Freedom and Equality in the Poems of the 1930s - Book Report/Review Example

Freedom and Equality in Three Poems of the 1930s In the book A Twentieth-Century Literature Reader: Texts and Debates (Twentieth-Century Literature: Texts and Debates) by Suman Gupta, Virginia Woolf is quoted to have said that the poets of the 1930s “feel compelled to preach, if not by their living, at least by their writing, the creation of a society in which everyone is equal and everyone is free. It explains the pedagogic, the didactic, the loud-speaker strain that dominates their poetry.” In other words, Woolf perceives that the works of the poets in the 1930s are outpourings of their personal convictions regarding the socio-political climate they are in. This is the reason why their poetry are instructive and moralistic. It is not art for art’s sake alone but art as a social tool to teach and reach people, moving them to act and do something for the society and the nation as a whole. The following three poems from Robin Skelton’s Poetry in the Thirties will prove or disprove what Virginia Woolf says about the poetry produced during the 1930s. These are September 1, 1939 by W. H. Auden; Different by Clere Parsons; and Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines by Dylan Thomas. September 1, 1939 by W. H. Auden This nine-stanza poem of W.H. Auden is an example of what Virginia Woolf calls a poem of the 1930s that contains “the pedagogic, the didactic” and “the loud-speaker strain” calling for “the creation of a society in which everyone is equal and everyone is free.” The first stanza critiques the system as “low dishonest decade” where “The unmentionable odour of death/ Offends the September night.” Feelings of uncertainty, fear, hopelessness and anger dominate this stanza. It is a prologue to the situation that the state or society is at the moment of writing. According to the second stanza, the cause of the dilemma can be explained and be traced back to history. Evil has been committed thus the people reap what they sow: “Those to whom evil is done/ Do evil in return.” This can also be interpreted as a call to act and fight against the “evil” and the ones causing this evil. Then in stanza three, the poet/persona plunges right into the main issue: democracy; “About Democracy,/ And what dictators do.” There has been a neglect and abuse of their duty: “Analysed all in his book,/ The enlightenment driven away,/ The habit-forming pain,/ Mismanagement and grief:/ We must suffer them all again.” The past is repeated because they have not been good stewards of the freedom they had possessed. They have allowed the dictators to reign over them. Then the poet/persona in stanza four continues to critique modernisation: “Into this neutral air/ Where blind skyscrapers use/ Their full height to proclaim/ The strength of Collective Man.” In the midst of modernisation, only a few are benefited. The mirrors reflect the “Imperialisms face/ And the international wrong.” The progress as shown by the huge buildings and infrastructure are only facades that hides the corrupt government behind these. In stanza five, the workers are shown to be enslaved by their trade. They have become part of the system as nameless labourers for mass production: “The lights must never go out,/ The music must always play,/ All the conventions conspire…../Lest we should see where we are,/ Lost in a haunted wood.” The people behind the whole scene, the capitalists, are careful that the labourers will realize their plight and demand for more. The following stanza points to discontent and selfishness as the root causes of the dictatorship and imperialism: “For the error bred in the bone/ Of each woman and each man/ Craves what it cannot have,/ Not universal love/ But to be loved alone.” The capitalists are abusing the people and the people have forgotten to share and to love their neighbours. The seventh stanza continues to show the hopeless state of the nation. The people go to their daily routine, trying their best to be good and faithful: “The dense commuters come,/ Repeating their morning vow;/ ‘I will be true to the wife,/ Ill concentrate more on my work.’” On the other hand, the governors “wake to resume their compulsory game.” The ones ruling over them are also manipulated by a few others who sit on the throne. The poet/persona asks: “Who can release them now,/ Who can reach the deaf,/ Who can speak for the dumb?” These lines are a challenge to the readers/audience to act. Then he turns to himself and the central message that he wants to convey through this poem: “To undo the folded lie,/ The romantic lie in the brain/ Of the sensual man-in-the-street/ And the lie of Authority.” He tells the readers/audience that they need to cooperate, to work together to attain the common good for “There is no such thing as the State/ And no one exists alone;/ Hunger allows no choice/ To the citizen or the police;/ We must love one another or die.” Loving one another may mean fighting for their common good. Finally, in the last stanza the poet/persona gives a message of hope that despite their condition, scattered all over the place are ‘a few good men’ who can do great things in order to attain true freedom: “Yet, dotted everywhere,/ Ironic points of light/ Flash out wherever the Just/ Exchange their messages:/ May I, composed like them…Show an affirming flame.” The poet/persona points to himself as an example for the people to follow. Moreover, the poet/persona calls himself just one voice: “All I have is a voice,” and indeed through his poetry he uses his one voice to transmit the important message he wants his fellowmen to know. He brings a message of hope that they can create a country where everyone is equal and where they can freely enjoy their rights as citizens of that country. His message is a wake up call to others who may have just been enduring under the yoke of tyranny complacently. Different by Clere Parsons This poem of Clere Parson is the shortest of the three poems I have selected but the ten lines are not that easy to construe because they are loaded with meaning. The title itself speaks that the person wants to be different. This feature is even emphasised by the verse form whose first letter of each line, except for the first line, is not capitalised. There are no other punctuation marks except for the commas after the first three lines and the succeeding three lines, and a period after the last line. It follows a rhyme scheme of abc abc a aba, also not a common pattern. The first three lines speak of what the person, referred to as the “he” in lines eight and nine, chooses to be - a way of not following the trend or what the others around him say, believe and do: “Not to say…./ not to believe…/ not to do what everybody….” The next three lines even get deeper, this time the person contradicts others – what they say, believe and do: “then to refute…./ then to disprove…/ then to deprecate what everybody….” Line seven explains why the person behaved in such manner in the first six lines. It “was his way to come by understanding.” It is his way of trying to understand others and the ways of life in general. It is to prove his point that he cannot be different. Finally, the last three lines speak of his realization that the person is not different from others. They are all saying, believing and doing the same thing: “everyone else was saying as he was saying/ believing what he believed/ and what doing.” This poem has a way of saying that all men are the same or all men are equal. This poem is an affirmation of Woolf’s assessment of the 1930s poets. Parson has voiced out his belief in the equality of men in his brief poetry. Although his biography does not say much about his socio-political leanings, his poetry can be read as one who adheres to democracy for his lines show that how ever the person may try to be different from others he is all the more made aware that he is not different and that everybody says, believes and does in the same way he did. Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines by Dylan Thomas Of the three poets, Dylan Thomas is the most romantic. It is said that he did not sympathise with T.S. Eliot and W. H. Auden in terms of themes regarding social and intellectual issues (http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/150). His poetry is not an easy reading because of his masterful use of imagery, figurative language and style. Light is depicted as borderless or boundless. It can reach places where nothing else can. It is contrasted with dark or night. The first stanza speaks of light as penetrating areas where the sun does not shine, into the heart, the flesh and the bones: “Light breaks where no sun shines… where no flesh decks the bones.” The second stanza symbolizes light as pertaining to reproduction - “warms youth and seed,” growth - “seeds of age” and maturity – “fruit of man.” In the third stanza, light goes into the mind and emotions. It is not contained, it is free to flow: “Nor fenced, nor staked….” Stanza four contrasts night and day. Night is to winter as day is to spring: “The winter’s robes;/ The film of spring is hanging from the lids.” Then the last stanza tells of the capacity of light to reveal the secret thoughts and dark intentions: “Light breaks on secret lots,/ On tips of thoughts smell in the rain;/ When logic dies.” Dawn is the end of the darkness for then the sun shines through to bring in light. What then is symbolised by the light in this poem? The nearest I can think of is truth. If Thomas talks of truth, it is a universal and abstract concept. However, it can still be construed socially to mean equality and freedom. Light is depicted as something free – borderless and boundless. It can go where ever it desires and it is not hindered by anything. Conclusion Taking the whole collection of poems during the 1930s, the assessment that these are outpourings of the poets’ message of creating a society where everyone is equal and free may be easier to affirm. However, just by simply picking three poems from the huge collection of Robin Skelton, it would have a slightly different result. From the three poems: September 1, 1939 by W. H. Auden; Different by Clere Parsons; and Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines by Dylan Thomas, only September 1, 1939 is obviously echoing the poet’s socio-political inclinations. It is a poem that directly transmits its message of critiquing the existing system and promoting a better society where all men are equal. The word ‘democracy’ is even emphasised in stanza three in contrast to dictators and imperialism. The other two poems are less subtle, if at all, dealing with a socio-political theme. I have construed the poem Different to be emphasising the fact that all men are actually the same thus they are equal. In addition, being able to express one’s self in the way he behaves in the poem is an expression of one’s freedom to be true to himself. Finally, the romantic poem Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines can still be interpreted along with the line of preaching democracy but if ever it does, it is very subtle and implicit. For me, the light in the poem could mean truth and freedom. Light is able to go freely and penetrate even to the tiny dividing lines between flesh and bones, etc. So having read the three poems, I can still say that indeed, the 1930s poets have the tendency to preach what they believe through their writings. Works Cited Auden, W. H.. Another Time. Random House, 1940. Clere Parsons (18 November 2007) Dylan Thomas (18 November 2007) Gupta, Suman. A Twentieth-Century Literature Reader: Texts and Debates (Twentieth-Century Literature: Texts and Debates). United Kingdom: Routledge, 2005. Parsons, Clere. Different. (18 October 2007) The Poems of Dylan Thomas. New Directions Publishing Corp., 1971. Skelton, Robin (Editor). Poetry of the Thirties. New Edition. Penguin Books Ltd., 2000. W. H. Auden (18 November 2007) Read More