LITR 5731: Seminar in American Minority Literature
University of Houston-Clear Lake, fall 2001
Poetry Presentation Index

Discussion Leader:           Jennifer Thurik

Discussion Recorder:       Jill Reouix

LITR 5731

Poetry Presentation: "LULLABY" by W.H. Auden

Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-1973)

Auden is recognized as one of the preeminent poets of the 20^th century. His poetry centers on moral issues and evidences strong political, social, and psychological orientations. He has followed the teachings of Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx.

At Oxford, he became a member of the "Oxford Group" or the "Auden Generation." This group followed communist and anti-fascist doctrines and expressed in their writings social, political, and economic concerns, all of which are evident in Auden’s work of the 1930’s.

I would like to focus on objective 5f (dominate-minority relationship) whereas the object is passive and non-speaking while the subject is active and speaking. Notice in the poem who is the subject and who is the object. I’d also like to focus on objective 5a (power of poetry to let others hear and share the minority experience).

Read "Lullaby"

Please think of one sentence to summarize the subject of this poem……. Now, please listen to the following information and my question.

Many critics have said Auden’s love poems seem unreal and ambiguous and they are products of adolescent flirtations and prep-school homosexuality. If ordinary sexual values are taken as negative and rejected, this can be accepted as a source of positive revolutionary values. He was unable or unwilling to accept the values and authority of the late-capitalistic society that he lives in. Since he rejects the established order, it is necessary for him to make a new order. This is why many believe he was a homosexual man.

Question:        What is the relationship between the two subjects in the poem? - Homosexual, traditional, non-traditional?

CLASS DISCUSSION NOTES

As recorded by Jill Reouix

Introduction Questions:

When you read, who is the subject and who is the object in this poem?

How does Auden get the majority to understand how he feels?

(READING OF THE POEM)

Summarize the plot of the poem. What is happening? But keep in mind that he liked revolutionary ideas and unordinary things.

What type of relationship do we see in the poem?

(White) The speaker seems to project himself onto the subject

The "subject" is demanding and the head doesn’t have a voice. It has a fairy tale-like atmosphere, so does this make it gay?

Does it really matter if it is gay? Love is love no matter who it is.

Well, he might be trying to make it appeal to us by making it an ambiguous love.

(White) Are there any gay markers in the poem? Really, there aren’t unless you know the personal background of Auden and therefore go looking for the gay markers.

(Jennifer) I had a really hard time connecting this poem to a homosexual theme.

If you’re gay, it seems that every issue you bring up has to be related to being gay.

(White) This is a problem that African-American writers have as well. Everything they write is expected to be about racial issues.

If you’re gay, you can’t write about anything else.

It’s a marker that he never addresses gender. He tries to keep it genderless.

It has a gothic, dark feel, like with vampires. Those things are sometimes associated with homosexuals.

Maybe it is not a lover in the poem. Maybe it is a division of the soul, body, and mind. Maybe it’s imagination and reality.

It could be a mortal / God relationship—like mythology. It’s a forbidden love—like Cinderella.

(White) The speaker is wise and conscious while the "object" is childlike. The "object’s" thoughts must be provided for it.

Maybe the object is a child in a fantasy and the "subject" is making it feel comfortable. I like the way Auden has no "he" or "she" so that the poem can apply to anyone and any relationship. What about the Hermit’s carnal ecstasy? This gives is a sensuous desire—an interesting image.

What if the "object" is also the speaker? Self love?

Well, then the hermits ecstasy becomes masturbation.

(White) Now, there’s a forbidden subject to talk about—masturbation.

The nights of insult show that he is hiding the forbidden love

Maybe it’s just a fantasy because he can’t be with anyone else.

Well, the only pronoun, "her", refers to Venus.

Is the enchanted slope her breasts? Venus is the goddess of love.

(White) I find the fairy tale images hard to escape. I’ve never been able to understand this poem, yet I’ve always loved it.

It has interesting slant rhymes, and the techniques give it a lyrical feel.

In lines 24-25 the other fashionable men are mad about the lover’s morals.

It gives a feeling of tarot cards, mysticism, fate.

So is this a gay poem?

Is this about a lover dying, moving from the mortal world?

Maybe it’s about the body and soul separating in death.

(READING OF "FUNERAL BLUES")

The "Lullaby" very well could be singing to a sleep of death.

(White) This is still love, no matter which angle you take. There is a quality in the work that transcends other issues.