September_1_1939

September 1 1939 My personal response that I acquired from W.H. Auden’s “September 1, 1939” is that of hope and how it arises in times of despair. This poem is appreciated to more recent historical events, like that of September 11, even though it was written more then sixty decades ago. Auden’s poem is very insightful and it exhibits hope to its readers. In lines forty six to forty eight, “The lights must never go out/ the music must always play” conspires that everything still, must go on after a tragic event, and that hope is the only thing that keeps us going. Hope gives us the strength to carry on. We experienced this on September 11th, only two years ago. People were told to have faith and hope, and go about their lives as if everything were normal again. People were told to show pride and unity, and positive attitudes as Auden is encouraging the music to keep playing and for the lights to stay bright. The last five lines in this poem produced the largest effect on me. In lines ninety-four to ninety-eight, Auden writes “May I, composed like hope, people, september, poem, lines, love, auden’s, must, because, despair, auden, 11th, world, times, points, night, light, ironic, go, evil, events, affirming, 11, yet, written, view, tragic, told, stupor, show, sense, relate, recent, positive