Epitaph on a Tyrant- a Critical Analysis

Auden’s poem is a criticism of human perceptions and how we use them to detect, or suppress human suffering. In the first half of the poem Auden “compares versions of indifference by portraying youth and age, animals, and humans” (Shmoop, 2014). In the first few lines of the poem, Auden comments on the perceptions of the “Old Masters” and how they were never wrong in their discernment of suffering. He then compares the old masters perceptions to the perceptions of children and animals and how they are unaware of,

The poem, "Musee Des Beaux Arts" by W.H. Auden is a twenty-one line poem broken into two stanzas. To the naked eye, this poem can appear super simple, but it is actually very complex. The first stanza is the longer of the two and focuses on the idea of suffering and where it can be found. He lists several instances of suffering and makes note that suffering will always be there, it is unavoidable, but the suffering is not always in the center of the frame, it is not always the main focus of the people and things around it. I find this incredibly true and accurate in everyday life. We are all basically background characters in someone else's life and vice versa, they are just background characters us, so they may not and probably will not always

The English- American poet, Wystan Hugh Auden, better known as W. H. Auden, was known for his ability to craft poems in different styles centering his work on different moral, social, and political issues. W.H. Auden is recognized for having some of the most renowned poetry of the 20th century due to his ability to use ancient moral issues, and relate them to current events of the time. Even though Auden had a talent for using his personal experiences to create poetry of love and suffering, some of his most powerful poems are written upon the immortality of war. Focusing on totalitarian dictators, Auden created two of his most moving poems, “September 1, 1939” and “The Shield of Achilles”. Auden uses his poetry to express the ways bureaucratic dictatorship is used to control citizens, leading dictators to unleash war upon the world. Due to his knowledge of the potential destructive tendencies of dictators, Auden uses his poetry to convey the message that the power of enduring human spirit has the ability to counteract the harmful effects of dictatorship if civilians suppress the power of the tyrant.

W.H. Auden is a famous English poet from the early 1900’s. Auden wrote the poems, “Epitaph on a Tyrant”, “The Unknown Citizen”, and “Lullaby”. Much of his poetry are concerned with moral issues as strong political, social, and psychological context. Auden used figurative language and historical background to make his poems more expressive.

In this essay I shall compare the ways in which Owen suggests that war is futile, I will be comparing poems Anthem for doomed youth, Futility and Exposure. Owen was a famous British poet born on March 18th; and died on the 4th November; he gave us an insight into 'hell' or otherwise known as world war one. Owen was a young man of 18 years when he enlisted into the army. He was sucked into the propaganda of war perceived as sweet, Owen was shot, a week before the Armistice day, as he was leading his men across the canal, he was a mere age of 25, war left him with a slight stammer which was unusually usual in poet's.

Lord Alfred Tennyson is a Victorian poet who was born in Somersby, England in 1809. Tennyson was known for his dramatic writings, which represented the Victorian period. The way Tennyson wrote poetry was dramatically changed after the death of his dear friend, Arthur Henry Hallam in 1833. In honor of Hallam, Lord Alfred Tennyson dedicated In Memoriam to his deceased friend. In the poem, In Memoriam, Tennyson describes the grief and misery he felt in the poem in section LXVIII by explaining the amount of grief he feels, particularly when he is trying to sleep. Throughout the poem however, in section LXXXII, he is able to start overcoming the sadness and begins to move on. By the time Tennyson reaches section LXXXV, he wants to open up to new friends. This poem explains the years to follow after the death of Hallam; in sections LXVIII, LXXXII, and LXXXV Tennyson is at different stages of grief and mourning.

Though one more easy to understand, compared to his other poems, it is still contradictory and confusing piece of literature. As a reflection on people’s - especially his - thoughts at the time, it works wonders (once it’s understood). And though the man himself and what goes on inside his head may never be fully understood, at least this poem gives a vibrant, albeit extremely contradictory, view of the surrounding

W.H. Auden has one of the biggest names in poetry for the twentieth century. He wrote countless of poems, each being relatable and readable. One of his shining examples of his work is summed up into one brilliant writing, Musee Des Beaux Arts. This poem covers all grounds in the most simple way you could understand, yet also in the most complex. There is no area he lacks in and always impresses with the diversity that one writing of his can cover. Not only does he emotionally tie you into the poem, but he also gives spiritual insight and expresses political views. The background of this story happens to be the bitter subject of war, which seems to be contradicting. Yet, he somehow is able to perceive war through his art efficiently. The inspiration of this poem comes from not only war, but mainly from a painting that shows the downfall of Icarus. He

W.H. Auden’s poem, “Musée des Beaux Arts,” is clearly about suffering. However, Auden presents the idea of suffering in an uncommon, shrewdly observant manner by letting us know that the “Old Masters” have never been wrong about it (lines 10-12). The “Old Masters,” we discover, are painter like Pieter Brueghel, but the poet could also possibly mean that other artist—such as writers, musicians, dramatists, and myth creators—have been correct to imply in their works that no one seems to care about other people’s suffering. Auden’s poem suggest that suffering only becomes real to us when we experience it firsthand—possibly as the “Old Masters” have done by enduring, in some way, the sort of “dreadful martyrdom,” (line 10) that is an unfortunate

“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.” Like movies, novels and music, poems are texts that people use to reflect on their lives and experiences. Poems can have an impact on people’s thinking, not only through the things they might say to their readers, but through the discussions that readers have with each other about poems. I truly agree with this statement and believe that it accurately describes how people can reflect on their lives after reading poems. I chose the genre of war poetry, as it is one of the most successful, it captivates the reader, with either glorious and courageous events or tragedy and loss resulting from war. Today I will be comparing two poems, both relating to war but from different time periods; they are ‘Beach Burial’, by Kenneth Slessor, written In 1944 during the Modern Era, and ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson written in 1854 during the Victorian Era.

This essay is included my own understanding, plus some information that I gathered from a lot of researches and critics’ comments on this poem. I, myself interpret this poem through the first perspective I would explain about, and in two other perspectives my ideas hardly is included.

University of Oxford English professor, Dr. Stuart Lee argues that the First World War was "one of the seminal moments of the twentieth century in which literate soldiers, plunged into inhuman conditions, reacted to their surroundings in poems". Lee’s statement identifies the role played by First World War poetry played in not only commemorating the Great War but also allowing scholars to gain an insight into the brutalities of the conflict through this literature available. This essay will agree with the statement that First World War poetry has become one of the defining factors of Britain’s memory of the war, as it has acted as an avenue to access the real emotions and difficulties faced by the people, including soldiers, caused by the

In Victorian England, Lord Alfred Tennyson was one of the most prominent figures in literature. His writings highlighted the society he lived in and at the same time revealed his inner thoughts and views. During this period, Tennyson wrote the poem In Memoriam A. H. H. after his friend Arthur Hallam unexpectedly died. Tennyson structured the poem in iambic tetrameter, and it contained over 100 sections that each tells a separate facet of Tennyson’s feelings during this time. Even though he wrote most often of Hallam, some of the sections pertain to larger concepts of life, death, and science. While In Memoriam adheres to a relentlessly regular meter, Tennyson breaks away from it when the subject of his grief, not Death or Science, comes up.

In ‘In Memory of WB Yeats,’ Auden parallels historical and political events and personalities, using the legacy of WB Yeats to represent the necessity of powerful literature in influencing political perspectives. He presents the poem in the form of an elegy to show his admiration of Yeats’ influence despite his death as explicated in ‘words of a dead man are modified in the guts of the living’. The juxtaposition of dead and living pronounces the power of poetry and its timelessness. The metaphor ‘For poetry makes nothing happen … it survives, a way of happening, a mouth,’ exemplifies the immortality of poetry and its ability to revolutionise politics through the ideas spoken by people. Auden presents that the individual voice can shift

English Poetry is not yet fit to speak of them. Neither it about deeds, or lands, nor anything about glory, honour, might, majesty, dominion, or power, except war. Above all I am not concerned with Poetry. My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity. Yet these elegies are to this generation in no sense consolatory. They maybe to the next. All a poet can do today is warning. That is why true Poets must be truthful” -- Wilfred Owen, from a preface to a planned book of his poetry