.

This poem, apart from being a critique of German army decision to invade and attack the territory where many innocent people died, it is also a way that Auden chose to convey the readers something crucial that he experienced. Since Auden lived in a context where people were forced to follow the rules of the dictators, the publication of this poem in those decades could have been a real risk, because he mostly critiqued the decision of powerful leaders which were involved in the invasion of Poland. In spite of being oppressed Auden decided to publish what he wrote in 1940, and this piece of poetry would lead the readers to reflect on a society which unfortunately opted to solve problems by violence.

To conclude, W. H Auden wrote “September 1st , 1939” as a way to express his disappointment because of what he experienced during the invasion to Poland and the Second World War in general. In the poem, Auden does not critique only the distruction of the cities and the anihilation of their inhabitants, but also critiques the way dictators ruled the nation by basing on wrong ideologies that affected the rights of the citizens. Another important point that Auden emphasizes is that violence only entails violence and nobody wins. Despite of the risk he took, Auden published his masterpiece in 1940. This poem was sent by all readers in order to reflect on the tragic situation that affected humankind in that decade.

http://www.poemdujour.com/Sept1.1939.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Poland_(1939)
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/523611/an_analysis_of_w_h_audens_september.html

1O17 words

Essay: September 1st 1939 by W H auden (what I've written so far)

The following essay will talk about one of the most famous poems written by W H Auden: “September 1st, 1939" whose title, which is a date, refers to what happened in that day. It talks about the beginning of the Second World War and the tragic results of that conflict. In this essay I will focus on some of the stanzas that called my attention in order to reflect on what the author felt about that event which entails several consequences for people who lived there.

On September 1st, 1939, the invasion of Poland by German-Nazi armies entailed the beginning of the Second World War. German forces led by Hitler decided to expand their territory in Poland, a country whose army was easily defeated. As a consequence of that conflict, many people, especially Jew people who lived in the surrounding, were tortured and killed and a large amount of houses where destroyed.

In the first days of the Second World War, the poem was written by W. H Auden as a description of the context in which the poem took place. In the first stanza Auden describes the situation as a “dishonest decade” by emphasizing his disapproval (from) the destruction of the places and the killing of their inhabitants after the war. Therefore, Auden depicts the landscape which had been affected by the conflict:

“Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth,
Obsessing our private lives;
The unmentionable odour of death
Offends the September night”.

The last two sentences of this stanza demonstrate Auden’s repudiation for this situation which was regarded as the cruellest in that decade.

The last four lines of the second stanza are even more surprising. In this part of the poem, readers can rescue a kind of message concerning to the importance for schoolchildren in learning about the unfavourable results of a conflict in where both sides harm each other:

“I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return”.


The third stanza is based on Auden’s disagreement about the concept of “Democracy” which had been wrongly interpretated by dictators in that decade. The author makes a critique on “the elderly rubbish they (dictators) talk”, which affects the real concept of Democracy. Auden expresses that dictators’ speeches are mostly based on wrong ideologies that increase suffering and pain in a nation.

Personally I think that this is a poem in which the disapproval of a context affected by the war is clearly stated. As a reader, I could focus on that historical event by reading it. By this I mean I could imagine the context of the conflict: destroyed places, oppressed people, and armies fighting for what they wanted, and so on. What most impressed me is the emphasis put by the author when they described the event.

This poem, apart from being a critique of German army decision to invade and attack the territory where many innocent people died, it is also a way that Auden chose to convey the readers something crucial that he experienced. Since Auden lived in a context where people were forced to follow the rules of the dictators, the publication of this poem in those decades could have been a real risk, because he mostly critiqued the decision of powerful leaders which were involved in the invasion of Poland. In spite of being oppressed Auden decided to publish what he wrote in 1940, and this piece of poetry would lead the readers to reflect on a society which unfortunately opted to solve problems by violence.

W.H Auden and Stephen Spender

This is a comparison between two poems: "September 1, 1939" and "Two Armies" which were created by W.H Auden and Stephen Spender respectively. Both authors try to make readers reflect on what happened in times of conflict between different countries. Besides, both expressed a sad feeling as they talk about the destruction of the cities and the death of people as a result of wars. Those poems show a context affected by wars and the consequences that they have for humankind.

What called my attention is this quote from the poem "September 1, 1939" ,by Auden: “Those to whom evil is done Do evil in return”. This quote expresses that battles always entail more battles, along with destruction of life in any nation. Sometimes people do not even know what are they fighting for. They are just taught to kill others like in a Military School. Therefore, fighting among our peers does not solve anything.

“A room of one’s own” (by Virginia Woolf )

During the presentations we were analysing an interesting essay written by Virginia Woolf called “A room of one’s own”. Through this essay, Woolf describes the difficulties that women had to express themselves because they did not feel integrated in a society mostly “commanded” by men. Besides, the women who work as novelist were not taken into account in a chauvinist society. That is way there were few female writers. Woolf wanted to demonstrate that women have the same right as men. Another problem for women was that men were against women suffrage, because they considered that women did not have the right to earn money and using it without their husbands’ permission.

In my opinion, the title of the essay tells that women as writers need a space to think and be inspired when they write poems in order to publish them without limitations. Women need to be taken into account in the society.

Analysing Kubla Khan (S.T Coleridge) (Correction)

In the poem, Kubla Khan, the elements of nature are described, such as river, hills, gardens, and so on. Here, the author wanted to represent “external nature and human thoughts affection”. The mention of a savage holy and enchanted place and its relationship with the characters in the poem, is a good example of it.
The inclusion of a maid playing her instrument shows a part of the characteristics of Romanticism: the need to free men from oppression. The woman in this poem might play music as a way to get rid of bad feelings that oppressed her.
The poem is also a simple one, because each line is adaptable for readers to comprehend the main idea of the context in the poem. Most of the lines have a meaning which can be able to move readers’ feelings and affections. For that reason, each line of the poem can produce a feeling of sadness in expressions like “sunless sea”and a “lifeless ocean” It can also produce happiness in expressions like the miracle of “a sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice”.

Shelley & Frankenstein: Knowledge Comparative Framework (correction)

One of the most famous novel written by Mary Shelley is Frankenstein. Shelley wrote this novel based on researchs she made which are related to sciences, literarure, poetry etc;, plus her own context and experience. Her life was overwhelmed by financial, social and familiar problems, which she wanted to express, somehow, in the novel.
For example we saw that in the novel there’s a monster who learned by himself in a context in which he felt lonely. So did Shelley. Actually she learned about sciences, literature, etc, by herself in order to create the novel. What I impressed most about her is the fact that this woman showed her desire to acquire knowledge by reading books in times of isolation from the rest of the people. "My education was neglected, yet I was passionately fond of reading. These volumes were my study day and night" (Shelley, 2)

T. S Elliot's Poem: "Waste Land"

Elliot’s poem collection, “The Waste Land” is mostly related to nature. However, it is not a beautiful nature, but a sad one. Actually waste land means a lonely devasted land without any life. One quote that called my attention is the one from one of the poems of the collection, “ The Burial of the Death” is expressed as follows:“And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, And the dry stone no sound of water”. That sentence is closely related to death nature. Another piece of poem, “Death by Water” talks about the death of sea animals. The most common problem is polluted water in which these animals die.
The picture, which is next to Elliot’s photograph, shows two persons surrounded by garbage, which reminds us that one cause of “death nature” is pollution that is caused, in many cases, by ourselves. People can be, therefore the main cause of waste land.

Comparison between Lawrence's stories

Another short story written by D.H Lawrence is called "The Odour of Chrysanthemums". This short story is about a woman whose husband works in a mine.

The story that analized in the previous post "The Rocking-Horse Winner", by the same author, has certain similarity to the story "The Odour of Chrysanthemums", especially when they express the absence of a family member like parents. The first one showed the absence of loving from the mother to the child, replaced by the importance of money. On the other hand, the presence of the main character's husband is also missing in the story. The man in this story is absent either because he is working in the mine or drinking in a pub. He is found death afterwards.

Another similarity is that the main characters experience the death of their relatives: The son of the woman in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" and the husband of the woman in "The Odour of Chrysanthemums". Their death are an attempt to change the perception of the world in both women.

The Rocking-Horse Winner (D.H Lawrence)

In a family there is a woman whose husband did not earn enough money. “The mother had a small income, and the father had a small income, but not nearly enough for the social position which they had to keep up”.

The woman thought that having money is being lucky. Paul her son asked his mother what being lucky means. His mother said that "It's what causes you to have money. If you're lucky you have money. That's why it's better to be born lucky than rich. If you're rich, you may lose your money. But if you're lucky, you will always get more money."

After that, Paul felt that being lucky required not to be wealhty but also requires being loved. What the child wanted is to gain his mother attention and get rid of her ambition that worried the boy. But the boy wanted to see her mother happy so he needed desperately to know about the winners of horse races in order to gain money through bets. The boy tried to make her mother feel lucky until the boy felt ill and died. The story shows the “overestimation” that people give to money more than the interest in people they love.

The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen (by Graham Greene)

The short story called “The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen” takes place in a restaurant and whose characters are a woman who is a writer, her fiancé and japanese gentlemen and the omniscient narrator who is aware of everything that happened in the story, especially the characters’ behaviour.

The lady was a person who only cared about her future, her job as a writer and how much she is going to be paid for her publications. Her fiancé is a man who was worried about saying nothing that her girl would take ofensive. Finally, we can see a group of Japanese gentlemen whose language is illegible but the narrator knew about their manners by noticing the way they smile and bow to each other. At first, they seemed not to be important in the story, but at they end they helps us to determine the behaviour of the lady whose interest in her job was more important than the rest of the guests in the party, especially the Japanese gentlemen. By this I mean that these gentlemen were noticed by everybody except for the lady who was interested in her job as writer. They were like “invisible” for the lady, which is the reason of the title of the story.

Essay: Comparing Frankenstein and Shelley's life

The novel Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus is considered as one of the most fascinating and ineresting masterpieces created by the writer Mary Shelley. This book contains Shelley’s imagination and knowledge which made possible this interesting reading. Nevertheless, it is also possible to learn about the content of the book by analyzing the context in which the author lived. In fact, Shelley’s feelings can be also explicit in the plot. In this essay we will be able to recognize the relationship between this novel and Mary Shelley’s context.

The book Frankenstein, written by Shelley narrates the story of Dr Victor Frankenstein, a man whose interest for the secret of the human life led him to create a being by ataching different body parts and then he gave his creation life by electricity. However, Dr. Frankenstein felt dissapointed as soon as he saw a hideous monster instead of a “perfect” being as he wanted, therefore he felt the need to abandon his creation. Afterwards, the monster left the laboratory and went towards the mountains and he ran into a cottage dwelt by a family. While the monster was hidden near the cottage he become educated and he also learned about the humanity. Since the monster realized of his difference from the rest of the human beings he started to feel sad and dissapointed. He felt as a real monster when he realized that people escaped terrified as soon as they saw him. For that reason, the monster began to blame his ow creator and the mankind itself for his sadness, so the monster looked for Dr Frankenstein in order to take vengeance.

As I could apreciate in this novel, the creator as well as the creation showed their interest in create knowldege from what they learned. Victor Frankenstein’s curiosity of knowing all about the secret to create and give life to a being led him to study different fields of Sciences. On the other hand, Frankenstein’s monster understood certain human behaviour by observing a family.

Despite of his rejection from the society, the monster was devoted to learn and apply what he learned. So did Mary Shelley. In fact, by analyzing the context in which Shelley lived, I could notice her feelings reflected in her novel. Shelley, who was the daugther of a feminist and the wife of a poet, wrote the novel Frankenstein when she was 19 years old. “What is surprising [...] is the enormous body of knowledge contained in the novel. The novel contains references to the fields of literature, poetry, science, education, politics, history, and mythology” . All these fields are expressed in the content of the book.

It is also surprising the fact that Shelley showed devotion in create a fascinating book despite of social and financial problems she had to face. These difficulties such as her husband’s debts, the death of her mother and Shelley’s newborn son and the suicide of her half sister, seemed not to be an obstacle to create this novel full of imagination and knowledge along with her own experience.

Shelley’s passion to acquire knowledge through different researches is evident in the mentioned novel. It can be compared with the words of Dr Frankenstein: “I have described myself as always having been imbued with a fervent longing to penetrate the secrets of nature”(Shelley, 40)

. Like the monster of the story, who desired to know about his origins, Mary Shelley felt rejected by the society and, therefore she learned about what she knew based on a self-teaching. "My education was neglected, yet I was passionately fond of reading. These volumes were my study day and night" (Shelley, 2) Since the author did not received a formal education like the rest of the women in that period, she quest for what she needed to know. This method led her to research all de fields mentioned before which made possible this book. Shelley’s passion to innovate can be also reflected in Dr Victor Frankenstein, the one who created the monster. As a personal interpretation I would say the author’s determination to join all she researched to create this novel is the same determination of Dr. Frankenstein to create the monster by joining parts of the human body.

As a conclusion, what makes this book Frankenstein an interesting masterpiece is the fact that its content can have a relationship with the author herself, By this I mean that when Mary Shelley wrote this book she thought about her own experience and problems which were useful as a mean of inspiration in order to write the book. As a reader, I could infer that some attitudes in characters like Victor Frankenstein and his monster have a certain similitude with Shelley’s characteristics and feelings. One of the points that I will analyze is the idea of the character Victor Frankenstein to attach different parts of the body, which belonged to different corpses, in order to create a being and give him life afterwards.This attitud can also have relation with Shelley’s need to create this fascinating book by joining her knowledge of Sciences, Literature, Philosophy, and Mithology. Thus she would give shape to the story in the book.

1. http://www.kimwoodbridge.com/maryshel/knowledge.shtml
2. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus. p. 40

My essay's outline

The Essay I will write about the book Frankenstein, but focusing on the context in which the author lived that led her to write the book. (Relation Book-Author)

1)Introduction (Thesis statement:"Relation between Frankenstein and Shelley's context")

2)A brief description of the book's content

3)A brief description of Shelley's experience and her conection with the main characters (victor Frankenstein and the Monster).

4)My Interpretation/Feelings about the relationship between Shelley's life and the book.

5)Conclusion.

Oliver Twist & the Signal-man (by Charles. Dickens)

The author Charles Dickens wrote two of the most important stories based on mystery, fears, poverty and abuse of power. The two stories that I will compare are The Signal-Man and Oliver Twist.

In the story The signal man, by Dickens I could see the mystery that it envolves, like the appearance of a ghost and the prediction af the signal man death. It is shown that people are often worried about what would happen in the nearest future, either worries about a possible accident or worries about socio-economic problems, like in Oliver Twist.

In this story the topics can be also poverty and power abuse, which are clearly expressed and the attempt of the main character to escape from the opression of being abused by people in charged of the orphanage that overwhelmed him during his childhood.

Shelley & Frankenstein: Knowledge Comparative Framework

One of the most famous novel written by Mary Shelley is Frankenstein. Shelley wrote this novel based on researchs she made which are related to sciences, literarure, poetry etc;, plus her own context and experience. Her life was overwhelmed by financial, social and familiar problems, which she wanted to express, somehow, in the novel.
For example we saw that in the novel there’s a monster who learned by himself in a context in which he felt lonely. So did Shelley. Actually she learned about sciences, literature, etc, by herself in order to create the novel. What I impressed most about her is the fact that this woman showed her desire to acquire knowledge by reading books in times of isolation from the rest of the people. "My education was neglected, yet I was passionately fond of reading. These volumes were my study day and night" (Shelley, 2)

Analyzing Keat's sonnets

In both sonnets I can find that the author is comparing his feelings with features of the nature. In the sonnet On Seeing the Elgin Marbles for the First Time I could see that characteristic: “Of godlike hardship tells me I must die like a sick eagle looking at the sky”, he compares himself with a weak bird which is about to die. In other words, he is showing he is unpleasant due to the idea of mortality. Here the main topic is the death “mortality”. The author feels the need to get rid of the idea of dying which oppressed him, as another characteristic of Romanticism.

In the sonnet When I have Fears that I may Cease to Be the author also shows a need to express what he feels (fear). The topic here is “fear”. Here is a connection between what he feels and the feature of the nature: “Before high-piled books, in charactery, Hold like rich garners the full ripen'd grain;…”Here he may try to make readers to understand what he feels, although it is an uneasy quote.

Analysing Kubla Khan (S.T Coleridge)

In the poem Kubla Khan the elements of the nature are described, such as river, hills, gardens, and so on. Here, the author wanted to represent “external nature and human thoughts affection”. The mention of a savage holy and enchanted place and it relation with the characters in the poem is a good example of it.

The inclusion of a maid playing her instrument shows a part of the characteristics of Romanticism: the need to free men from oppression. The woman in this poem might play music as a way to get rid of bad feelings that oppressed her.

The poem is also simple because each line is adaptable for readers to comprehend the main idea of the context in the poem. Most of the lines have a meaning which can be able to move readers’ feelings and affections. For that reason, each line of the poem can produce a feeleng of sadness in expressions like “sunless sea”and a “lifeless ocean” It can also produce happiness in expressions like the miracle of “a sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice”.