05 August 2010

As The Poets Have Mournfully Sung

As the poets have
Mournfully sung,
Death takes the
innocent young,
The rolling-in-money,
The screamingly-funny,
And those who are
Very well hung

- W.H. Auden

7 comments:

  1. hilarious. takes me back to JC when we had to study his stuff.

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  2. Auden is able to be profane and profound at the same time; and therein lies his genuis.

    so much a greater poet than TS Eliot, IMHO.

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  3. Anon: Profane and profound is such a lovely combi don't you think? But this little ditty isn't profound, it's not even profane, i think. just a nonsense rhyme...?

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  4. actually i stole the 'profane profound' bit from one of Amanda Cross's frightfully literary thrillers. 'Poetic Justice', i believe it is, in which Ms Cross quoted reams of Auden. delightful.

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  5. Anon: I shall look up ms cross on my next jaunt to the library. Do you think they will have it? A literary thriller sounds perfect!

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  6. yes i think you'd love 'em as they are erudite witty. i don't know abt the library, but the last time i saw any Cross works was way back when in Borders (b4 it folded of course).

    anyhow Amanda Cross was the pen name of the late Professor Carolyn Heilbrun, a rather well-know Feminist scholar who specialised in modern british novels. she taught for a long time at Columbia University, NYC; that's why all her mystery novels had an academic setting:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolyn_Gold_Heilbrun

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  7. Anon: Thanks for the tip! Now I have something to look for; one can only read those jane austen novels so many times!

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