Sherry Chandler » And of course, Auden
And of course, Auden
Hard for even oblivious me to miss the confluence of Ash Wednesday and W. H. Auden’s 100th anniversary.
On my drive home tonight, I learned on All Things Considered more about Auden’s disenchantment with “September 1, 1939,” a poem I discussed at Christmas. It seems he became really disenchanted with it when Bill Moyers wrote words closely echoing the final lines — “We must love one another or die” — into a speech for Lyndon Johnson, a snippet of which was then used for the infamous Daisy campaign ad (video here).
I may not be as critical of the Daisy ad as I should be. Manipulative and cynical yes, but it blew my younger self away at the time. Still, I can see how Auden wouldn’t much like to be used that way.
My favorite Auden poem, predictably enough, has to be the ekphrastic Musée des Beaux Arts, with its wonderful “torturer’s horse / Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.”
Below, a holographic copy, compliments of The Library of Congress:
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