Prescient poetry by W. H. Auden,

September 20, 2001 4:30 PM

Prescient poetry by W. H. Auden, circa 1939. Round and round and round we go. (thanks to like an orb for the link.)
posted by damn yankee (7 comments total)

the second coming, wb yeats
posted by rebeccablood at 4:33 PM on September 20, 2001

POLL
Support of laws requiring Arabs, including those who are U.S. citizens, to undergo special, more intensive security checks before boarding airplanes in the U.S.
58%

How many of these morons were Arabs ?
posted by adnanbwp at 4:44 PM on September 20, 2001

There is a great deal of resonance in this poem, I am normally suspect of such retrospective tosh (c.v. Nostradamus), the Yeats poem is simply a good poem, however, the Auden actually evokes place, imagery, metaphors and themes which are particularly apposite.
posted by johnny novak at 4:48 PM on September 20, 2001

Four more excellent poems, selected by former poet laureate Robert Pinsky.
posted by lbergstr at 4:58 PM on September 20, 2001

A striking poem, surely, and resonant, but prescient? Written on the eve of the start of World War II? Not prescient at all, just timeless in a way no one would have imagined two weeks ago.
posted by briank at 5:44 PM on September 20, 2001

that's sort of what i meant. sorry for bending (okay, breaking) the actual definition of this word, which has been admittedly overused in the past week. maybe that's why it popped into my head when i was posting.

(*relinquishes journalism degree and hangs head in shame*)
posted by damn yankee at 7:30 PM on September 20, 2001

This isn’t a poem, but since the attacks I’ve been reminded of these lines from the last page of George Orwell’s [1938] Homage to Catalonia:

“…sleeping the deep, deep sleep of England from which I sometimes fear we will never wake till we are jerked out of it by the roar of bombs.”

posted by kirkaracha at 2:02 PM on September 24, 2001