The Full Text of “September 1, 1939”
The Full Text of “September 1, 1939”
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“September 1, 1939” Introduction
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W.H. Auden's "September 1, 1939" was first published in the October 18, 1939, edition of The New Republic, before being included in the poet's collection Another Time. Written upon the outbreak of World War II, the poem captures feelings of fear and uncertainty in the face of fascism and war—as well as glimmers of hope that people might come together to counter authoritarianism. It is one of Auden's most well-known poems, and widely considered one of the greatest poems of the 20th century; ironically, however, the poet himself grew to despise it. Despite his disavowal of the poem, "September 1, 1939" remains a text to which people turn in times of crisis, including, famously, in the aftermath of September 11, 2001.
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“September 1, 1939” Summary
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I'm sitting in one of the cheap dive bars on 52nd Street in New York City feeling uncertain and afraid, as my hopes of a better time fade in the face of this decade's true nature: degraded and untruthful. Rushes of anger and fear are sweeping across countries all around the world and consuming the inner thoughts of everyday people. The terrible implication of death and war hangs over this September night like a bad smell.
History and scholarship can help explain the origins of this horror to the 15th century with Martin Luther, the leader of the Protestant Reformation—which has right up until today twisted and rotted Germany's entire culture. Look to what happened at Linz (i.e., the birth of Adolf Hitler) and how his youthful influences made him into a psychopathic, power-hungry dictator. For I and everybody else know what all children learn at school: people who are harmed and bullied harm and bully others in return.
The exiled Greek general Thucydides understood what rhetoric can reveal about the state of democracy, and about what dictators are like—all the garbage they spew until their indifferent deaths. Thucydides analyzed it all in his book—how dictatorships edge out knowledge and reason, how the societies that dictators rule over become used to suffering, how poor governance and sorrow leave their mark. And now we must suffer all those same societal ills all over again.
Here, in this supposedly neutral country, the towering skyscrapers use all their might to present a facade of unity and democracy, but this high-minded rhetoric is just a cover-up. How long can people live under this pretense of a beautiful but false ideal? Eventually they look at themselves in the mirror and see their government's actions—imperialism and war—staring right back at them.
Other people sitting at the bar would rather hold on tight to the normality of their everyday lives—for the lights to stay on, the music to keep playing, as though nothing's wrong. All around us, the conventions of daily life work together to make this fortress we're living in feel like a home, preventing us from seeing where we really are—lost in haunted forest—and who we really are—vulnerable people afraid of the world's evils, who are neither as happy nor as innocent as we'd like to believe.
The meaningless propaganda championed by so-called Important People is not nearly as indecent as our own desires. What the ballet dancer Nijinsky wrote about his lover Diaghilev is true for everyone. The fundamental human flaw is that we all want what we cannot have: love for ourselves and ourselves only, rather than universal love that benefits everyone.
Out of the repressed muddle of their feelings and into moral life come everyday people, repeating their daily promises as they head off to work in the morning: "I will not cheat on my wife. I will apply myself harder at work." And above them, the so-called people in charge continue playing at governance, as their roles dictate they must. Who can free all these people? Who can be heard by those who don't want to listen, or speak on behalf on those who won't express themselves?
The only thing I have to offer is my own voice, but with that voice I can pierce through the lie embedded in society—the alluring lie that everyday people have absorbed, the lie that the government holds all the power. The truth is that "the State" as people think of it doesn't exist, and that none of us are powerless individuals. Don't all of us—citizens and authorities—experience hunger the same way? We must care for one another, or die divided.
Helplessly ignorant, most of our world sits in a vulnerable daze. Even so, all around, pinpricks of unexpected hope shine wherever those committed to justice connect with one another. Oh, may I, though I am just another human made of desire and dust, and stricken by the same cynicism and worry, do the same, and support their hope with my own voice.
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“September 1, 1939” Themes
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State Authority vs. Individual Responsibility
Throughout “September 1, 1939” the speaker denounces the fascism taking hold abroad, which “darken[s] the lands of the earth” and has “the unmentionable odour of death.” The poem’s condemnation goes beyond fascist government, however, as the speaker also lays the blame at the feet of individual people for the “evil” that their governments carry out. In fact, the speaker insists, because governments are made up of imperfect individuals, it is necessary for everyday citizens to question their governments’ motives and authority. In the poem’s view, the idea of a unified, benevolent state working on behalf of its people is an illusion—and it is vital that people learn to see through this illusion to avoid become complicit in the state’s wrongdoings.
The poem immediately links the outbreak of war in Europe to individual people whose decisions, past or present, have shaped the fate of nations (in particular, Germany). It starts with implicit references to the rise of fascist Germany, which has the speaker feeling “uncertain and afraid.” And though the poem is firmly rooted in this moment, it traces the origins of “the whole offence” all the way back to Martin Luther, the 15th-century leader of the Protestant Reformation, before connecting it to another individual, a “psychopathic” man born in “Linz”—Adolf Hitler. These references show how individual people have played an outsize, damaging role in influencing societal behavior. In doing so, the poem undermines the idea of the state as some sort of infallible, intangible entity that exists separately from people themselves.
From there, the poem sets about deconstructing the notion of a state or nation dedicated to the common good. The speaker pokes holes in the idea of “the strength of Collective Man,” or a government that exists to serve its citizens, even in a supposedly safe, comfortable, or “neutral” country like the United States (in which the poem is set).
The notion of a government working on behalf of its people, the speaker argues, is but a “euphoric dream.” In other words, language of strength and unity is an “excuse” covering up the fact that every government exploits its citizens’ trust and ignorance in order to do harm. In reality, the speaker insists, every individual must confront “Imperialism’s face”—or the actions of their government—in the mirror.
Thus, though people are inclined bury their heads in the sand and “cling to their average day,” the speaker exhorts readers to look instead at who they really are: “children afraid of the night / who have never been happy or good.” Once people have reckoned with their true role in current events and the shaping of history, the speaker argues, they will be able to see through “the lie of Authority,” or the mistaken belief that somebody else, somebody higher up, is the one really pulling the strings.
The poem therefore ends by arguing, somewhat paradoxically, that people must identify as individuals even as they recognize their power as a group. “There is no such thing as the State,” the speaker declares, and, at the same time, “no one exists alone.” It is up to each person, in other words, to contribute to the common good. Otherwise, each individual is guilty of being a mere “face along the bar,” distracted into ignoring or even colluding with governmental “evil[s]” like those going on in Europe. Put more poetically, in the poem’s most famous line: “We must love one another or die.”
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-99
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Love, Connection, and Justice
In the poem's most famous line, the speaker declares, “We must love one another or die.” The speaker consistently argues for the benefits of human connection, rejecting the all-too-human impulse to desire “not universal love / but to be loved alone.” It’s far better for society, the speaker argues, for people to acknowledge that “no one exists alone,” and with that knowledge, to connect with others who are “Just.” Only by overcoming selfishness and working together, the speaker insists, can people keep the “affirming flame” of hope and love burning bright. To put it bluntly, human survival itself depends on love.
The first half of the poem is largely concerned with “evil” and all the ways in which society enables bad actors and wrongdoing to flourish. Dictators spew worthless "rubbish," for example, that drives away rational, enlightened thinking. Evil also begets evil, the speaker argues, implying that some "huge imago"—or early influence—shaped Hitler into a cruel, power-hungry dictator. There is also the more subtle but no less damaging “blind[ness]” of people in places like the United States, who “cling to their average day”—that is, go about their regular lives—while avoiding the harsh reality of war overseas. Through these examples, the speaker identifies and condemns people’s selfishness and seeming indifference to brutality. Human beings are all guilty of the same sin of self-absorption, the speaker says, which allows evil to go unchecked.
At first, the speaker seems at a loss for how to combat this problem. He laments that most people are self-centered, indifferent, or disempowered by society—metaphorically "deaf" and "dumb." But in the following stanza, the speaker identifies a solution: “All I have is a voice.” Despite describing this solution as meager, the speaker also admits that this “voice” can help “to undo the folded lie” of fascism, complicity, and “Authority.”
What’s more, that voice is not alone: “dotted everywhere” are “points of light,” which “flash out wherever the Just / Exchange their messages.” In other words, the speaker’s voice, though singular, is one of many such singular voices, lighting up the darkness. When these voices are able to connect, they “show an affirming flame” that helps combat the “negation and despair” described earlier in the poem. In sum, poems like this one, and other messages of love and hope, serve as a way to “love one another,” and thus keep justice alive in the face of evil.
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 4-8
- Lines 12-33
- Lines 59-66
- Lines 75-77
- Lines 78-88
- Lines 91-99
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The Repetition of History
Though “September 1, 1939” was inspired by and takes place during the events of 1939, it explicitly connects that moment to others from the past. Citing the ancient Greek philosopher Thucydides, the speaker draws parallels between the rise of fascism in the 20th century and similar antidemocratic forces throughout history. The poem’s denouncement of fascism thus clearly links the suffering of the modern era to that of the past, arguing that people have made the same mistakes before, and, unfortunately, seem doomed to repeat these historical patterns and “suffer […] again.” In short, the speaker argues that history repeats itself.
The speaker insists that the “low dishonest decade” he is currently living through can be understood by looking to the past, saying, “Accurate scholarship can / unearth the whole offence.” In other words, looking back at what previous historians and scholars have written sheds light on the present. In this case, the speaker looks to “Luther,” the 15th-century religious reformer, and traces his impact in “driv[ing] a whole culture mad” all the way up to “what occurred at Linz”—the birth of Adolf Hitler.
The speaker again looks toward the past for guidance when citing Thucydides, an ancient Greek general and historian. The speaker specifically references Thucydides’s writings on “Democracy, / And what dictators do,” implying that Thucydides’s insights into anti-democratic politics in his own time apply equally well to 1939. According to the speaker, the hallmarks of fascism include “the elderly rubbish [that dictators] talk,” “enlightenment driven away,” a society stricken with “mismanagement and grief,” and people grown accustomed to “pain”—all of which were first documented by Thucydides in the fifth century B.C.E.
Yet despite the scholarship that clearly identifies the qualities and outcomes of a dictator, “we must suffer [these ills] all again,” the speaker laments. Though he keenly spots the parallels between the past and present, most people “cling to their average day,” ignorant of or indifferent to the warning signs of anti-democratic forces.
Importantly, the poem and speaker do suggest that certain stalwart individuals—“the Just”—can help fight back against these anti-democratic forces. The speaker himself claims that his “voice” can help “undo the folded lie, / the romantic lie in the brain” to which authoritarianism appeals. All the same, the poem closes by declaring that the world of 1939 is “in [a] stupor” and “defenceless,” since most people are doing nothing to prevent the rise of fascism—thereby enabling history to repeat itself.
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 12-33
- Lines 45-55
- Lines 78-82
- Lines 89-94
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “September 1, 1939”
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Lines 1-5
I sit in ...
... low dishonest decade:"September 1, 1939" opens by establishing its setting. The poem's title alludes to a major event: the Nazi German invasion of Poland, which is now remembered as a tipping point in the outbreak of World War II. The first two lines, however, indicate that the poem's physical location is many miles away from the invasion. It is set instead in a "dive" bar "on Fifty-second Street" in New York City (where the poet was living at the time).
These opening lines also introduce the poem's speaker, a first-person voice who describes not just his location at the bar, but also his emotions as he sits there: "Uncertain and afraid." Following this forthright admission, lines 4 and 5 clarify the cause of the speaker's uncertainty, and also shed light on the poem's central concern: the rise of authoritarianism.
As the speaker sees it, the "low dishonest decade" of the 1930s, which bore witness to the rise of fascism across Europe, is about to "expire" (or end), and along with it, any "clever" but naive "hopes" that the speaker (and others) may have had for a better, less frightening time.
In keeping with the poem's dark themes, the language of these opening lines also helps create a foreboding atmosphere right from the start. A strong current of sibilance runs ominously through these early lines, in words like "sit," "second," "street," "uncertain," and "dishonest," while the alliterative /d/ sounds in "dishonest decade" create a steady drumbeat of fear. Lines 3 and 5 rhyme as well (despite the poem's overall lack of a consistent rhyme scheme) thus further linking the emotions of the speaker and the terrible times he is living in through the matching sounds of "afraid" and "decade."
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Lines 6-11
Waves of anger ...
... the September night. -
Lines 12-15
Accurate scholarship can ...
... a culture mad, -
Lines 16-22
Find what occurred ...
... evil in return. -
Lines 23-28
Exiled Thucydides knew ...
... an apathetic grave; -
Lines 29-33
Analysed all in ...
... them all again. -
Lines 34-39
Into this neutral ...
... Competitive excuse: -
Lines 40-44
But who can ...
... the international wrong. -
Lines 45-48
Faces along the ...
... must always play, -
Lines 49-55
All the conventions ...
... happy or good. -
Lines 56-61
The windiest militant ...
... the normal heart; -
Lines 62-66
For the error ...
... be loved alone. -
Lines 67-74
From the conservative ...
... their compulsory game: -
Lines 75-77
Who can release ...
... for the dumb? -
Lines 78-83
All I have ...
... grope the sky: -
Lines 84-88
There is no ...
... another or die. -
Lines 89-94
Defenceless under the ...
... Exchange their messages: -
Lines 95-99
May I, composed ...
... an affirming flame.
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“September 1, 1939” Symbols
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Skyscrapers
The poem's skyscrapers represent authority—or, perhaps more accurately, the way that the state projects an image of authority and power. They are linked in the poem to the way that governments, like towers, cast a shadow from on high over the people who live beneath them, enabling those people to carry on "blindly" while assuming the people in charge hold all the power.
Skyscrapers first appear in the fourth stanza (though their presence is suggested as early as the second line, when the speaker locates himself and the poem "on Fifty-second Street"—an allusion to New York City and its unique skyline). The buildings themselves, however, don't come into play until line 35. Here, the speaker interrogates the "neutral air" of New York and the United States, which enables Americans to ignore the war brewing overseas in Europe.
The speaker personifies the skyscrapers, described first as "blind" and then as deliberately "us[ing] their full height" to make a proclamation, or statement of power and unity:
Into this neutral air
Where blind skyscrapers use
Their full height to proclaim
The strength of Collective Man,
Each language pours its vain
Competitive excuse:The skyscrapers' physical strength and grandeur are meant to project a social strength—that of "Collective Man," or of unified democracy.
But the speaker swiftly undercuts this idea, calling it a "vain competitive excuse." The skyscrapers, through their height and majesty, may make the "euphoric dream" of an ideal democracy appear like reality, but that dream only prevails because most people are too busy "cling[ing] to their average day[s]" to reckon with reality.
Later in the poem, the speaker once again deconstructs the skyscrapers' suggestion of strength and power, this time using his individual voice to pierce through what he calls "the lie of Authority." In line 83, the speaker links skyscrapers with this lie, stating that while buildings belonging to the powerful may "grope the sky," nevertheless "there is no such as the State." Despite the hierarchy, strength, and unity suggested by towering architecture, in fact the state of the nation is really determined by the individuals who live beneath them.The personification here ironically reinforces this idea; the skyscrapers present an image of authority separate from regular people, but in fact they're just buildings.
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Line 2: “On Fifty-second Street”
- Lines 34-39: “Into this neutral air / Where blind skyscrapers use / Their full height to proclaim / The strength of Collective Man, / Each language pours its vain / Competitive excuse:”
- Lines 82-83: “the lie of Authority / Whose buildings grope the sky:”
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Light and Darkness
Light and flame in the poem symbolize hope, resistance, and connection. Darkness, it follows, represents ignorance and oppression. Ordinary people live in "the conservative dark," the speaker says in line 67, and are "Defenceless under the night," lying "in stupor." In other words, the speaker believes that the average person goes about their life in a sort of ignorant daze, believing themselves to be powerless and thus tuning out the suffering of others. It's also no coincidence that the speaker begins the poem on a "September night," implying that the "odour of death" wafts over a land whose citizens are metaphorically asleep—their eyes shut to the growing danger creeping in all around them.
Glimmers of hope appear at last in the poem's final stanza, when the speaker suggests that the force capable of countering the evils of fascism is human connection. The speaker refers to the voices of those who speak out against authoritarianism, or in support of love and hope, as metaphorical "point[s] of light," which "flash out wherever" those fighting for justice connect.
Then, in the poem's final lines, the speaker offers a final hope or prayer that he (and his poetic voice) may number among that group:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.Echoing the others' "points of light," the speaker's "affirming flame" clearly links the speaker with their just cause. The use of a flame as a symbol for hope in the face of fear, and freedom in the face of oppression, is a potent one, recalling other powerful and symbolic flames—such as the one carried by the Statue of Liberty, a fitting allusion given the poem's New York setting. But the stanza makes clear that these lights and flames are "dotted everywhere," connecting anyone the world over who refutes the "negation and despair" of fascism and chooses hope instead.
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 10-11: “The unmentionable odour of death / Offends the September night.”
- Line 30: “The enlightenment driven away,”
- Lines 52-54: “Lest we should see where we are, / Lost in a haunted wood, / Children afraid of the night”
- Lines 67-68: “From the conservative dark / Into the ethical life”
- Lines 89-90: “Defenceless under the night / Our world in stupor lies;”
- Lines 91-94: “Yet, dotted everywhere, / Ironic points of light / Flash out wherever the Just / Exchange their messages:”
- Lines 95-99: “May I, composed like them / Of Eros and of dust, / Beleaguered by the same / Negation and despair, / Show an affirming flame.”
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“September 1, 1939” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
Alliteration is used sparingly in "September 1, 1939," which for the most part is informal and conversational. When alliteration does show up, then, it packs a subtly powerful punch, helping link together the poem's language and themes. For example, take a look at these lines from the first stanza:
I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second Street
[...]
Of a low dishonest decade:Here, the sibilance of "sit," "second," and "Street" immediately initiates a hushed, ominous tone—fitting for the poem's discussion of dark themes such as fascism and authoritarianism.
Soon after, the repeated thudding /d/ sounds of "dishonest decade" helps further evoke, on a linguistic level, the dark atmosphere that the poem is describing—one of "anger and fear." The alliteration of "dishonest decade" hammers home the speaker's disappointment and disgust with the time he is living through. (Note that /d/ sounds also appear in "dives," "darkened," and "death" and add to the stanza's power, though these are perhaps a bit too far apart to characterize as true alliteration.)
Throughout the poem, alliteration continues to be used in this fashion—not in every line or every stanza, but certainly in major moments, in order to more fully evoke or emphasize the ideas and feelings being described. Take, for example, the hard /c/ sound that alliterates in "Collective Man" and "Competitive excuse." This sharp sound draws readers' attention to these phrases, and also links them together. This makes sense, given that the speaker argues that those impressive skyscrapers—buildings that seem to embody the power of "Collective Man"—are really just a facade, an "excuse" to distract regular people from the truth of their lives.
Where alliteration appears in the poem:- Line 2: “second Street”
- Line 5: “dishonest decade”
- Lines 21-22: “done / Do”
- Line 25: “Democracy”
- Line 26: “dictators do”
- Line 37: “Collective”
- Line 39: “Competitive”
- Line 40: “live,” “long”
- Line 43: “Imperialism's”
- Line 44: “international”
- Line 48: “music must”
- Line 49: “conventions conspire”
- Line 50: “fort”
- Line 51: “furniture”
- Line 52: “Lest,” “we,” “where we”
- Line 53: “Lost,” “wood”
- Line 62: “bred,” “bone”
- Line 64: “Craves,” “cannot”
- Line 67: “conservative,” “dark”
- Line 69: “dense,” “commuters come”
- Line 71: “wife”
- Line 72: “work”
- Line 75: “release”
- Line 76: “reach,” “deaf”
- Line 77: “dumb”
- Line 81: “sensual,” “street”
- Line 94: “messages”
- Line 95: “May”
- Line 96: “dust”
- Line 98: “despair”
- Line 99: “affirming flame”
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Allusion
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Anaphora
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Assonance
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Asyndeton
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Aporia
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Consonance
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Enjambment
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Imagery
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Metaphor
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Repetition
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"September 1, 1939" Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Dives
- Expire
- The whole offence / From Luther until now
- What occurred at Linz
- Imago
- Thucydides
- Rubbish
- Apathetic
- Enlightenment
- Habit-forming pain
- Neutral air
- Proclaim
- Collective Man
- Euphoric
- Imperialism
- Conventions
- Conspire
- Lest
- Militant
- Nijinsky and Diaghilev
- Compulsory
- Sensual
- Authority
- The State
- Stupor
- The Just
- Composed
- Eros
- Beleaguered
- Negation
- Affirming
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(Location in poem: Line 1: “dives”)
A shabby and disreputable establishment (such as a bar or nightclub).
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “September 1, 1939”
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Form
Like many other modernist poems, "September 1, 1939" does not adhere to any traditional verse form. It consists of exactly 99 lines, which break down into nine stanzas of 11 lines each. The poem's structure is thus fairly consistent, granting the poem a solemn, controlled tone even as the speaker is clearly anxious about and fearful of what's to come. The speaker seems to think that repeating the mistakes of the past is inevitable, and the poem's predictable stanzas subtly evoke that sense of inevitability.
Also note that the poem relies heavily on enjambment to create a sense of momentum amid the poem's otherwise despairing tone. Most stanzas are composed of one (very complex) sentence. Coupled with the poem's use of a first-person speaker, the run-on, winding nature of these one-sentence stanzas suggests a grim internal monologue, as readers journey alongside the speaker while he wades through his "uncertain and afraid" thoughts and feelings.
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Meter
"September 1, 1939" very loosely follows iambic trimeter, a meter of three iambs per line (an iamb is a metrical foot with an unstressed-stressed, da-DUM, syllable pattern). However, from the very beginning, the poem does not always stick to this pattern. For starters, the poem's lines vary in length, and there are many metrical substitutions; the speaker also regularly uses anapests (feet that go da-da-DUM), for example.
The looseness of this meter and lack of rhyme scheme might push some readers to argue that the poem is actually best thought of as being free verse, with no meter whatsoever. We argue for iambic trimeter given that there are, on average, three stressed beats per line and the iamb seems to be the dominant foot. What's clear in either case is that the speaker sounds at once confessional and poetic—like a slightly heightened version of regular speech. There is none of the rigid, march-like meter common to patriotic or war poems, yet there's still some structure here.
Take a look at the meter of the first half of the first stanza:
I sit | in one | of the dives
On Fif- | ty-sec | ond Street
Uncer- | tain and | afraid
As the clev- | er hopes | expire
Of a low | dishon- | est decade:The second and third lines follow perfect iambic trimeter. They contain exactly six syllables each, and follow the iambic da-DUM pattern that is often said to mirror the sound of a heartbeat. However, the very first line of the poem, though it begins with two iambs, has seven syllables and closes on an anapest: "of the dives." The fourth line is also seven syllables long, but instead opens with an anapest ("as the clever") before settling back into iambs.
The fifth line varies from all of the above in order to contain eight syllables! Similarly, it opens with an anapest ("of a low") but the meter that follows is highly irregular, briefly adhering to an iambic beat ("dishon") before departing from any standard metrical form whatsoever. The poem continues in this vein, dipping in and out of iambic tetrameter but varying its meter and rhythm to add interest and emphasis.
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Rhyme Scheme
"September 1, 1939" does not follow a rhyme scheme. Occasionally, there are moments of end rhyme, such as in the first stanza when lines 3 and 5 rhyme ("afraid" and "decade") or in the fifth stanza when lines 46 and 48 ("day" and "play") and lines 53 and 55 ("wood" and "good") rhyme as well. Likewise, there are moments when the poem uses slant rhymes, creating a visual matching effect, such as in the first stanza when lines 8 and 10 end on "earth" and "death."
For the most part, however, the poem eschews any kind of rhyme, in keeping with the modernist style of mimicking human speech; after all, in daily life, people rarely rhyme. This suits the poem's tone; as the speaker himself says in the first stanza, he feels "uncertain and afraid," and those sentiments do not lend themselves to the pleasant cadence a regular rhyme scheme might create. Likewise, the poem's serious subject matter—the rise of fascism, and the complicity of everyday people—does not exactly call for rhyme. Instead, the poem's lack of rhyme helps create a strong sense of an internal monologue, peering in at the speaker's thoughts as he meditates on the state of the world on the brink of World War II.
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“September 1, 1939” Speaker
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The first-person speaker of "September 1, 1939" does not identify himself, but many readers and critics have interpreted him as closely linked to the poet, W.H. Auden, himself. In keeping with these interpretations, this guide uses male pronouns throughout; note that the speaker's gender is not revealed in the poem itself and does not have to be taken as male.
The poem opens by describing where the speaker is located: in "one of the dive [bar]s / on Fifty-second Street" in New York City. The British spelling and vocabulary used throughout the poem—"odour," "offence," "rubbish"—suggests that, like Auden, the speaker is a British expatriate living in the United States in 1939. In addition, the poem's many references and allusions, from Martin Luther to Thucydides to the Bible, suggest that, like Auden, who was educated at Oxford University in England, the speaker is a learned man.
What's more, the latter half of the poem, in which the speaker declares that he has "a voice / to undo the folded lie [...] of Authority," and connects himself to "the Just / exchang[ing] their messages," suggests that, like Auden, the speaker is a poet. At the very least, the speaker understands the power of self-expression, and the importance of using one's voice to speak out against "negation and despair" and "love one another" despite the difficulties of the era.
Perhaps most importantly, the speaker is clearly deeply attuned to current events, and feels mostly alone in his concerns about world affairs. The United States did not enter World War II until 1941, but as a European expat, it makes sense that the speaker (and Auden himself) would be paying closer attention to events going on back home than the "faces along the bar" who are too distracted by everyday life in the U.S. to pay attention to politics overseas. The poem's central focus is a cry against authoritarianism, and the speaker's identity as a pro-democratic individual shines through every line.
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“September 1, 1939” Setting
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"September 1, 1939" is set very clearly, as the title states, on September 1, 1939, the day that Hitler and the German army invaded Poland. Looking back, this moment marked the beginning of World War II, and even at the time was viewed as a shocking development on the world stage.
The invasion deliberately defied the 1938 Munich Agreement, which had essentially permitted Germany to annex Czechoslovakia in an attempt to prevent any further German conquest and the outbreak of war. Hitler's decision to flout the Munich Agreement and invade Poland anyway promptly resulted in both England and France declaring war on Germany two days later.
Even without the hindsight of history, the speaker of "September 1, 1939" is painfully aware of the conflict that has been unfolding for several years in Europe—and which is clearly about to get much, much worse. The physical setting of the poem, however, is a dive bar in New York City, on "Fifty-second Street," miles away from the imminent war. What's more, the United States at the time was taking great pains to remain neutral in the growing European conflict. The contrast between the speaker's physical location, amid "neutral air" and "blind skyscrapers," and his mental state, very much preoccupied with events in Europe and what they mean for everyone—even indifferent or ignorant Americans—provides the poem's central tension.
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Literary and Historical Context of “September 1, 1939”
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Literary Context
"September 1, 1939" is one of the most famous of W.H. Auden's poems, though he later came to despise it (and ultimately banned it from collected editions of his work). Always prone to editing his poems even after publication, Auden also revised this one, writing later:
I came to the line "We must love one another or die" and said to myself: "That’s a damned lie! We must die anyway." So, in the next edition, I altered it to "We must love one another and die." This didn’t seem to do either, so I cut the stanza. Still no good. The whole poem, I realized, was infected with an incurable dishonesty—and must be scrapped.
Despite the poet's belief in the poem's "dishonesty," however, it has remained a centerpiece of Auden's poetic legacy, resurfacing in popular culture amid other times of crisis (such as, famously, in the aftermath of September 11, 2001). Auden's literary legacy is not limited to this one poem, however. A modernist who helped to define the era, he is considered one of the masters of 20th-century English poetry, known for his work's playfulness, wry intelligence, craftsmanship, and experimentation.
Auden's early work flirted with social and political aspirations; "September 1, 1939" is a leading example of such (as well as an homage to another political poem, W.B. Yeats' "Easter, 1916"). As time went on, however, especially in the wake of World War II, Auden became increasingly skeptical of poetry's ability to effect change. Nevertheless, even as his poetry became increasingly personal, his work remained at the forefront of culture while also retaining his signature talents for capturing everyday people's speech and displaying technical expertise.
Historical Context
As is evident by the title of the poem, "September 1, 1939" is concerned with the events of this date in history: Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland, and the outbreak of World War II. The poem was published while those events were still fresh, in fact, in an October 1939 edition of The New Republic. Although the invasion itself was shocking, flying in the face of the 1938 Munich Agreement that had sought to contain Hitler and Germany's territorial expansion, the war itself was not particularly surprising.
Hitler's rise to power in 1933 was part of an era of European history marked by the rise of totalitarian governments, from Benito Mussolini's Italy to Francisco Franco's Spain. A political philosophy defined by dictatorial power, political violence, the regimentation of society (including the repression of speech), and intense nationalism, Germany's move toward fascism led to rampant militarism and the conquest of surrounding countries like Austria and Czechoslovakia. Initially, other European powers like France and England sought to control this violent expansion through policies of appeasement rather than confrontation, but the invasion of Poland marked the end of that approach. Ultimately, World War II became a global conflict spanning multiple continents. By the war's conclusion, 40 to 60 million people had died.
"September 1, 1939" was written at the beginning of this conflict, and much of its staying power can be attributed to its remarkable prescience. The poem's condemnation of dictatorship, propaganda, and political naïveté or apathy was insightful, anticipating what would later become commonplace analyses of both the rise of fascism and the outbreak of the war.
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More “September 1, 1939” Resources
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External Resources
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Poems of Protest, Resistance, and Empowerment — A diverse collection of poems often turned to in moments of crisis.
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Auden's Biography — A detailed account of Auden's life and work from the Poetry Foundation.
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Archival Auden Material — Scans of primary sources related to Auden's work, including the collection in which the poem was published.
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The Invasion of Poland — A Time Magazine analysis of the historical context and events at the center of "September 1, 1939."
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A Reading of "September 1, 1939" — Listen to a recording of poet Dylan Thomas reading the poem aloud.
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"The right poem for the wrong time" — An article at The Guardian on the persistent legacy of "September 1, 1939," despite the poet's own objections.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by W. H. Auden
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