The Speaker

The poem employs first-person narration throughout. However, it is important to consider whether this "I" is necessarily also W.H. Auden. The poet is certainly espousing specific political and moral views, but he appeals so frequently to human commonality and universal experiences that it is easy to consider this "speaker" a nameless and faceless everyman. Stanzas eight and nine provide a pointed commentary on the responsibilities and persuasive capacities of a public intellectual, suggesting that the speaker, like Auden, is invested in education and artistic expression. Whoever he may be, the speaker is deeply concerned with society’s increasing superficiality and expresses himself in an eloquent stream of consciousness. The final lines of the poem mark his definite transition from dubious reflection to tentative hope.

The Masses

Auden does not present collective humanity with much sympathy. In fact, he castigates its dismissal of reason and consistent surrender...