“Light Verse Can Be Serious” in the Songs of W. H. Auden

Abstract

This study evaluates Auden’s “Twelve Songs” (1935-38), “Five Songs” (1948-53), “Two Don Quixote Lyrics” (1963) representing three different periods in the Auden canon in order to discuss the senses of anxiety and desperateness felt by the poetic personas. As the last major voice of Eliot generation, Auden poeticizes his process of problematic uniformity. In other words, he feels at home after the harassing motion of centring and decentring reflected in his early poems. The songs from the different periods of Auden demonstrate the unchangeable nature of hopelessness in his poems. However, the awareness of a broken link with various defining factors such as love and nature evolves into a humble acknowledgement in Auden’s later works. Thus, the selected poems share a similar attitude towards the basic arguments of love, loneliness, and bourgeoisie values besides the political implications on capitalism and religion. In conclusion, the analysis of “Twelve Songs,” “Five Songs” and “Two Don Quixote Lyrics” from his early, transition and later periods suggests that Auden’s poetry cannot be reduced into any formula and reflects his problematic perception of ‘peace’ as the poems waver between the songs of reunification and those of separation.