Auden’s mourning poem “Stop All the Clocks” captures the mood of those who saw a fascist triumph in the American presidential election.
Tag Archives: W. H. Auden
Stop the Clocks: This Is the Hour of Lead
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "After great pain a formal feeling comes", "Stop All the Clocks", Donald Trump, Election 2024, Emily Dickinson, Kamala Harris, King Lear, William Shakespeare Comments closed
9-11 and Auden’s “September 1, 1939”
In which I examine why Americans turned to Auden’s “September 1, 1939” on September 11, 2001–and how the poem still offers us solace and hope in the face of Trumpism.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "September 1 1939", Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, World War II Comments closed
Paul Celan on Fascism’s Horrors
Paul Celan’s “Death Fugue,” about the Holocaust, reads differently during the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "September 1 1939", Death Fugue, Holocaust, Israel and Gaza, Paul Celan, World War II Comments closed
Biden and Auden’s Unknown Citizen
Auden’s “Unknown Citizen” looks better now than when the poet wrote the poem.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Unknown Citizen", Donald Trump, Election 2024, Joe Biden, MAGA Comments closed
Poems for Judaism’s High Holy Days
Note: If you wish to receive, via e-mail, (1) my weekly newsletter or (2) daily copies of these posts, notify me at [email protected] and indicate which you would like. I promise not to share your e-mail address with anyone. To unsubscribe, send me a follow-up email. Sunday Rosh Hashanah, when Jews do a spiritual self-assessment and take upon […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Days of Awe", "In Memory of W. B. Yeats", Alicia Ostriker, High Holy Days, Rosh Hashanah Comments closed
Empire of Light, Filled with Poetry
The film “Empire of Light” is magical in part because of all the poetry recited.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Death's Echo", "Trees", Alfred Lord Tennyson, Ali Fears Eats the Soul, Chariots of Fire, cinema, Empire of Light, In Memoriam, Philip Larkin, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, T.S. Eliot, Waste Land Comments closed
Terrible Beauty Born from Easter 1916?
Yeats’s “Easter, 1916” is a profound meditation on activism, including on the poet’s ambivalent feelings about Dublin’s Easter Rising.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Easter 1916", David Mamet, Easter uprising, Irish independence, Maud Gonne, Paul Muldoon, Terrorism, William Butler Yeats Comments closed
Was the Moon Landing Poetic? A Debate
Friday As tomorrow will be the 50th anniversary of the lunar landing, I went looking for literature that marked the occasion. A useful New York Times article, written 20 years after the event, surveyed the field and alerted me to the two poems that I share today. Interestingly, not much was written, leading to the […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "World is too much with us", "Moon Landing", "Voyage to the Moon", Archibald MacLeish, lunar landing, Neil Armstrong, Of a Fire on the Moon, William Wordsworth Comments closed
Embattled Humanities Remain Vital
The humanities at the moment are reeling but society’s need for them is as urgent as ever.
