>...
>> x Time that with this strange excuse
>> Pardoned Kipling and his views,
>> And will pardon Paul Claudel,
>> Pardons him for writing well.
> ^^^
>Er... this "him" refers to Yeats, yes? Rather than Claudel?
>
Yeats, because 1)the singular would be incomprehensible if it referred to
only one of the two just mentioned -- the lines would be saying "K. and C.
both had defective views but Time will pardon C." -- while it makes perfect
sense if it refers to a third party, Y.; 2) the rhetorical strategy at play
is the use of exempla, which must have a referent (K. and C. are exempla,
Y.'s case is what they illustrate,) and 3) the historical and personal
context of the poem is that Y., like K. and C., held incorrect (in Auden's
opinion) political views, for which Auden argues that like them, he (i.e.
Yeats = "him") should be forgiven because of literary achievements.
--
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Jon Corelis www.geocities.com/jgcorelis/
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