Monday, November 10, 2014

If I Could Tell You So- Jack Humphries Blog 9

If I could tell you so



No one is completely in control of life. This fact was morbidly overbearing in the wake of world war two when W.H. Auden wrote “If I Could Tell You So”. Throughout his rigidly structured, Villanesque,19 line poem Auden voices his discontent with the uncertainty of life, repeatedly writing, “Time will say nothing but I told you so” effectively casting time as a mocking figure. On an interesting side note, Auden’s choice to write “If I Could Tell You So” as a rigid villanelle poem demonstrates a nice conjecture to the uncontrollability of time. In essence he’s trying to transfer his complete control of poetry to his overall life. He continues spitefully listing all the ill acts time commits like taking away our ability to be joyous in comedic situations as seen in the lines “If we should weep when clowns put on their show” and our ability to function as we grow old with age “If we should stumble when musicians play”. “If I Could Tell You So” is Auden’s rebellion against the uncertainty of life.

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