Skyscrapers

Skyscrapers symbolize modernization. In lines 35-37, Auden makes his first reference to "the blind skyscrapers [that]...proclaim the strength of Collective Man" (35-37). Skyscrapers, as mainstays of twentieth century urban architecture, are in many ways representative of a totalizing power that favors efficient mass production over more profound creativity and individuality. They are cogs in the wheel of modernization, a nondescript feat of brute force and large-scale labor; their construction depends on routine without variation. Mass political movements demand a similar conquest of individuality. Their followers are compelled to plunge forward single-mindedly, without thought toward difference, philosophy, or dissent. In the poem, skyscrapers mirror the birth of "blind" and undifferentiated war-mongers (35).

Bars and Social Spaces

Social spaces symbolize the relationship between community and the individual. It is no coincidence that "September 1, 1939" opens with the setting "one of the dives / On Fifty-second street" (1-2). The speaker marvels...