I wonder about some of the references in that poem, particularly the mentions of "Luther" and "Linz" in the second stanza. Does Auden blame Martin Luther for Naziism? And what does a city in Austria mean?
The poem is saying that the causes of the war can be found both in the sociopolitical history of modern Germany and in the personal history of Adolf Hitler.
The Reformation helped to start Germany on its path from feudalism under the Holy Roman Empire to a modern nation-state, including by giving the Germanic peoples a common religious identity and by laying the foundation for a unified German language with the publication of the Gutenberg Bible.
Linz, Austria is the birthplace of Hitler. The poem may be blaming Hitler's adult temperament on his unhappy childhood.
Even I had to look up the references to the ballerinas (Nijinsky and so on), but I liked what I saw. I guess people in the 1930s knew obscure ballet references a lot better than we do today!
My galaxy-brained, terminally Catholic take is that modernism, and therefore everything bad about it, is Martin Luther's fault, but I am confident this was not Auden's view.
Oh! Here I assumed he was a communist from some of the later stanzas. (Perhaps I should know more about Auden before posting his poetry. But, then, one of the joys of poetry is how it can transcend its author.)
Have you posted this before? I think I remember reading it and realizing, "Oh, that's where the Andromeda title 'An Affirming Flame' comes from."
Wasn't me! I never saw this poem in my life until early this fall. (Hat tip: my mother.)
ALSO: fun fact: Auden loathed this poem and refused to allow publishers to include it in anthologies.
I wonder about some of the references in that poem, particularly the mentions of "Luther" and "Linz" in the second stanza. Does Auden blame Martin Luther for Naziism? And what does a city in Austria mean?
I confess I haven't read many poems.
The poem is saying that the causes of the war can be found both in the sociopolitical history of modern Germany and in the personal history of Adolf Hitler.
The Reformation helped to start Germany on its path from feudalism under the Holy Roman Empire to a modern nation-state, including by giving the Germanic peoples a common religious identity and by laying the foundation for a unified German language with the publication of the Gutenberg Bible.
Linz, Austria is the birthplace of Hitler. The poem may be blaming Hitler's adult temperament on his unhappy childhood.
Hitler was actually born in Braunau am Inn, on the Austrian border with Germany. But I see he spent part of his childhood in Linz.
Even I had to look up the references to the ballerinas (Nijinsky and so on), but I liked what I saw. I guess people in the 1930s knew obscure ballet references a lot better than we do today!
My galaxy-brained, terminally Catholic take is that modernism, and therefore everything bad about it, is Martin Luther's fault, but I am confident this was not Auden's view.
I looked up Auden's Wikipedia bio, which described him as Anglo-Catholic. So, not entirely implausible.
Oh! Here I assumed he was a communist from some of the later stanzas. (Perhaps I should know more about Auden before posting his poetry. But, then, one of the joys of poetry is how it can transcend its author.)