Like You're Running Out Of Time /////// Isabelle Ferguson

   The Auden poems have reoccurring themes of time running out and reminiscing of good times. 

   Auden utilizes cold and warmth within the lines he writes. In "As I Walked Out One Evening," the speaker begins by describing the environment he is walking in. He hears a lover singing by the river along with the chiming of a clock. The mention of wheat suggests growth. There is life and warmth in his environment. By the end of the poem, the lover has stopped singing and the clock is no longer chiming. Night has come, and the only thing similar to when he began his journey is the flowing of the river. This is a cold ending. In contrast, Auden's poem "In Memory of W. B. Yeats" begins on a cold note. The speaker describes Yeats leaving in the winter, giving the listener the feeling of desolation. In the second verse, Auden reminisces on the way things were before Yeats disappeared. This verse occurs in springtime- warmth. "Shield of Achilles" creates a back and forth effect of warmth and cold for the listener. As the woman looks over the shoulder of the man, the speaker describes what she expects to see: life and color. What she sees instead is disappointing to say the least: neutrals and barbed wire. All in all, Auden's poems end unfortunately.

   Auden wrote these poems between the 1930s and the 1950s. As I hope y'all know, two world wars occurred during this time period as well. Given the global pandemic, economic crisis, and general divide we are all experiencing in the present, I can see where Auden is coming from in his poetry. The warmth in his words are representative of the rose-colored lenses we try to view the world in as we grew up. However, we did grow up. Those rose-colored lenses have little cracks in them, allowing the sometimes cold reality to pierce our vision. I imagine Auden was attempting to find the beauty he used to see in the world through the reminiscing in his poetry. By doing this, he could avoid the thoughts of death prevalent in his time, along with the reality of his own time slowly running out.

P.S. I commented on Emily Thullesen's and Raygan Boster's posts.