Revision and Power - Example of WH Auden

7/28/2019 Revision and Power - Example of WH Auden

1/11

Revision and Power: The Example of W. H. Auden

Author(s): Edward MendelsonSource: Yale French Studies, No. 89, Drafts (1996), pp. 103-112Published by: Yale University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2930341

Accessed: 11/08/2010 00:33

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless

you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you

may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained athttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=yale.

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed

page of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Yale University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Yale French

Studies.

http://www.jstor.org
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2930341?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=yalehttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=yalehttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/2930341?origin=JSTOR-pdf


2/11

EDWARD MENDELSONRevision nd Power:The Example ofW.H. Auden

Audenunderstoodhat evisionwas an act ofpower verhisowntext,andhe thereforeevised is textsnways hatrenounced hekindofpower hatheemployednrevising. erecognizedhatwhenhe-likeany therwriter-altered hewords n apage,he wasusinghisauthor-ity o manipulate, ransfer,lter, reliminate.Andhebelieved hatwriter's ride n hispower verwordswas all tooeasilytransferableintopriden hispower ver eaders.In 1948 Audenwrote ne ofthefour ssays nPoets t Work,Ihefirst ookthat tudiediteraryevisionn theoreticalerms. he otherthree ssayswerewritteny hegestalt sychologistudolf rnheim,thepoetKarl hapiro,ndthe iterarycholar onald A.Stauffer.achofthe four ssays onsidered hetheoryfrevision,nd chose exam-plesfromhepioneeringollection fmoderniterary anuscriptstthe UniversityfBuffalo. rnheim, tauffer,nd Shapiro ll wroteabout evisionn terms f iteraryffectndthepsychologyf hepoet.

In contrast, uden'sessay, Squares ndOblongs,"was theonlyonethatfocused nthe effect frevision n thepoet, nd on thepsycho-logicalpower-politicsfrevisions a variant f hepower-politicshatconnect work fart nd ts audience.Auden's pproach emains nique n thetheoreticaltudy f iter-aryrevision, nd his observations ere notdesigned o offermuchcomfortither opoetsorcritics. uring hequarter-centuryefore ewrotehis essay,writers n both sidesofthe Atlantichad beguntoclaimspecial tatus spolitical nalystsndvisionaries. heimplicit1. W. H. Auden, Squares ndOblongs," n Poets t Work, d. CharlesD. Abbot(NewYork:Harcourt, race, 948).

YFS 89, Drafts, d.Contat,Hollier,Neefs,X 1996byYaleUniversity.103


3/11

104 Yale French Studiesclaim made n mostwritingsnpoliticsbymodernistrtists s this:because artists, ynature nd training,nderstand atters f ompo-sition, rder, alance,hierarchy,ndrelation,hey re thereforespe-ciallywell-equippedo understandhose uestions s they rise nthepoliticalrealm.Audenhad ittle atience or his laim.Hewroten 1939: "Oneofthebest easons havefor nowinghat ascismsbogus s that t s toomuch ike thekinds fUtopias that] rtists lanover afe ablesverylate at night."2n1948, n"Squares ndOblongs," e emphasized hatthe raft ndvision equiredocreateworks f rtwere recisely hosethatweremostdangerous hencreating olitical ystems:

Asociety hicheally as ike poemnd mbodiedll the estheticvalues f eauty,rder,conomy,ubordinationf etail othewhole,would e nightmaref orror,ased n electivereeding,xtermina-tion f hephysicallyrmentallynfit,bsolute bedienceo tsDi-rector,nd largelave lasskept ut f ightn cellars.178]The means by whichthatkind ofsociety ould be createdwereprecisely he samemeansbywhich poet organizedhe society fa

poem. Auden commentedn the same essayon some revisions yDylan Thomas:Thepoetwrites:The mast-highnchor rives hrough cleft,thenhangest to:The anchor ivesthroughlosing aths,finallyo:The anchor ivesamonghayricks.

The cleft nd he losing aths ave een iquidatednd hehay-ricks eportedoanothertanza.There's reativeoliticsnd cientificovernmentor ou.The acts of revision erformedn secretbya poet were acts ofcompulsion.Auden, ecognizinghis,workednhisown actsofrevi-sion to balancethecompulsion hathe necessarily racticed n hiswordsby renouncing nyform fcompulsion verhis readers. hesuccess ofhispower verwords fferedhetemptationo use poweroverpersons. o, when he revisedhis earlydraftsntopublishableform,nd, ater,whenherevised ispublishedworks or eweditions,2. Auden, heProlificnd theDevourerHopewell, ew Jersey:cco Press, 993),'24. This workwaswrittenn 1939 ndpublished osthumously.


4/11


5/11

106 Yale French tudiesence ofsome ultimate oodness,whilethepoem simultaneouslyn-sists hat ts ownorders a fiction, hat t s "an analogy, otan mita-tion." A poem can never howhow to reconcile ontradictionsn theworld ftimeand experience, ut t can presentn analogy frecon-ciliation through ts own formal nd verbalorder; n that imitedrealm, ontradictoryeelings,anguages, ones, nd voices are con-tained nd reconciled:

The ffectf eauty. . isgood o he egreehat hroughts nalogies,thegoodnessf reatedxistence,hehistoricalall nto nfreedomanddisorder,nd hepossibilityf egainingaradisehroughepen-tance nd orgivenessre ecognized.ts ffects evil o he egreehatbeautys taken, ot s analogouso, utas]dentical ith oodness,othat he rtist egardsimselfr s regardedyothers s God, hepleasuref eautyis] akenorhe oy f aradise,nd he onclusiondrawnhat,ince ll s well nthework f rt, ll s well nhistory.utall is notwell there. TheDyer'sHand,711OfthemanyntersectionsfAuden's heoryfpoetryndhisprac-tice ofrevision, ne of themoststrikingccurs n the drafts f his

"Christmas ratorio,"or the Time Being,whichhe wrote n 1941-42, shortlyfter is reconversiono theAnglican hurch, rom hichhehaddropped wayduringdolescence.6noneofhisnotebooks, owintheBergCollection f heNew York ublicLibrary,ewrotemanypagesofroughdraft f a speechfor imeon-the devout ld man ofJerusalem ho, n the econd hapterfLuke, ees the nfant esusnduttershewords nown s theNunc Dimittis. Inthesedrafts,imeonspeaks nverse ndmakes lear hathe s a poet,noweighty ears ld.He recalls he momentwhen, tfifteen,e first iscovered isvoca-tion sapoet; ndhisreportf hismomentorrespondsneveryetailto therecollectionfthe similarmomentnAuden's ife hatAudenhaddescribedn an autobiographicalassageofhispoem"Letter oLordByron"n 1936.7Simeon s a portraitftheartist s an old man Audenwasthirty-fiveyears ldwhenhe wrote hedrafts). uden, ygiving imeonhisown status s a poet, ndhis owndiscoveryfhisvocation, laimedSimeon's tatus or imself ndassigned imself heroleofone of hehappy ewwho were hefirst o understandhe-Incarnation.Inthecourse frevisinghepoemfor ublication, ebegan ofind6. Auden, or heTimeBeing NewYork:RandomHouse, 1944).7. Auden, Letter oLord yron"n Collected onger oemsLondon: aber, 968).


6/11

EDWARD MENDELSON 107this laim ntolerable.n thefinished oem, imeon s not poet t all,hasnoneofAuden's xperiences,ndwrites istheologicalmediationinprose, otverse.Auden, urthermore,ook he ineshe had writtenwhenhe dentified imselfwith imeon, ndusedthemnvery iffer-ent contexts.In the drafts, imeonbeginshis Christmas eflections ith inesabouttheweather ftheseason:

Today asoneof hosewinter ays,oldbrilliant,tterlytillWhen he ark f shepherd'sog arriesormiles,Thegreat ildmountainsome pquite lose othehouseAnd hemind eelsntenselywake....In thepublished ersion fthepoem,Simeon's ineshave been trans-formedntopart ftheprose peechofHerod, s hecontemplatesheMassacre fthe nnocents:

Today as been neofthose erfectinterays, oldbrilliant,ndutterlytill,when he ark f he hepherd'sog arriesormiles,ndthe reat ildmountainsome pquite lose o he ity alls,nd hemind eels ntenselywake....Betweenwriting hedraftndfinishinghepoem,Audenrecalledhisbelief hat hepoet,bythenature fhiscraft,s inevitablyempted yhis ownpower. hemost uitable llegoryor hepoetbecameHerodwho massacres he nnocent, ather hanSimeonthecontemplativeworshipper.Auden reusedother ines from is drafts fSimeon'sspeech nanother ramatic oemthathe wrote mmediatelyfter e finishedFor the TimeBeing. n The Sea and the Mirror: CommentarynShakespeare's The Tempest," imeon'sreflectionsn the nature fpoeticperceptionregiven o Prospero-oneof thecharactersromShakespeare's lay who, in Auden'spoem,reflectwith twentieth-centuryonsciousnessntheirxperiencesnthe eventeenth-centuryplay.As in mostnineteenth-nd early wentieth-centuryeadings fShakespeare's lay,Auden'sProsperos an allegorical igure f themagician-artist.utAudenemphasizesProspero's nger nd ncom-prehension,othispowers oshape ndto create. rosperos an artistwho makeshis artbymanipulatingisperceptionsnto work f rt,while gnoringhereal ufferingf hoseheperceives. his s anotherversion fthe artist s Creative olitician,whomAudendescribed


7/11

108 Yale French tudiesfewyears ater n "Squares nd Oblongs,"who subordinates etailtothe whole.In theverse raftsf he peech hatAudenwrote or imeon n Forthe TimeBeing, imeonconsiders heways nwhichconsciousnessinevitably nterpretsnother'sdeath as an event n its own livinghistory:

Consciousness,hey ay,annot onceivef tsnegation,eath.Abird'still arcass gitateshe yeWith ovelmages, stranger'sudden ndIs the eginningfmuch ively peculation.At ightyereavementasbecome familiarxperienceBut veryime ome ear lesh isappearsWhat s real sthe rrivingrief.Auden bandonedhese ineswhenpreparinghepublishedext fForthe TimeBeing.But n TheSea and theMirror egavethem oPros-pero,becausehe nowrecognizedheartist s a specialcase of theuniversalemptationo makeuseofothers, temptationhat s espe-cially trong hen nartist reats hedeath f nother s thematerialhe can use for isart.Onwalks hroughinter oods, bird'sryarcassAgitateshe etina ith ovelmages,Astranger'sollapsenanoisytreetIs the eginningfmuchively peculation,And veryime ome ear lesh isappearsWhat s real s the rrivingrief.

Auden'sProspero nows bouthis ownuse ofothers;whathedoesnotknow shisown rrorsbout thers.ntent ntransformingxperi-ence nto rt, e fails orecognize hat, reciselyecausehe sees othersfrom heperspectivef nartistwithpurposes fhisown,hescarcelysees them t all.During hecourse fhisspeech, epresents lausibleandauthoritative-soundingharacterketches f ll theother ersonsin theplay.And thenthespeechesof the otherpersons hemselvesprovehimto have beenutterlyndextravagantlyrong bout all ofthem.The other haracterspeakfrom heir wn nwardnessnd ntheir wnpersonalvoice,whileProspero an onlyunderstand hemcynicallys behavioristutomata,manipulable ytheir assions ndbyhisart.The effectfthe other haracters'peeches s,ofcourse, o affirmthatAuden s thekind f rtistwhocan understandhem,whilePros-


8/11

EDWARD MENDELSON 109pero sthekind f rtistwho cannot. utAudenwas aware hat neoftheways nwhichwriters nd their udiences nter nto relation fmutual ongratulationndcomfortsthe mplied ontractn which nauthorssures eaders hat, s long s they ead he uthor'swork, heyare nknowledgeable ands,whilereaders latterhemselves ith hefeeling hat hey avefound guidingntelligencehat orrespondsotheir wn.The process freading he Sea and theMirrors one ofprogressivedisillusionmentn which a reader s convinced f one perspective,which s then evised nd corrected ya drastically ifferenterspec-tive,which s in turn evised ndcorrected ntilno perspective anclaim uthorityver ny ther. rospero'suthoritativeerse peech scorrectedytheverse peeches f TheSupporting ast,SottoVoce,"andthese re n turn xposed s artifice yCaliban'sprose peech, isdeliberatelyrtificial oice.Thepoemtreats aliban as anallegoryfunintelligible,oiceless rotic nergy; orCaliban tospeakat all,hemustspeak in the most artificial f all voices available n literaryEnglish,henarrative oiceof he aternovels fHenry ames. ndthedirectrgumentfhisspeech s the nabilityf ny iteraryrpersonalvision tobe an adequate, ccurate, rcomprehensiveerspectiventherealworldn which hoicesmustbe made.Auden's enseof hedeceptiveffectfhisownwritingsed to hismostnotorious evision. hese revisions avebeendenouncedlmostunanimously ythecritics ndreviewers ho mention hem.Butthenature fAuden'srevisionsmakes clearthat, romAuden'sperspec-tive,his critics nd reviewers ere nsisting nremaining eceived,while he insisted nundeceivinghem.Caliban, n TheSea and theMirror,ffers mocking ersion f the demandbyreaders o be de-ceivedbyart.Those withthe eisure o read iteraturet all demandfrom riel thepoem's llegorical iguref rt tself) release romheintransigentarticularityftherealworld:

Deliver s,dear piritsoCaliban uotes hem s imploringriell,fromhe antrumsf ur elephonesnd hewhispersf ur ecretaries. . ; deliver sfrom hesehelpless gglomerationsfdishevelledrea-tures ith heired-wetting,omiting,eepingodies,heiriggling,fugitive,isappointingearts,nd crawling,lotted, isspelt inds. . . ; deliver s from ll the itter fbillets-doux,mpty eerbottles,laundryists, irectives,romissoryotesnd rokenoys,he erriblemess hat his articularisedife, hich ehave ofutilelyttemptedto idy,ullenlynsistsn eavingehindt; ranslates,bright ngel,


9/11

110 Yale French tudiesfrom hishell of nert ndailingmatter.. to that lessed ealm,... thatHeaven f heReally eneral asewhere,orturedo ongerbythree imensionsnd mmune rom emporalertigo,ife urnsinto ight.8The poems that Auden excludedfromhis collected editions-notably September , 1939"-had preciselyhisquality fflatteringgeneralization.t theend of hepoem, n themidst fwartime ega-tion and despair, he poet implicitlynvitedhis readers o imaginethemselvess the origins fone of the "Ironicpointsof ight" hat"FlashoutwhereverheJust Exchangeheirmessages."nthe1980s,

oneofPresident eorge ush's peechwritersememberedhisphraseand introduced sentimental ersion f t, referringo "a thousandpoints f ight,"ntothepresident'smostdeceptive peeches.Audenhad tried oreduce he elf-flatteringffectf his hrasen theprocessofrevisionbefore ublication.The typescriptf thepoemthat hesubmittedo TheNewRepublicandnow ntheBerg ollection f heNew YorkPublic Library)as "The littlepoints f ight";Audende-leted hisbyhand ndwroten"Ironic" nplaceof hefirstwowords.An earlier tanza n thepoemendedwiththe famous ine,"Wemust oveoneanotherrdie. This sounds nexceptionablenough-and thas biblical uthorityna verse rom he First pistle oJohn:"He that ovethnot his brotherbidethn death."ButAuden knewthathe intendedt to indicate hat oveis an instinctual rive ikehunger, ota personal nd moral hoice. Hehadwritten bout "thedrives f ove andhunger"n "Letter o LordByron.")fwe must oveone another rdie,thenthemerefact hatwe areverymuch aliveindicates hatwe have adequately ulfilledurinstinctual eed tolove;buttheargumenthatAudenwished omake nhispoemswasthatwe have donenothingfthe sort.He abandoned hestanzathatcontainedhis ine before 945,whenhereprintedhepoem,withoutthis one stanza, n his CollectedPoetry.He abandoned he wholepoemwhenhecompiled is next ollection, ollected horteroems1927-1957.)Thestanzaandpoemremained amous ndeasily vailable nan-thologies,nd n 1964, political peechwriterememberedtduringthe bitter merican residentiallection ampaign etween yndonJohnsonnd Barry oldwater. neofJohnson'sampaignhemeswas8. Auden,Collected oems, d. MendelsonLondon: aber ndFaber, 991), 40-41.


10/11

EDWARD MENDELSON 1llthe ikelihood hatGoldwaterwouldstart nuclearwar. During hecampaign, ohnsonevermentioned isplans o ncreaseAmericann-volvementn thewar nVietnam.)n a famous elevision ommercial-it was broadcast nlyonce by Johnson'sampaign rganization, utbecame so notorious hat twas rebroadcastn newsprogramsnddiscussed n all media-a littlegirlwas seen countinghepetalsofflowerwhile an ominousmale voice counted ownfrom en to zero.When the male voice reached ero,theimageofthelittlegirlwasabruptly eplaced ythe mageof an atomic explosion,nd Johnson'svoice was heard aying:

These re he takes:omake worldnwhich llofGod's hildrenanlive, rgo nto he ark.Wemust ove ach ther rwemust ie.Inaddition o Johnson'slosing entence, he hildren ndthedarkalso derive romines nthepoem:"Children fraid f henight/Whohavenever eenhappy rgood" nd "From he onservativeark/ ntotheethical ife."Auden'srevisionswerebelated ttempts o keep thepoemfrom eing uttoexactlyhekindofuse towhich t wasputbytwoAmerican residents.Theories frevision ivide ntotwobasic models:the fading oaland thegothic ower. very uthor, ritic, nd readermore or lessconsciouslyssumes hat neor heothers the ruemodel f he ctofwriting. he clearest tatement fthefading-coalmodeloccurs nShelley'sDefence fPoetry:Themindncreations as a fadingoal,which omenvisiblenflu-ence, ike n nconstantind,wakens otransitoryrightness....Could his nfluencee durablen tsoriginalurityndforce,t simpossibleopredicthegreatnessf he esults; utwhen omposi-tion egins,nspirationsalreadyn he ecline,nd hemost loriouspoetryntheworldsprobablyfeeblehadowf he riginaloncep-tion f hePoet.This model s flatteringo authors. heycan assure themselvesthat heir orgottenriginal onceptionwasa work fgenius, nd thefaultsnthefinished ork esult rimarilyrom failurefmemory.tis also flatteringo archaeologically-mindedritics ndeditors,whocanenjoy thrillingense of trippingway hefaded shes that on-ceal an original ndperhaps candalousortransgressivenspiration,later oncealed ythefalsificationsndrepressionsf econd houghts.Thegothic-towerodel s lessgratifyingndmore ealistic.Here


11/11

112 Yale French Studiestheoriginal onceptionsmerely roughketch. hepublishedworkis theproduct f ccumulated etails,mostof hem hosenby moresage ndexperiencedrtist han heonewhostartedhework. omeofthosedetails esult romhance vents. narrivingax nterruptsneset ofrevisionsnd starts train f houghthat eadstoanother. hecompositor'sye kips ver enwords n the ypescript,ndthe uthorrealizesthat singleword anfill hegapmore ffectivelyhanten.The work s never ntirely inished,ecause the author ontinuallyfindsweak links thatneedrepairs r improvements,nd the workcontinues o be altered-even fter he uthor's eath-byeditors ndpublishers,ometimes o thepointwhere later enturyalls npro-fessional estorerso undo the mistaken estorationsnd doubtfulimprovements adebyearlier enturies.The gothic-towerodelhasfarmore omplex olitical ndmoralimplicationshanthefading-coal odel. The work s created artlythrough dialoguewith ts audience.The choicethatAuden facedwhenhe revisedhis workwas whether o flatter is audienceor todisenchantt. He invariablyhosedisenchantment.In his lateryears,Audensaw the sameprocessof revision hatworked odisenchant isreaders s a means offreeingimself romisolation.Around1970,threeyearsbefore is death,he wrote hishexameter ouplet:

Blessed eall metricalules hat orbidutomaticesponses,force s tohave econdhoughts,ree romhe ettersf elf.[Collected oems, 561Without he self-imposed equirementfmetricalrules,the firstthoughtwould be sufficient,nd the first houghtwould remaintrapped ithin hefettersf heSelf.About ifteenears arlier,n hispoem "Homageto Clio," Auden addressed he muse of theuniquehistoricalactnsimilar erms. epraised lio as thekeeper fhistori-cal time, he medium nwhichchoicesaremade, nd nwhich t ispossibleto change ne's future.Without istory,n a world fdeter-minednecessity, Onlythefirsttepwould countandthat/Wouldalways emurder." evision,orAuden,was themeansbywhich hatfirsttepwasfollowed, oluntarily,ya very ifferentne.

Revision and Power - Example of WH Auden

Documents

Transcript of Revision and Power - Example of WH Auden