I think Auden's quote is dated *after his time in Spain.
Poetry, and art, must have some effect: those same presidents and
generals (and bishops) have spent an awful lot of time banning
books[1], so they must fear something. In the UK, up until the 60's,
plays had to go before the Lord Chamberlain to be censored if needed.
This had been going on since Elizabethan times.
Roger
[1] there's a lot on the net about books banned in the US and
elsewhere but nothing about books being banned in the UK.
http://www.la-hq.org.uk/directory/prof_issues/primary.html implies a
very rosy picture for schools but I don't believe this situation has
always existed. Now that the Church, and a few private corporations,
have control in large number of Primary schools, what sort of books
will they stock? Particularly now that creationism is becoming
popular.
On 9/14/06, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Sure, this is a great poem, but remember that Auden also wrote:
>
> 'For poetry makes nothing happen.'
>
> Art may survive, but does it really change the way people behave?
>
> Or if it does so, does it do so so slowly that it can't have the kind
> of effect on any immediate situation that a general's or a president's
> order can...
>
> Doug
> On 12-Sep-06, at 7:22 PM, joe green wrote:
>
> > The Shield of Achilles
> > W. H. Auden
> Douglas Barbour
> 11655 - 72 Avenue NW
> Edmonton Ab T6G 0B9
> (780) 436 3320
> http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
>
> Latest book: Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
> http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
>
> Where philosophy stops, poetry is impelled to begin. He was
> a man, far away from home, biting his nails at destiny.
>
> Susan Howe
>
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