In Memory of W.B. Yeats - W.H. Auden
A Three-Part Elegy Reflecting on Poetry’s Enduring Power Amidst Mortal Loss
Excerpt (under 90 characters, for copyright compliance):
“He disappeared in the dead of winter…”
Written shortly after William Butler Yeats’s death in January 1939, W.H. Auden’s “In Memory of W.B. Yeats” is structured in three distinct sections, each articulating different facets of grief, poetic craft, and cultural identity. The poem stands as both elegy and meditation: While paying homage to Yeats, Auden simultaneously examines how poetry endures and influences the collective consciousness.
In the first section, Auden sets a bleak midwinter scene, underscoring the starkness of the world that has lost one of its major poetic voices. The second section provides a more direct engagement with Yeats’s style and reputation, contrasting the poet’s singular genius with the impersonal forces—political, historical, and linguistic—that shape culture. Auden’s often-quoted line, “For poetry makes nothing happen,” appears here, a provocative statement about poetry’s role in a tumultuous world.
In the final section, the tone shifts from eulogy to exhortation. Auden beckons readers and writers to persist in creating art, despite its apparent limitations in the face of war and political strife. This section closes with a hopeful, prayer-like benediction, suggesting that the gift of poetry is not in direct political action, but in its ability to uplift, console, and speak to our shared humanity.
Marked by both modernist experimentation and a classical elegiac spirit, “In Memory of W.B. Yeats” mirrors the complexities Auden saw in Yeats’s own work: at once grounded in personal emotion and engaged with sweeping historical forces. Today, the poem remains a key exemplar of 20th-century elegy, showing how a poet can simultaneously mourn a peer, critique the times, and reaffirm art’s transformative power in dark moments of history.
Key points
1. Composed shortly after Yeats’s death, the poem blends traditional elegy with modernist elements.
2. Auden’s famous assertion “For poetry makes nothing happen” invites debate on art’s societal impact.
3. Divided into three sections, it shifts from personal grief to broader reflections on poetry’s place in a troubled world.
4. The poem ultimately insists on art’s enduring significance, even when confronted by political upheaval and loss.