"There are ... / Irregular verbs to learn, the Time Being to redeem / From insignificance"

[larryhammer]

If, on account of the political situation,
There are quite a number of homes without roofs, and men
Lying about in the countryside neither drunk nor asleep,
If all sailings have been cancelled until further notice,
If it's unwise to say much in letters, and if,
Under the subnormal temperatures prevailing,
The two sexes are at present the weak and the strong,
That is not at all unusual for this time of year.
If that were all we should know how to manage. Flood, fire,
The desiccation of grasslands, restraint of princes,
Piracy on the high seas, physical pain and fiscal grief,
These after all are our familiar tribulations,
And we have been through them all before, many, many times.

—For the Time Being, "Advent," part II, lines 1-13

Every so often I find myself needing to return to Auden for solace.

Sometimes, he also managed honesty.

---L.

Comments

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

Thank you for that.

Nine

[larryhammer]

De nada.

I reread For the Time Being every couple years around the appropriate time, but it's been too long since the last time.

---L.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

This is so apposite. Thank you. Like nineweaving said--it helped.

Solace AND honesty. Pretty good, for sure.

[larryhammer]

Auden had a way with slick words, and struggled all his life with not writing the glib squib just because it sounded good.

---L.

[starlady38.livejournal.com]

I'm going to buck the trend here and say that, while I do appreciate the sentiment on some level, there's too much of resignation in this for my current tastes.

[larryhammer]

Well, this is from the beginning. The movement of the work as a whole (it's billed as an oratorio, but is too large to work as one) is from resignation and despair to revelation and hope. Capped with a brilliant epilogue that recognizes how hard it is to keep hold of the revelation after it has departed from our daily lives.

---L.