Question: Discuss the themes of
modernism in W.
H. Auden’s
poems titled ‘Lullaby’ and ‘The Unknown Citizen’.
Answer:
Like imagery and symbolism, a theme plays an
important role in literary compositions. A theme is the central idea of a poem that a poet wants to convey to the
readers. However, despite several other
themes, the themes of modernism have been focused in ‘Lullaby’ and ‘The
Unknown Citizen’ by W. H. Auden.
The major themes noticeable here are: crisis in male-female relationship, sense
of insecurity, fear of social insults, sense of guilt, identity crisis, lack of
desire for a change in life, materialism, dehumanisation and the rest.
Lullaby
is one of the best lyrics of W.
H. Auden.
Here, the relationship between male and female is in crisis because it is not
based on moral virtues rather dishonesty. So, the honesty of the modern is
fleeting:
“...fidelity
On the stroke of midnight
pass
Like vibrations of a bell,”
Here,
the sense of insecurity always haunts the lovers because at the crack of dawn
they will be separated as they have little time to make love to each other
since death will separate them soon. Just as every creation on earth is subject
to death and decay, so their love will come to an end soon. The speaker always
thinks of death and he understands that he has little time. Therefore, he wants
to utilise his time by making love to his beloved without losing a fraction of
a second. So the lover says:
“Beauty, midnight, vision dies:”
It
is noticeable here that a couple of lovebirds are involved in out of marriage
relationship. Although the lover, at first, was afraid of insults of his
beloved from society because of their illicit relationship but he, towards the
end of the poem, comes to a realisation that only universal love and charity
will protect them from the nightly insults.
A
sense of guilt is always chasing them but they are not worried about it. And
they find their physical union as spiritual as a hermit’s communion with the
Almighty, God.
“Mortal, guilty, but to me
The entirely beautiful.”
‘The Unknown Citizen’ is another excellent poem by W. H. Auden because of its modern theme. Of all
themes, identity crisis is one of the major ones of the poem. Here,
an unnamed citizen is described. Actually, a person without a name signifies
that he or she is an ordinary person in society. Even, on a monument, two
initials of a name along with a numerical figure are used by the speaker to
introduce him to the readers. It indicates that he is reduced to a mere name.
Here, he can be identified with the unnamed typist girl and the three Thames’
girls in ‘The Waste Land’ by T.S. Eliot.
Even the title of the poem reminds us of how much he is suffering from identity
crisis.
“To JS/07/M 378;”
Materialism is another important theme in the poem. In
modern time, money is called the second god because here each and every thing
is counted in terms of money although it is known that money, wealth and status
cannot only bring happiness in life, people worship money more than any other
thing in this materialistic world. In the same way, the unknown citizen is
considered according to the amount of money and wealth he possesses and the
things he does.
Communication-gap occurs here. As a modern man, the citizen is known to all by the things
he has. But, people do not know much about him. Outer look is more important to
the modern people than honesty and an individual. They regard a person as happy
by the outer appearance. They have almost forgotten that all that glitters is
not gold. Therefore, towards the end of the poem, the speaker becomes
surprised, when the question of the citizen’s happiness and freedom arises as:
“Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.”
The actual humanity of the deceased citizen in question is not important to
the State. His thoughts, feelings, hopes, fears and goals are elided from the
conversation. Statistics cannot convey a man’s inner state. However, the poem
shows the poet’s profound concern for the modern world and its problems. As a
keen observer of the contemporary scene, Auden,
realises that the totalitarian socialist state would be no Utopia and that man
would be reduced to the position of a cog in the wheel and to a routine as a
slave. A citizen will have no scope to develop his initiative or to assert his
individuality. He will be made to conform to the State in all things like the
unknown citizen.
Passivity is another theme found here. The citizen in the poem is
not only ideal but also patriotic because he has done everything an ideal citizen
should do. As he is described, he seems very submissive to the State. Such blind
submission implies his passivity. His payment of taxes, his addition of five
children to population, his service to the Greater Community, his reasonable
public opinion and his active participation in the war bear the sign of
patriotism. Such patriotism here indicates his passive submission to the State.
“When there was peace, he was for peace:”
In
conclusion, it is clear from the discussion above that both of the poems deal
with the problems of modern people. For this reason, Auden
is regarded as one of the distinguished poets of the 20th Century.
Although Auden, like T.S.
Eliot, tries to diagnose society with problems, he
has not of that seriousness as T.
S. Eliot
has in his poems.
Md. Saiful Alam
B. A. Honours and M. A. in English
Lecturer of English
Queen’s College, Dhaka
E-mail: suman64924@gmail.com
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