Comparison of W.H. Auden and John Dryden
One of the differences in the stylistic choices of the two poets is the use of rhyme. In his elegy, John Dryden employs a rhyme scheme after every two sentences throughout the poem.
Thus Nisus fell upon the slippery place,
While his young friend perform'd and won the race.
O early ripe! to thy abundant store
What could advancing age have added more?. (Dryden)
As seen in the first six lines of the poem, every two sentences maintain the same rhyme scheme. John Dryden employs an intricate and deliberate choice of words to maintain he rhyme scheme. The poet employs this stylistic device throughout the poem. In his elegy, Wystan Hugh Auden avoids the use of a rhyme scheme until the third section of the poem. The fact that the first two sections of his poem lack the rhyme scheme that is present in the third section leads one to believe that the exclusion of the rhyme scheme in the first two sections was a deliberate choice by the poet.
Follow, poet, follow right
With your unconstraining voice
Still persuade us to rejoice; (Auden 83).
The excerpt above from the fourth stanza of the third section of the elegy shows the use of a rhyme scheme in every two subsequent lines, a stylistic devise that is markedly absent in the first two sections. This deliberate choice denies the first two sections of the poem the emphasis that is very apparent in the third section. The emphasis of the message in the previous line is evident in John Dryden’s elegy through the meticulous utilization of the rhyme scheme. The same effect is felt in the last section of Wystan Hugh Auden’s elegy.
Another difference in the two elegies is the fact that John Dryden sticks with the traditional approach to writing an elegy unlike Wystan Hugh Auden who deviates from the approach. The first stage in the writing of a traditional elegy involves the lamentations of the poet over the demise of the individual (Rafiq). There is the application of hyperbole to show the cloud of gloom and the immense loss following the death. In the second stage, the poet overviews the merits of the departed individual and places praise on him and his accomplishments (Rafiq). In the third and final stage, the poet of the traditional elegy takes heart and consolation (Rafiq).
Far from his illness
The wolves ran on through the evergreen forests,
The peasant river was untempted by the fashionable quays;
The death of the poet was kept from his poems (Auden 80).
Wystan Hugh Auden does not paint a picture of a world morning the demise of a great poet. The excerpt above from the third stanza of the first section of his elegy shows a world that is unaffected and indifferent to the death of the poet. When he writes, “The wolves ran on through the evergreen forests,” Wystan Hugh Auden shows that life in the world went on as if nothing extraordinary happened (Auden 80). When he writes, “The peasant river was untempted by the fashionable quays,” Wystan Hugh Auden was indicating that even human economic activity went on unabated by the death of the poet (Auden 80). The choice of words by Wystan Hugh Auden and how the words are joined construct meaning in the stanza shows the progress of life unperturbed by the death of the great author.
Farewell, too little and too lately known,
Whom I began to think and call my own;
For sure our souls were near ally'd; and thine
Cast in the same poetic mould with mine (Dryden)
The above excerpt from the first four lines of the elegy by John Dryden shows the acknowledgement of loss and missed opportunities caused by the death of Oldham. When Dryden writes, “Farewell, too little and too lately known,” he shows that he premature death of Oldham came too early before he could get to know him well. The second and third lines advance the message of loss and missed opportunities.
The second element of the traditional elegy is the glorification of the deceased (Rafiq). This element is distinctly absent in the elegy written by Wystan Hugh Auden.
You were silly like us; your gift survived it all:
The parish of rich women, physical decay,
Yourself. Mad Ireland hurt you into poetry.
Now Ireland has her madness and her weather still,
For poetry makes nothing happen: it survives (Auden 82).
The first line of the excerpt from the third section of the elegy written by Wystan Hugh Auden shows the author referring to the departed poet as being “silly.” When Auden writes, “Now Ireland has her madness and her weather still,” he implies that the poetry by Yeats was inconsequential. It appears to the reader the death of Yeats only serves to enhance the reflections of Auden on various elements of poetry and how it influences events in life.
Thus Nisus fell upon the slippery place,
While his young friend perform'd and won the race.
O early ripe! to thy abundant store (Dryden)
These four sentences from Dryden’s elegy highlight the praise that the poet heaped on the departed poet. When Dryden writes, “While his young friend perform'd and won the race,” he is alluding to the literary and poetic accomplishments of the deceased poet. The final element of a traditional elegy is the sense of consolation which is so evident in Dryden’s elegy when he writes, “Once more, hail and farewell; farewell thou young.” This element is conspicuously absent in the elegy by Auden. This marks the difference in the approach of the two poets.
Works Cited
Auden, Wystan. Selected poems. New York. Vintage Books. 1979. Print.
Dryden, John. To the Memory of Mr. Oldham. Poetry Foundation and The National Endowment for the Arts. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.
Rafiq, Muhammad. What is an elegy? Hubpages. 5 Feb. 2015. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.
