On Auden's Spirit Of Utopia

Wystan Hugh Auden is widely known as one of the greatest English poet after T. S. Eliot. He created a lot of works, with unsurpassed technical virtuosity and an ability to write poems in nearly every imaginable verse form. His best works portrayed the real condition of modern life, which outpoured a passionate moral sense of building up a better life.The studies of Auden in the western countries nearly penetrate into every important aspect. The rapid progress of critical theories and the easier approach to certain literature in the past two decades, in particular, has brought new points and dimensions to the studies of Auden. But the research that treats Auden's relationship with the spirit of utopia can rarely be seen. By close reading on his poetic works, this dissertation attempts to reveal how Auden, under the complicated background of the century, devotes his attention to human condition. Meanwhile, with the assistance of Auden's essays and his life experiences, this dissertation seeks to give a holistic understanding of his poetic thoughts and his related moral orientation.This dissertation consists of five parts.The Introduction begins with an review of Auden's position in modern poetic history and a general survey of western studies of Auden in the late 80 years. Then the Introduction focuses the concept of utopia, and points out that the essential quality of utopia is not a kind of existence in the real world but an innate impulsion to transcend the present state. After explaining the relationship between poets and utopia, the dissertation believes that Auden as an important poet in this turbulent century is a good example to show his exploration of utopia as well as his own spiritual development.Chapter One deals with Auden's poetic thoughts. Auden believes that "the private face" in public places is much wiser and nicer than "the public face" or "the private face" in private places, for the former can promise the poet the independency of his own personality as well as the connection with his times. As to the poems'contents, Auden emphasizes that the poet should balance between the actual condition and the ideal order. The actual condition that poems portray may make us more aware of ourselves and the world around us, while the ideal order gives us hope; the former is the base of poems. Poetry as a kind of art has its own laws of forms. For Auden, every successful poem not only asks for the order and utopia in the contents, but also represents that paradisal state in the forms.Chapter Two is focused on main themes of Auden's poetry. Losing their subjectivity day by day, modern people have been alienated from themselves and become ill both in body and soul. Such kind of people, lacking the ability to establish the identity and make action out of the will, are eager for love while not capable of giving love, which leads "the age of anxiety" to a desperate pass. What is worse, our society deteriorates to such an extent that cities come to "the heartless city" and "city without walls". Therefore, we'd better rediscover the uniqueness and integrality of our life, recognizing that love's philosophy is to love while to be loved is just a certain gift, and bearing in mind the commandment "to love one's neighbor as oneself. With mutual trust, we can build a city of reasonable order.Chapter Three studies Auden's perspectives in poems. Auden believes that each of us is restricted within time and space, that is to say, outwards and inwards in space, and backwards and forwards through time. The heroes in his poems always overlook our land and life with "hawk's vision", aiming for a better understanding of human relationships; whereas when recalling the long history or certain periods of civilization, they try to give us a more general pattern of human actions. As a matter of fact, the panoramic and historical perspectives in Auden's poems have much to do with his spirit of Utopia, and the inner changes of these perspectives represent his own development.The Conclusion emphasizes Auden's sincerity for persistent learning and relentless quest. Though Auden points out that poetry has no power to change our society directly-- making nothing happen or preventing nothing from happening, he still hopes to extend the knowledge of good and evil through poetry, disenchant people and lead them to make a rational and moral choice. Hence we can say that Auden puts the responsibility of improving human life on each common person.