Submitted to: Madam Tahira

Submitted by: Khadija Adnan

Department: English Bs 3rd Section B

Submitted on: October 10th, 2022

Subject: Global Poetry

Critical Analysis
Introduction
This poem is written by W.H.Auden, who was a British American poet and a prolific writer,
playwright, librettist, editor and essayist. He was born in England on 21 st February 1909.

Key Works
Stop all the clocks
Autumn Song
If I Could Tell You
Night Mail
In Memory of W.B.Yeats

Genre
It was written in 1939 when William Butler Yeats, the famous Irish poet, died.

Tone
The tone of this poem is sad and exact as, the writer is discussing the death of a poet.

Speaker
3rd person is the speaker, as, the poet has used he.

Overview
This poem is an elegy written by W. H.Auden on the death of W.B.Yeats, whom Auden admired
and was deeply influenced by. The great poet’s death goes unnoticed both by nature and man,
but it is said to be a great loss for mankind. Yeat’s died like other poet’s but he will always be
remembered through his poetry.
 Themes
Nature
In this poem, the poet has described the day of Yeat’s death in a natural way. According to him,
it was a day of winter when everything was frozen and covered with snow, airports were
empty.
He disappeared in the dead of winter:
The brooks were frozen, the airports almost deserted,
And snow disfigured the public state;
Yeat’s death didn’t effect nature nor the mean and selfish people. They remained busy in their
business.
The wolves ran on through the evergreen forests,
The peasant river was untempted by the fashionable quays;

Immortalness
The poet is dead but his poetry survives. It is passed on to the future generations after
generations. His poetry will be everlasting. People die but through their amazing works, they
live in the hearts of people. Likewise, great poetry survives and continues to inspire because it
comes out of the sufferings of the poet.
You were silly like us; your gift survived it all:

Death
This poem depicts the world as a lonely place, but people don’t even seem to realize how alone
and isolated they are. Everyone comes alone in this world and will die alone. In Auden’s poem,
that includes Yeats.
But for him it was his last afternoon as himself,
An afternoon of nurses and rumours.
Death is a private, isolated experience which noone can share with you. Same is the case with
Yeats, who goes through it on his own.
Selfishness
And the living nations wait,
Each sequestered in it’s hate
When Yeat’s died, it was the time of World War. The poet has talked about the same time and
said that the war has made every person so selfish that they don’t care about your death.
Every nation hates the other due to which, they can’t think about the loss.
In the nightmare of the dark
All the dogs of Europe bark
Many people criticize your poetry. Their example is like dogs who bark at night as they can’t
see in the dark. You always wanted to change the world, but the critics don’t want to bother
nor they want a change in this world.

Lack of wisdom
Due to the circumstances, the world has gone far from literature, which is why, people are
ignoring the importance of poet’s as well as their writings. As is evident in the poem:
Intellectual disgrace
Stares from every human face,

Unkindness
People used to be kind and caring but ,now they have no sympathy for anyone. Kindness is no
more left in people as they have gone far from literature.
And the seas of pity lie
Locked and frozen in each eye
The seas of sympathy are frozen and are unable to come out and the reason of this blockage is
due to the distance with poetry.

Hope
According to the poet, in this world of darkness, poetry is the right way to be followed as, it
gives people pleasure and will make them happy. He says that your( Yeat’s ) voice can give
them hope. It can rejoin them. It can bring them together again and can make them love each
other.
 Follow poet, follow right
To the bottom of the night,
With your unconstraining voice.
Still persuade us to rejoice,

Poetry as a Healer
Auden has compared Yeat’s poetry as a Healer. He says that let your poetry heal the wounded
hearts. War has made people depressed, that’s why, Auden wants them to take interest in his
poetry. It can also teach them how to take benefit and pleasure from literature as well as the
right way of praising poet’s.
In the deserts of the heart
Let the healing fountain start,
In the prison of his days
Teach the free man how to praise.

Yeat’s Achievements
In the last, the poet has described his funeral and asks the earth to receive the body of an
honoured guest. Yeat’s was a beacon of life in the dark world of Europe and his poetry will
transform the curse of fallen humanity in a vineyard of human liberty. Time is villain who
destroys the brave, the innocent and the beautiful, but, it loves the poet and forgives all his
weaknesses and failures. It will glorify his poetic achievements.
Time that is intolerant
Of the brave and innocent,
Worships language and forgives
Everyone by whom it lives,

Inspiration
People who read Yeat’s poetry are very inspired by his works not his personality. The poet
himself also admires him.
The current of his feeling failed; he became his admirers.
 All these people, who read his poetry, were sad in his death and will always remember
this day.

A few thousand will think of this day

Literary Devices
Many literary devices have been used in the poem. Such as:

Rhyme Scheme
In the third section of the poem, rhyming scheme has been used like, guest, rest wait, hate
dark, bark lie, eye verse, curse etc.

Alliteration
The use of alliterations are also evident in the poem. For instance disappeared. Dead ,
Snow.statues, mercury. Month, dying.day, far.from, feelings, failed, something.slightly etc.

Consonance
It refers to the use of consonant at the end of different words in same line. They are also
present in this poem. Such as:
Disappeared, dead
His, illness
Ran, on, evergreen etc.

Enjambment
When, while, reading a line, we have to read further to get proper understanding is known as
enjambment.
What instruments we have agree
The day of his death was a dark cold day
By mourning tongues
The death of the poet was kept from his poems.

Anaphora
It refers to the beginning of two or more lines with same words. Like:
The wolves ran on through the evergreen forests,
The peasant river was untempted by the fashionable quays;

And
And the poor have the sufferings to which they are fairly accustomed,
And each in the cell of himself is almost convinced of his freedom.

Metaphor
Use of metaphors is also evident in the poem.
The provinces of his body revolted
And
Silence invaded the suburbs

Caesura
When the poet uses any punctuation mark to take a break or pause is known as caesura.
The current of his feeling failed; he became his admirers.

Simile
This literary device is also present in the poem.
When the brokers are roaring like beasts on the floor of the Bourse.

Conclusion
Auden is sad on the behaviour of mean people of Ireland who were not affected by Yeats death.
Yeats spent a lot of time and energy for Irish Nationalism, but, it remained the same after his
death.The poor continued to suffer without questioning and people continued to speak of
liberty, equality and democracy. But, in the midst of all this, a few people will remember the
poet and his masterpieces. Nature followed the course elsewhere, mourners kept his poems
alive without letting the poets death interfere.