New Year Letter (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: W. H. Auden
- First Published: 1941
- Type of Work: Epistle/letter in verse
- Genres: Poetry, Epistolary literature
- Subjects: Immortality, Poetry or poets, 1920’s, Death or dying, Gods or goddesses, Holidays, Bereavement or grief, Afterlife, Sacrifice, Russia or Russian people
The Poem
“New Year Letter” is an occasional poem written to commemorate the beginning of 1940. Although it is a letter to W. H. Auden’s friend Elizabeth Mayer, its scope greatly exceeds the parameters of most personal letters, as it reflects upon an incredible range of subjects. It can be considered primarily a meditation on World War II and a tribute to Auden’s friend. The poem’s three parts develop by association rather than by logic.
Part 1 focuses on the disorder of the world in 1940, the human desire for order, and the order that art creates. It begins...
[The entire page is 2392 words long]
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