Summary

The date September 1, 1939 might not signify much for readers of the twenty-first century. In 1940, however, many would have recognized it as the day when Third Reich troops invaded Poland in the first clash of World War II. The German offensive, though long expected, was still a shock to continentals, Englishmen, and Americans caught up in the petty business of day-to-day life. It is with a nod to this "anger and fear" that Auden begins his poem "September 1, 1939" (6). Like so many others consumed by domesticity and egoism, the speaker suffers from psychological crisis in the wake of Poland’s defeat. From the dreary setting of a "52nd street dive," he transports readers into a world of abstract reflections and imaginings, including the ideological trajectory from Lutheranism to fascism, constancy in human nature, Nijinsky’s dramatic falling out with fellow impresario Diaghilev, and finally, the alienating...