And went with half my life about my ways. He would not stay for me to stand and gaze.
He would not stay for me and who can wonder? Auden’s sonnet came out three years after the following two poems were published posthumously in 1933. What does Auden mean by the line “In savage footnotes on unjust editions”? I think it might reference the publication of some of Housman’s poems after his death by his brother Lawrence. I have sympathy for Housman, it can’t be much fun as a writer if the source of your inspiration is only fueled by the dark side of your psyche. The desire, or the need, did not come upon him often, and it came usually when feeling ill or depressed.” ‘a morbid secretion’, as the pearl is for the oyster. In the on-line Poetry Foundation biography of Housman he is quoted in a letter that his writing of poetry came like It is not surprising given that he was homosexual and unable to realize relationships with men given the criminality of homosexuality at that time. There is an underlying grey cloud of depression that permeates his poetry. I think that Housman might protest a bit too much in denying that his poetry did not come from his own experience.
Housman rested his professional reputation as a scholar, not as a poet. The trouble with trying to relate a sonnet to a flesh and blood person is how much does anyone really know about another person? Housman taken at his word in private correspondence stated “very little in my work is biographical” and appeared in later life to distance himself from his poetry which although popular was under siege by critics of his day as somewhat immature in its themes and poorly constructed. I know I would be flattered if a writer of the stature of Auden had taken the time to write a sonnet with me as the central figure, even if it contained some inconvenient implications. It’s possible it was written as a bit of politcal statement on acceptance of homosexuality in his own inimitable way. Auden wouldn’t have wasted his time writing a sonnet for someone who hadn’t captured a part of his imagination.
In the company of men it is far better to be teased than ignored if Auden in fact meant it as such. I think it was a straight on assessment from one poet to another, an homage from one scholar to another, and a gesture from one man to another. I don’t think it was intended as a literary left jab. Auden was pressured not to include it in later collections of his work. The critics didn’t think much of Auden’s sonnet when it was published in 1936, the year of Housman’s death. Parted the coarse hanged soldier from the don.” Something to do with violence and the poor. He would rather be completely forgotten than have his lover mourning over him.Kept tears like dirty postcards in a drawer įood was his public love, his private lust Shakespeare is most likely telling the "Handsome, young man" not to think of him because he doesn't want him to have to go through the hurt and the pain. He continues to say that the man should let go of all their memories altogether if thinking of it makes him grieve and his heart ache. Despite how much Shakespeare loves him, he is asking that he forget him completely. he is telling him that if he reads it, do not remember the person who has written it. In these lines, Shakespeare is confessing his love for the handsome man. The phrase ".if you read this line." Make you feel that this letter was real and, possibly, was given to you. The next four lines, which read, "Nay, if you read this line remember not/The hand the writ it for I love you so/That I in your sweet thoughts should be forgot/If thinking on me then should make you woe" give you the idea that this sonnet was written for and actually given to the man it was written for. He would rather be completely forgotten than have his lover mourning over him.
He is telling him that if he reads it, do not remember the person who has written it, which is Shakespeare himself. The phrase ".if you read this line." Gives the idea that this sonnet was a written letter of note from the very hands of Shakespeare to his lover.