I absolutely ADORE this poem. It fits together as well as any poem that has ever been written, and it manages to be witty, irreverent and deep all at the same time.


The More Loving One

Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.

How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.

Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.

Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.

W.H. Auden

------------------
Caleb
www.poemtree.com

Coincidentally I've just this minute stumbled across this Cummings, which I offer as an entr'acte before we all are told what a rotten poet and a rotter Auden truly was:

Space being(don't forget to remember)Curved
(and that reminds me who said o yes Frost
Something there is which isn't fond of walls)
an electromagnetic (now I've lost
the)Einstein expanded Newton's law preserved
conTinuum(but we read that beFore)

of Course life being just a Reflex you
know since Everything is Relative or

to sum it All Up god being Dead(not to

mention inTerred)
BANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTLONG LIVE that Upwardlooking
Serene Illustrious and Beatific
Lord of Creation,MAN:
BANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POSTat a least crooking
of Whose compassionate digit,earth's most terrific

quadruped swoons into billiardBalls!

though Auden's poem is probably closer to Frost's "To a Young Wretch".



[This message has been edited by Christopher Mulrooney (edited February 19, 2001).]

I'm partial to the Auden of 1935-1940 or so, but I agree with Caleb that this is a fine piece, perhaps the best of the 1950's. I can't help thinking, though, that there is a "that' missing in the third line of the otherwise superb third stanza. Or am I being plebeian again?

By the way, Christopher, if you're not happy with the discussions here, we can chat about other online sites where you might be more happy.

Let's chat. I wasn't planning on staying here long, anyway. Furthermore, you're wrong about "that", it's a common ellipsis.



[This message has been edited by Christopher Mulrooney (edited February 19, 2001).]

Hey Caleb,

One of my ALL-TIME favorites by Auden
(and not exactly his "typical" style
from that period or any other. Very
much sounds like Frost!).

Hecht in his book on Auden has some interesting
things to say about this one, as does
Mendelson in his. In effect, out of his wrenching
experiences with Kallman (who apparently
wasn't much of one for returning love or
anything else), Auden created a great poem.

And it just barely avoids being mawkish.
Poor Wystan.

If this Auden poem avoids mawkishness, it does so by being extremely elliptical. I'm with Mike on early Auden; but somewhere during the long, sad, sodden slide into old age, the poet lost his spark, if not his skill. Here the lame ending compares poorly indeed with finales of "Lullaby" or "Two Songs for Hedli Anderson."

Alan Sullivan

Michael, it took me a minute to figure out where you would put "that". If the line needed fleshing out, I would agree, but it doesn't, and the ellipsis doesn't strike me as unnatural. He seems to be sticking to a close syllable count.

Alan, I don't see why you think the ending is lame. It's a concise and witty poem, not meant to be particularly profound (though I do find some depth in it), and the ending strikes me as suitable. I love its irreverence and its perfection. I don't see any mawkishness in it.

I just looked up The Lullaby and that is a very complex poem -- I'll have to read it a few more times before I comment, but it strikes me as being a very different kind of poem from this one. "Two Songs" isn't in the book I have (selected poems in their original form, before he changed them).

Caleb, I cited those two poems because they strike me as more compelling examples of Auden addressing the topic of disappointed or frustrated love. Though also, in their own ways, quite oblique, they have a rawness and intensity that I find lacking in the resigned and understated poem, "The More Loving One." On its own I like the latter well enough, but it compares poorly with the author's previous work.

Alan Sullivan

I'm with Caleb on the ending (and I think we're talking about the last line and not the whole last stanza) not being lame. It only seems lame. I think the ease of the rhyme and the simplicity of the language undercuts the last line a bit. But on reflection, and after smiling at the ending's humor, I think the line does well. This is no great piece, but it is a good minor lyric.