Lay Your Sleeping Head, My Love

Lullaby' is among Auden's famous poems, although it doesn't give the reader a feel of the lighter, more amenably Romantic/romantic elements of his genius. Strange not to find any worthwhile comments/critiques of this popular poem on the NET!

Having taught the poem to two batches of English majors of my college I have grown to have a rather lively, but complex relationship to the poem. The first things to love about the poem are its simple diction and uncompliacted syntax, which agree with the delicate constitution of my undergrads. I also love the way Auden develops the theme of the immense value of human affections, however faulty, however frail, in a world grown shrill and cold with dry moralisings on the one hand and the harshnesses of our obligatory, loveless interactions with each other. Auden's interest in her mother's faith -- Roman Catholicism -- makes itself felt in the pantheistic and almost mystical faith in "Universal love and hope" in the second stanza: one remembers the concluding stanzas of Wordsworth's 'Immoratlaity Ode' in the context.
The dramatic situation in the poem is left shadowy, though: only at the very end of the poem do we dimly guess that the speaker might have been loving and talking to a prostitute all this while. Auden's mature acceptance of the humanity of human love is eveident in the 2nd.stanza, where he equates love -- the act of love-making, when accomapnied by spiritual kinship and union, to a "hermit's ecsatsy": Lovers of English poetry are bound to be reminded of Donne's 'Cannonization' here.
One argues with him, however, over the idea that the sort of heightened physical and spiritual union the stanza talks about could be achieved with someone the speaker does not have a deep relationship with. Maybe, the speaker does not meet with a casual aquaintance, after all. There seems to be an element of vagueness about the nature of the relationship he shares with the owner of the "sleeping head", however unfaithful. Perhaps the lady in question was once in a deep bond with the speaker and the two have met again after a separation, during which the lady had to suffer "nights of insult" (nights of loveless love-making').
The third stanza evinces an eagerness on the part of the speaker to enjoy whatever the fleeting present has to offer before it dies away unobserved "like vibrations of a bell". This has nothing, however, in common with an Andrew Marvell's hedonistic 'carpe diem'(cf. 'To His Coy Mistress'). Auden's anxiety seems to be more about affections than about orgasms. Here is a world-weary, disillutioned soul come to rest in the quiet comforts of shared tenderness and companionship, and pysicality, even if this can never (again) be anything more than a one-night fling. (Here again one gets the nagging feeling that the speaker and the woman in the poem had a deeper bond at a point of time beyond the temporal ambit of the poem: the poet could have helped our imaginations a little more by ampler suggestions.) The reference to the "dreaded cards" is obscure: are they business cards which stridently claim the dues payable to the world by the speaker and his companaion for stealing a night of tenderness and passion between them?
The poem closes with a prayer by the speaker for his short-term companion and lover: One is reminded here of the closing lines of Coleridge's 'Dejection: an Ode', where the earlier poet prays for the cheerfulness and blissful life of his beloved Sarah Hutcinson. The prayer in Auden's poem is more deeply suffused with the tints of a worldly-wise matuirity, though. And it's a prayer almost paternal in its tender solicitousness: note the affectionate and apprehensive references to the woman's "dreaming head" and "knocking heart"! The eagerness of the speaker for her heart to find "the mortal world enough" seems to betray the struggle he had himself had in order to accept the less that satisfying rewards of this mortal earth. Has he succeeded fully in that struggle yet? Or does he, like Matthew Arnold, still find himself torn between "Infinite passion and the pain/ Of finite hearts that yearn"? We are left to ponder....

suparna banerjee from India

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Information about Lullaby
Poet: W. H. Auden
Poem: Lullaby
Added: Feb 20 2003
Viewed: 1687 times
Poem of the Day: May 31 2004

Lullaby' is among Auden's famous poems, although it doesn't give the reader a feel of the lighter, more amenably Romantic/romantic elements of his genius. Strange not to find any worthwhile comments/critiques of this popular poem on the NET!
Having taught the poem to two batches of English majors of my college I have grown to have a rather lively, but complex relationship to the poem. The first things to love about the poem are its simple diction and uncompliacted syntax, which agree with the delicate constitution of my undergrads. I also love the way Auden develops the theme of the immense value of human affections, however faulty, however frail, in a world grown shrill and cold with dry moralizing on the one hand and the harshness of our obligatory, loveless interactions with each other. This tone of hopelessness helps us to see the poem in the context of the post WW II times – times Auden described as “ “.
Auden's interest in her Roman Catholic faith – to which he increasingly turned for comfort and the solution to the world’s ills in his mature years -- makes itself felt in the pantheistic and almost mystical belief in "Universal love and hope" in the second stanza: one remembers the concluding stanzas of Wordsworth's 'Immoratlaity Ode' in the context.
The dramatic situation in the poem is left shadowy, though: only at the very end of the poem do we dimly guess that the speaker might have been loving and talking to a prostitute all this while. Auden's mature acceptance of the humanity of human love is evident in the 2nd.stanza, where he equates love -- the act of love-making, when accompanied by spiritual kinship and union -- to a "hermit's ecstasy": lovers of English poetry are bound to be reminded of Donne's 'Cannonization' here.
One tends to argue with him, however, over the idea that the sort of heightened physical and spiritual union the stanza talks about could be achieved with someone the speaker does not have a deep relationship with. Maybe, the speaker does not meet with a casual aquaintance, after all. There seems to be an element of vagueness about the nature of the relationship he shares with the owner of the "sleeping head", however unfaithful. Perhaps the lady in question was once in a deeper bond with the speaker and the two have met again after a separation, during which the lady had to suffer "nights of insult" (nights of loveless love-making').
The third stanza evinces an eagerness on the part of the speaker to enjoy whatever the fleeting present has to offer before it dies away unobserved "like vibrations of a bell". This has nothing, however, in common with, say, an Andrew Marvell's hedonistic 'carpe diem' in 'To His Coy Mistress'. Auden's anxiety seems to be more about the affections than about orgasms. Here is a world-weary, disillusioned soul come to rest in the quiet comforts of shared tenderness and companionship, even if this can never be anything more than a one-night fling. (Here again one gets the nagging feeling that the speaker and the woman in the poem had a deeper bond at a point of time beyond the temporal ambit of the poem: the poet could have helped our imaginations a little more by ampler suggestions.) The reference to the "dreaded cards" is obscure: are they business cards which stridently claim the dues payable to the world by the speaker and his companaion for stealing a night of tenderness and passion between them?
The poem closes with a prayer by the speaker for his short-term companion and lover: one is reminded here of the closing lines of Coleridge's 'Dejection: an Ode', where the earlier poet prays for the cheerfulness and lasting bliss of his beloved Sarah Hutchinson. The prayer in Auden's poem is more deeply suffused with the tints of a worldly-wise maturity, though. And it's a prayer almost paternal in its tender solicitousness: note the affectionate and apprehensive references to the woman's "dreaming head" and "knocking heart"! The eagerness of the speaker for her heart to find "the mortal world enough" seems to betray the struggle he had himself had in order to accept the less than satisfying rewards of this mortal earth. Has he succeeded fully in that struggle yet? Or does he, like Matthew Arnold, still find himself torn between "Infinite passion and the pain/ Of finite hearts that yearn"? We are left to wonder....

Hi everybody
I thank you all for commenting on my interpretation of Auden's "Lullaby". While some of your comments were anxious about my ommision of the "fact" that the poem is a "gay" love poem, some others have pointed corroborated my feeling that the poem is about the transitory glory of all things human. But I'm truly amazed at thi that none of you poetry lovers could point out the unintentional factual error in the last line of my analysis. The poem that speaks of the "infinite pasion and the pain/Of finite hearts that yearn" -- one of the classics of Enlish poetry -- is by Browning, and NOT by Mathew Arnold: it's Browning's "Two in the Campagna". I'm going to commen on that one some day. I give below my interpretation of "Lullaby" again with the error corrected.Information about Lullaby
Poet: W. H. Auden
Poem: Lullaby
Added: Feb 20 2003
Viewed: 1687 times
Poem of the Day: May 31 2004

Lullaby' is among Auden's famous poems, although it doesn't give the reader a feel of the lighter, more amenably Romantic/romantic elements of his genius. Strange not to find any worthwhile comments/critiques of this popular poem on the NET!
Having taught the poem to two batches of English majors of my college I have grown to have a rather lively, but complex relationship to the poem. The first things to love about the poem are its simple diction and uncompliacted syntax, which agree with the delicate constitution of my undergrads. I also love the way Auden develops the theme of the immense value of human affections, however faulty, however frail, in a world grown shrill and cold with dry moralizing on the one hand and the harshness of our obligatory, loveless interactions with each other. This tone of hopelessness helps us to see the poem in the context of the post WW II times – times Auden described as “ “.
Auden's interest in her Roman Catholic faith – to which he increasingly turned for comfort and the solution to the world’s ills in his mature years -- makes itself felt in the pantheistic and almost mystical belief in "Universal love and hope" in the second stanza: one remembers the concluding stanzas of Wordsworth's 'Immoratlaity Ode' in the context.
The dramatic situation in the poem is left shadowy, though: only at the very end of the poem do we dimly guess that the speaker might have been loving and talking to a prostitute all this while. Auden's mature acceptance of the humanity of human love is evident in the 2nd.stanza, where he equates love -- the act of love-making, when accompanied by spiritual kinship and union -- to a "hermit's ecstasy": lovers of English poetry are bound to be reminded of Donne's 'Cannonization' here.
One tends to argue with him, however, over the idea that the sort of heightened physical and spiritual union the stanza talks about could be achieved with someone the speaker does not have a deep relationship with. Maybe, the speaker does not meet with a casual aquaintance, after all. There seems to be an element of vagueness about the nature of the relationship he shares with the owner of the "sleeping head", however unfaithful. Perhaps the lady in question was once in a deeper bond with the speaker and the two have met again after a separation, during which the lady had to suffer "nights of insult" (nights of loveless love-making').
The third stanza evinces an eagerness on the part of the speaker to enjoy whatever the fleeting present has to offer before it dies away unobserved "like vibrations of a bell". This has nothing, however, in common with, say, an Andrew Marvell's hedonistic 'carpe diem' in 'To His Coy Mistress'. Auden's anxiety seems to be more about the affections than about orgasms. Here is a world-weary, disillusioned soul come to rest in the quiet comforts of shared tenderness and companionship, even if this can never be anything more than a one-night fling. (Here again one gets the nagging feeling that the speaker and the woman in the poem had a deeper bond at a point of time beyond the temporal ambit of the poem: the poet could have helped our imaginations a little more by ampler suggestions.) The reference to the "dreaded cards" is obscure: are they business cards which stridently claim the dues payable to the world by the speaker and his companaion for stealing a night of tenderness and passion between them?
The poem closes with a prayer by the speaker for his short-term companion and lover: one is reminded here of the closing lines of Coleridge's 'Dejection: an Ode', where the earlier poet prays for the cheerfulness and lasting bliss of his beloved Sarah Hutchinson. The prayer in Auden's poem is more deeply suffused with the tints of a worldly-wise maturity, though. And it's a prayer almost paternal in its tender solicitousness: note the affectionate and apprehensive references to the woman's "dreaming head" and "knocking heart"! The eagerness of the speaker for her heart to find "the mortal world enough" seems to betray the struggle he had himself had in order to accept the less than satisfying rewards of this mortal earth. Has he succeeded fully in that struggle yet? Or does he, like Matthew Arnold, still find himself torn between "Infinite passion and the pain/ Of finite hearts that yearn"? We are left to wonder....

Suparna Banerjee from India

Although, indeed, Wystan Hugh Auden was a homosexual, who is to say that the poem is directly a personal reflection? Many of Auden's poems are "spoken" through others, which may be an attempt at portraying situation that he himself may not have experienced. Despite the fact that "Lay your sleeping head, my love" comes across as an intimate and personal poem from Auden's own experience, the poem makes reference to "her tolerant enchanted slope", which is clearly about a woman, and the "ordinary swoon" of "lovers as they lie" - these could be possible references to co conformity or a feeling of isolation or oppression about his sexuality; the need to feel "ordinary" and accepted. No one can ever truly understand Auden's poetry now that he has passed away, and although your interpretation of his works may be entirely different to my own, try to focus on how the words make you feel, rather than overanalysing and dissecting their beauty into something of mere logic and common sense.