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Poet: W. H. Auden
Poem: In Praise Of Limestone
Year: Published/Written in 1948
Comment 1 of 1, added on November 4th, 2009 at 4:10 AM.
limestone
“IN PRAISE OF LIMESTONE”
-landscape, woven with political awareness
- written in 1948 in May
- about both the landscape of his childhood and the landscape of Italy (summering on Ischia)
- also about the human body. The limestone landscape is a metaphor for this, with all its foibles, weaknesses
- beautiful, essay-like, but follows a pattern of fairly constant (but not) syllables per line
- affirms the human scale of things, the ordinary everyday, in the face of post war bureaucracy and imperial conflicts
- 1st stanza, already identifying us (‘we’), sense of inclusiveness, identifies us as ‘inconstant’ and faithless
- contradiction ‘inconstant’ yet consistently homesick
-‘dissolves in water’, not strong, shaped by the things around it
- 1st few lines, direct parallel to human body, ‘secret system of caves and conduits’
- ‘Mother’, refers to Mother Nature
- continuing tone of lightness, bright atmosphere “butterflies and lizards” (lounging)
- ‘definite places’ “never doubting that...he is loved”, religious reference
- not difficult to transform ‘from wild to a formal vineyard’,
- “from appearing waters to conspicuous fountains”,
-assonance ‘pleasing, teasing, easily’ highlights the simplicity
- 2nd stanza, tone continues to depict a relaxed environment
- ‘never, thank god, in step’ exclamation of relief that no military precision is evident here
- nature of the people- so friendly that they ‘can’t imagine important secrets’
- these people are not of a landscape that is threatening or intimidiating
-allusion to volcanoes- ‘they have never had to veil their faces in awe/ of a crater whose blazing fury could not be fixed’
-imagery- of desert ‘infinite space’ of the nomads
- jungle ‘never encountered fungi’ ‘insects of the jungle, monstrous forms’, contrasts to image of desert
-pleading tone, ‘with which we have nothing, we like to hope’
- Pronoun ‘them’ refers to the locals, ‘the band of rivals’, people of the limestone landscape
- Because they’re of such a human landscape, we understand their flaws- understand becoming a pimp, dealing fake jewellery, ruining a tenor voice by overusing it because you want love/approval of the audience
-could happen to all, but the worst of it, represent the ordinary people and their predilections
-reflective tone, quite personal, tentative “I suppose”
-some seek more extreme environments “immoderate soils”, where the meaning of life is more serious
-personifies the landscapes, as if they are beings, tempting the best and the worst by appealing to their weaknesses
-seductive tone, offering to fulfil their dreams
-megalomaniac- obsessed with power
-final stanza has a very personal tone, addressed to his love ‘you were right, my dear’
- this landscape is not everything that it seems to be, it seems to be the womb-(motherland?)
-‘great powers’ are the gods
-challenges people e.g. The ‘down to earth poet’ and his ‘anti-mythological myth’, perpetuates the myth that myths don’t exist
-statues and gamins (young teens propositioning him)
yoyo from Australia
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“IN PRAISE OF LIMESTONE”
-landscape, woven with political awareness
- written in 1948 in May
- about both the landscape of his childhood and the landscape of Italy (summering on Ischia)
- also about the human body. The limestone landscape is a metaphor for this, with all its foibles, weaknesses
- beautiful, essay-like, but follows a pattern of fairly constant (but not) syllables per line
- affirms the human scale of things, the ordinary everyday, in the face of post war bureaucracy and imperial conflicts
- 1st stanza, already identifying us (‘we’), sense of inclusiveness, identifies us as ‘inconstant’ and faithless
- contradiction ‘inconstant’ yet consistently homesick
-‘dissolves in water’, not strong, shaped by the things around it
- 1st few lines, direct parallel to human body, ‘secret system of caves and conduits’
- ‘Mother’, refers to Mother Nature
- continuing tone of lightness, bright atmosphere “butterflies and lizards” (lounging)
- ‘definite places’ “never doubting that...he is loved”, religious reference
- not difficult to transform ‘from wild to a formal vineyard’,
- “from appearing waters to conspicuous fountains”,
-assonance ‘pleasing, teasing, easily’ highlights the simplicity
- 2nd stanza, tone continues to depict a relaxed environment
- ‘never, thank god, in step’ exclamation of relief that no military precision is evident here
- nature of the people- so friendly that they ‘can’t imagine important secrets’
- these people are not of a landscape that is threatening or intimidiating
-allusion to volcanoes- ‘they have never had to veil their faces in awe/ of a crater whose blazing fury could not be fixed’
-imagery- of desert ‘infinite space’ of the nomads
- jungle ‘never encountered fungi’ ‘insects of the jungle, monstrous forms’, contrasts to image of desert
-pleading tone, ‘with which we have nothing, we like to hope’
- Pronoun ‘them’ refers to the locals, ‘the band of rivals’, people of the limestone landscape
- Because they’re of such a human landscape, we understand their flaws- understand becoming a pimp, dealing fake jewellery, ruining a tenor voice by overusing it because you want love/approval of the audience
-could happen to all, but the worst of it, represent the ordinary people and their predilections
-reflective tone, quite personal, tentative “I suppose”
-some seek more extreme environments “immoderate soils”, where the meaning of life is more serious
-personifies the landscapes, as if they are beings, tempting the best and the worst by appealing to their weaknesses
-seductive tone, offering to fulfil their dreams
-megalomaniac- obsessed with power
-final stanza has a very personal tone, addressed to his love ‘you were right, my dear’
- this landscape is not everything that it seems to be, it seems to be the womb-(motherland?)
-‘great powers’ are the gods
-challenges people e.g. The ‘down to earth poet’ and his ‘anti-mythological myth’, perpetuates the myth that myths don’t exist
-statues and gamins (young teens propositioning him)
yoyo from Australia