In Memory of W. B. Yeats

Co-Hosts - Ahavati & JohnnyBlaze  

Part XL in an ongoing series introducing serious writers of DUP to well-known poets classical and modern. 

W. H. Auden  ( born Wystan Hugh Auden 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973 ) was an Anglo-American whose poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in tone, form, and content. He grew up in Birmingham, England and was known for his extraordinary intellect and wit. His first book, Poems, was published in 1930 with the help of T.S. Eliot.

Just before World War II broke out, Auden emigrated to the United States in 1939 where he fell in love with poet Chester Kallman. The romance ended after two years when Kallman refused to accept the faithful relations that Auden demanded. However, the two maintained their friendship, and from 1947 until Auden's death they continued living together while collaborating on projects such as writing operas.

Auden won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948 for The Age of Anxiety. Much of his poetry is concerned with moral issues and evidences a strong political, social, and psychological context. While the teachings of Marx and Freud weighed heavily in his early work, they later gave way to religious and spiritual influences.

Possibly due to the early political aspects and ever evolving nature of his work, Auden's poetry was the constant subject of negative criticism. His writings were often derided by prominent figures in the literary community as being lesser than that of Eliot and Yeats.

For more about W. H. Auden, visit
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/w-h-auden

Guidelines 

- Write a new Poem honoring Auden inspired by one of his poems.

- While you are allowed a maximum of 2 entries, only the best is considered viable for the trophy.

- Do your best to make us feel as though we are reading poetry by Auden.  The more we feel you capturing his essence in your own words, the higher you will score. Scoring will also involve a wide range of factors not limited to correct use of grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc.   

What is the "essence" we are looking for? It will be a combination of the poet's personality, emotional investment, and message from the inspiration poem you chose.

The Rules 

1. Two entries per DUP persona allowed. Keep this thread clean of everything but entries until after the awards announcement is made. Comment on entries directly to the member's page if you feel moved to. Post any questions or concerns about the comp in the Classic Corner Discussion thread @

https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/forum/speakeasy/read/10855/

2. No Extreme Content or Erotica. This challenge is open to all ages and can't be viewed with an ECW ( Extreme Content Warning ). Erotica is using language to depict sexual activity or sexualized anatomy for the purpose of reader arousal. Just find something else to write about.

3. No exact word limit; however, attempt to keep it no more than 250 - 300.   

4. Any form is acceptable ( but studying the poet is advised ). While we accept Spoken Word and Visual Poems, please include a text version in your submission.   

5. You MUST tag your entries with the theme #WHAuden. If the theme is currently not available, be sure to add it before the competition expires.

6. In your poem's Author Notes box, provide the title of and a direct link to the one poem by Auden that inspired yours. Failure to not include this information will automatically disqualify your entry.  Without such, we have no way of determining if you were truly inspired by Auden or simply swapped fresh words into his existing poetry ( which is a form of plagiarism ). This is a requirement regardless if you include a copy of the inspiration poem along with your entry or borrow its title.

7. You may edit your entry up until the moment the competition closes and is locked for judging. In fact, we highly encourage you take a few minutes to review your entry to ensure that it is error free in terms of spelling, grammar, and punctuation, and adheres to these guidelines.

Comp will be judged by Ahavati & JohnnyBlaze. As in the past and in the event there is a tie, we will call in third ( and possibly fourth ) judge.

You have one month; best of luck to all entrants!

https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/poems/425137-the-second-coming-of-yeats/

Non-entry entry

Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!

We're down to about 48 hours left to enter this Classic Corner Comp. For those of you who already have, review your entries to ensure they comply to the challenge rules and correct any errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar.

 <-  Ahavati & JohnnyBlaze

Thank you each for braving the Classic Corner Comps! Judging is in progress and we will announce the winner asap.

A big thank you to all who paid tribute to this month's featured poets with unique emulations. As in previous challenges, these are very difficult to judge, and sometimes come down to a simple typo or grammatical error breaking a tie.

That being said, here are the following winners!

A Ghost Called Love by PoetsRevenge

Congratulations on winning 1ST PLACE and the TROPHEEE!

Honestly, we can't praise this entry enough, and when a poem leaves you speechless as much as this did, that leaves the room with a whole lotta awkward silence to pass the time in.

While your 2nd entry, At Evenfall, was likewise outstanding, we found that your 1st entry  reminscent of Auden's "This Lunar Beauty" was superior in rhythm, which stems from a unique rhyme structure rather than the typical ABAB or ABBA afforded by classic sonnets.

"Love is a ghost, a nebulous thing
and we, as doves can grow its wings."

Such amazing lines that infer Love is a spiritual force to be reckoned with, that we in the physical plane can take to new heights.

Well done, PR!

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Poetry...After Midnight by wallyroo92

As much as we would love to award it a placement ... we simply can't because the challenge was to emulate W. H. Auden!

Yeats was sooo last year. Literally, because we did him last year! LOL

Nevertheless, it was a great emulation of a classic poet!

Taking cues from Yeat's "The Dawn", it impresses upon us that some behaviors are so ritualistic that we tune out everything else going on. Your poem speaks to a larger audience of night owls who come alive when the sun is down and put aside that biological imperative to sleep when darkness falls.  

"And that is how I have come to use
An accord of concrete and abstract words
Composing poems for an anthology
That takes me late into the night."

There's something so magical about these lines! The mention of "concrete" evokes a sense of being taken on a midnight safari and exploration of downtown wildlife taking us late into the night.

Be mindful of how often you resort to using the word "like". Otherwise, wonderful work!

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Condemning the tyrant by Zaynab_kamoonpury

The initial two lines of your poem provided a very intriguing start!

"Imperfection of the world didn't bother him    
as long as it served his goals and mission"

However, you didn't follow up with a story to support them. Instead your narrator deviated into a new train of thought. And then another. And another. Essentially, we learned ( six ) different things about your tyrant.  

But . . . this is exactly what Auden did in the inspiration poem "Epitaph on a Tyrant".  And you were tasked with emulating Auden. So . . . what's the problem?

When you emulate a writer and write about the same subject in the same way, you end up with a poem so similar, it poses nothing unique for us to get excited about. It wasn't a poem inspired by another poem. It was the same poem with different words.

Also, per the rules:

5. You MUST tag your entries with the theme #WHAuden. If the theme is currently not available, be sure to add it before the competition expires.

We are sticklers when it comes to this rule, as these CCComps are meant not only to create an awareness of classic ( and modern ) poets such as Auden, but also easy access to them through the DUP theme search function. Adding #WHAuden to your poem's notes will not help DUP generate a page for Auden.

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To hold cold hands by slipalong

Slip, this entry is riveting! You have an amazing voice that commands the reader's attention and that is your unique style. But in this case, your voice overpowers Auden's.

In the comments you received, DUP member Mark_Parsons summed it up nicely: it's difficult to tell where your lines end when you don't consistently use capitals to start new lines. Thus, your sentences merge together and pose confusion until we realize the lack of a capital.

Using the analogy of readers as jugglers, we drop a bowling pin every time we encounter something confusing. If we have to stop to pick up a pin while we are still juggling other pins, we're likely to drop even more pins in the process. Reading tends to come to a grinding halt.  A poem should read beginning to end without a single pin dropped.

Slip, unfortunately you forgot to tag your entry with the theme #WHAuden as well!

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Thank you everyone for your W. H. Auden ( and W. B. Yeats ) tributes this month!

Congratulations! Well deserved win and placements! xo

Yo entrants. Please visit the poll in regards to the continuation of these competitions. Thankies!

https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/forum/speakeasy/read/11989/

Well, I found Auden to be a comfy couch to lean into in these troubling times, and his river of wisdom ran on and has stayed with me.  The classics are always there when we need them.  I am honored to win, and thank everyone for reading and commenting. The other entries were great to read

Especially, thank you to Johnny and Ahavati for their dedication in hosting and critiquing.  :)