41:
1057:
33:
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192:
The final two stanzas shift radically in tone and content, turning to the truth that the poet can tell, "We must love one another or die," and to the presence in the world of "the Just" who exchange messages of hope. The poem ends with the hope that the poet, like "the Just", can "show an affirming
351:
and was widely circulated and discussed for its relevance to recent events. Charles T. Matthews from the
University of Virginia commented on the prescience of the 1939 poem reflecting the cultural sorrow experienced in response to 11 September by quoting the last two
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Even before printing the poem for the first time, Auden deleted two stanzas from the latter section, one of them proclaiming his faith in an inevitable "education of man" away from war and division. The two stanzas are printed in
288:
236:(1945) he omitted the famous stanza that ends "We must love one another or die." In 1957, he wrote to the critic Laurence Lerner, "Between you and me, I loathe that poem" (quoted in Edward Mendelson,
170:", another poem about an important historical event; like Yeats's poem, Auden's moves from a description of historical failures and frustrations to a possible transformation in the present or future.
327:
backdrop to the audio of
Johnson's speech. Johnson's version of the line, inserted into a speech by an unidentified speechwriter, was "We must either love each other, or we must die."
181:
until now," next the internal conflicts in every individual person that correspond to the external conflicts of the war. Much of the language and content of the poem echoes that of
287:
232:
Soon after writing the poem, Auden began to turn away from it, apparently because he found it flattering to himself and to his readers. When he reprinted the poem in
263:(1964), with a note saying about this and four other early poems, "Mr. W. H. Auden considers these five poems to be trash which he is ashamed to have written."
177:, the poem briefly describes the social and personal pathology that has brought about the outbreak of war: first the historical development of Germany "from
255:, but altered the most famous line to read "We must love one another and die." Later he allowed the poem to be reprinted only once, in a
441:
316:
247:
In the mid-1950s Auden began to refuse permission to editors who asked to reprint the poem in anthologies. In 1955, he allowed
513:
412:
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481:
972:
119:
473:
145:
127:
312:
889:
446:
468:
384:(2002) in which he argues that "economic rivalries ... formed the essential and primary cause of World War II."
1079:
486:
123:
40:
779:
382:
A Low, Dishonest Decade: The Great Powers, Eastern Europe, and the
Economic Origins of World War II, 1930-1941
319:
campaign. In the ad, the image of a young girl picks petals from a daisy, then is replaced by the image of a
240:, p. 478). He resolved to omit it from his further collections, and it did not appear in his 1966
506:
344:
1044:
897:
739:
108:
275:
wrote, "Because he once wrote 'We must love one another or die' he can command me to follow him" (
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348:
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707:
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in a recording of one of his speeches, was used in the famous
Johnson campaign commercial "
8:
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842:
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905:
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213:(according to a communication of Kallman to friends, see Edward Mendelson,
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Despite Auden's disapproval, the poem became famous and widely popular.
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1021:
991:
324:
210:
307:
A close echo of the line "We must love one another or die," spoken by
32:
182:
20:
380:
used the phrase "A Low, Dishonest Decade" for the title of his book
97:
353:
78:
issue of 18 October 1939, and in book form in Auden's collection
487:
The right poem for the wrong time, by Ian Sansom (The
Guardian)
357:
174:
159:
491:
19:
This article is about the W. H. Auden poem. For the date, see
48:
observes German soldiers marching into Poland, September 1939
57:
482:
Sleepwalking toward
Baghdad, by Gary Kimaya (Salon.com)
347:, the poem was read (with many lines omitted) on
1071:
469:Auden on Bin Laden, by Eric McHenry (Slate.com)
23:. For the invasion on that day in history, see
507:
434:
126:. Unsourced material may be challenged and
514:
500:
253:The New Pocket Anthology of American Verse
201:Auden wrote the poem in the first days of
407:. Cambridge University Press. p. 1.
146:Learn how and when to remove this message
281:
39:
31:
205:while visiting the father of his lover
1072:
404:The Cambridge Companion to W. H. Auden
196:
495:
400:
193:flame" in the midst of the disaster.
124:adding citations to reliable sources
91:
234:The Collected Poetry of W. H. Auden
13:
14:
1101:
457:
242:Collected Shorter Poems 1927–1957
158:The poem deliberately echoes the
1056:
1055:
96:
68:, which would mark the start of
521:
477:"Beliefs" column about the poem
447:American Historical Association
371:We must suffer them all again.
365:The enlightenment driven away,
343:In 2001, immediately after the
330:A reference to the poem titles
421:
394:
87:
1:
431:. The Teaching Company. 2011.
387:
72:. It was first published in
266:
7:
10:
1106:
1090:World War II and the media
251:to include it complete in
64:written shortly after the
18:
1053:
1037:
1002:
983:
932:
873:
750:
697:
660:
529:
464:Original text of the poem
369:Mismanagement and grief,
345:11 September 2001 attacks
66:German invasion of Poland
1045:W. H. Auden bibliography
898:The Dog Beneath the Skin
740:Forewords and Afterwords
367:The habit-forming pain,
277:Two Cheers for Democracy
442:Paul N. Hehn: 1927-2014
376:The American historian
187:Psychology and Religion
957:Elegy for Young Lovers
864:The Shield of Achilles
836:In Praise of Limestone
822:The Sea and the Mirror
602:The Shield of Achilles
374:
304:
261:Poetry of the Thirties
49:
37:
1080:Poetry by W. H. Auden
1010:George Augustus Auden
688:Christopher Isherwood
427:Charles T. Matthews.
362:
349:National Public Radio
323:, which serves as an
303:"Daisy" advertisement
302:
43:
35:
21:1939 § September
973:Love's Labour's Lost
780:Musée des Beaux Arts
671:Letters from Iceland
401:Smith, Stan (2005).
173:Until the two final
120:improve this section
1016:John Bicknell Auden
949:The Rake's Progress
808:Hymn to St. Cecilia
801:The Unknown Citizen
642:Epistle to a Godson
197:History of the text
16:Poem by W. H. Auden
890:The Dance of Death
882:Paid on Both Sides
829:The Age of Anxiety
815:For the Time Being
708:The Enchafèd Flood
626:City Without Walls
586:The Age of Anxiety
578:For the Time Being
440:David O. Stowell,
305:
50:
38:
25:Invasion of Poland
1067:
1066:
859:" (1952–53)
852:" (1949–55)
843:The Platonic Blow
794:September 1, 1939
634:Academic Graffiti
414:978-1-139-82713-3
356:of Auden's third
321:nuclear explosion
300:
156:
155:
148:
54:September 1, 1939
1097:
1059:
1058:
906:The Ascent of F6
751:Individual poems
724:Secondary Worlds
683:Journey to a War
661:Books containing
516:
509:
502:
493:
492:
451:
438:
432:
425:
419:
418:
398:
337:The Normal Heart
301:
223:Edward Mendelson
217:, p. 531).
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75:The New Republic
44:German dictator
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1028:Chester Kallman
998:
979:
928:
914:On the Frontier
869:
850:Horae Canonicae
746:
732:A Certain World
716:The Dyer's Hand
700:and other books
699:
693:
663:prose and verse
662:
656:
618:About the House
530:Books of poetry
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460:
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439:
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429:Why Evil Exists
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207:Chester Kallman
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650:Thank You, Fog
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610:Homage to Clio
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570:The Double Man
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554:On This Island
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475:New York Times
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458:External links
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309:Lyndon Johnson
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249:Oscar Williams
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36:Auden in 1939.
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787:Refugee Blues
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766:Funeral Blues
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361:
360:of the poem:
359:
355:
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346:
341:
339:
338:
334:'s 1985 play
333:
328:
326:
322:
318:
315:" during the
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273:E. M. Forster
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257:Penguin Books
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105:This section
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939:
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888:
880:
793:
738:
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714:
706:
686:(1939, with
681:
674:(1937, with
669:
648:
640:
632:
624:
616:
608:
600:
592:
584:
576:
568:
562:Another Time
560:
552:
544:
536:
474:
445:
436:
428:
423:
403:
396:
381:
378:Paul N. Hehn
375:
364:
342:
335:
332:Larry Kramer
329:
306:
276:
270:
260:
252:
246:
241:
237:
233:
231:
226:
219:
214:
203:World War II
200:
191:
186:
172:
168:Easter, 1916
157:
142:
133:
118:Please help
106:
81:Another Time
79:
73:
70:World War II
53:
51:
46:Adolf Hitler
29:
1030:(companion)
941:Paul Bunyan
759:The Orators
698:Prose works
546:The Orators
523:W. H. Auden
325:apocalyptic
238:Later Auden
227:Early Auden
215:Later Auden
164:W. B. Yeats
136:August 2019
88:Description
62:W. H. Auden
1085:1939 poems
1074:Categories
1022:John Auden
992:Night Mail
450:, May 2015
388:References
259:anthology
211:New Jersey
1018:(brother)
279:, 1951).
267:Reception
183:C.G. Jung
107:does not
1061:Category
1012:(father)
933:Libretti
866:" (1955)
857:Bucolics
845:" (1948)
838:" (1948)
831:" (1947)
824:" (1944)
817:" (1944)
810:" (1940)
803:" (1939)
796:" (1939)
789:" (1939)
782:" (1938)
775:" (1937)
768:" (1936)
761:" (1932)
354:couplets
229:(1981).
189:(1938).
162:form of
84:(1940).
1038:Related
175:stanzas
128:removed
113:sources
56:" is a
1003:Family
995:(1936)
976:(1973)
968:(1966)
960:(1961)
952:(1951)
944:(1941)
925:(1958)
917:(1938)
909:(1936)
901:(1935)
893:(1933)
885:(1928)
743:(1973)
735:(1970)
727:(1968)
719:(1962)
711:(1950)
653:(1974)
645:(1972)
637:(1971)
629:(1969)
621:(1966)
613:(1960)
605:(1955)
597:(1951)
589:(1947)
581:(1944)
573:(1941)
565:(1940)
557:(1936)
549:(1932)
541:(1930)
411:
358:stanza
179:Luther
160:stanza
874:Plays
773:Spain
594:Nones
538:Poems
313:Daisy
409:ISBN
317:1964
166:'s "
111:any
109:cite
58:poem
225:'s
209:in
185:'s
122:by
60:by
1076::
444:,
340:.
244:.
862:"
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834:"
827:"
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771:"
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757:"
690:)
678:)
515:e
508:t
501:v
417:.
149:)
143:(
138:)
134:(
130:.
116:.
52:"
27:.
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