Skip to main content

Questions tagged [wystan-hugh-auden]

Questions about the English-American poet Wystan Hugh Auden (1907 – 1973) and his works. In addition to poems, he also wrote libretti for several operas, including Igor Stravinsky's "The Rake's Progress".

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
4 votes
1 answer
268 views

What do "the vertical man" and "the horizontal one" mean?

From John Le Carré's Smiley's People: Lacon, Strickland, Mostyn, thought Smiley as Strickland’s Aberdonian brogue hammered on. One Cabinet Office factotum, one Circus fixer, one scared boy. Why not ...
Silent Sojourner's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
371 views

Who is the "lady weeping at the crossroads" in W. H. Auden's poem?

... and why does she need to go to the end of the world to plunge a penknife into her false heart? W. H. Auden's poem Lady Weeping at the Crossroads starts with the stanza “Lady, weeping at the ...
Peter Shor's user avatar
  • 14.4k
5 votes
1 answer
668 views

“O Where Are You Going” / “The Three Companions” by W. H. Auden

Below is a poem by W. H. Auden called “O Where Are You Going” or “The Three Companions”: "O where are you going?" said reader to rider, "That valley is fatal where furnaces burn, ...
user392289's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
167 views

Does Auden's poem 'The Model' refer to any particular painting?

I re-read 'The Model' by W H Auden earlier today, and I was struck by how good it is. I've venerated Auden since I was sixteen, but I hadn't appreciated this poem properly until now. I find myself ...
Tom Hosker's user avatar
  • 1,182
3 votes
1 answer
55 views

Does Auden contradict himself in "children might well appear to be more rational than adults, for a child is not, by nature, more anything"?

I first saw this quote here: Philip Johnson-Laird BA PhD Psychology (UCL), Stuart Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Princeton. How We Reason (1st edn 2008). p. 245. I emboldened. “Walter de la ...
user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
105 views

Why does Auden relate logical deduction to Adam and Eve's Fall?

From: Philip Johnson-Laird BA PhD Psychology (UCL), Stuart Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Princeton. (Author isn't a logician.) How We Reason (1st edn 2008). p. 103. How We Make ...
user avatar