Point of View

Though "September 1, 1939" is written from a first-person perspective, it prioritizes commonality of experience over unique, individual opinions. The history of mankind, for example, does not belong to Auden or the speaker alone; neither is he suffering the onslaught of confusing, consuming modernity in solitude. The "I" most accurately belongs to an everyman-type speaker familiar with history and concerned about current societal ills. In some ways, this universalizing technique reads as rather contradictory to the primary message of the poem. The speaker encourages his contemporaries to abandon the mindset of the collective just as he composes nine stanzas that transcend individual experience. Readers might consider whether, to the poet's mind, certain types of union are more salutary than others.

Language and Meaning

Auden is often celebrated for his ability to incorporate dynamic, colloquial language into poems with complex subject matter. His stanzas, though seasoned with classic...