Aubade (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: William Empson
- First Published: 1940
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Love or romance, Interracial relationships, 1930’s, Asia or Asians, Adultery, Disasters, Earthquakes, Natural disasters, Japan or Japanese people
The Poem
An aubade is a poem of love, usually sung by lovers at dawn after a night together. There is no fixed form for an aubade, and William Empson has chosen to use four sets of alternating five- and three-line stanzas, followed by two five-line stanzas with which the poem concludes.
Empson spent the 1930’s as a university lecturer in Japan and China, and the poem seems to be set in the Far East. At some time in the middle of the night an earthquake is felt; the lovers are shaken awake by the first tremor, which is followed by a stronger quake. They decide to get up...
[The entire page is 1991 words long]
