Political Poems: W.H. Auden's 'Spain 1937'

In their second episode, Mark and Seamus look at W.H. Auden's, ‘Spain’. Auden travelled to Spain in January 1937 to support the Republican efforts in the civil war, and composed the poem shortly after his return a few months later to raise money for Medical Aid for Spain. It became a rallying cry in the fight against fascism, but was also heavily criticised, not least by George Orwell, for the phrase (in its first version) of ‘necessary murder’. Mark and Seamus discuss the poem’s Marxist presentation of history, its distinctly non-Marxist language, and why Auden ultimately condemned it as ‘a lie’.
Mark Ford is Professor of English at University College, London, and Seamus Perry is Professor of English Literature at Balliol College, Oxford.
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[@aclark903]

There was a young man in 🇺🇦
Who saw that it started to rain.
He said with a shout
Does anyone doubt?
We can stop all this rain with our brain? 🧠

[@findbridge1790]

influence of st John Perse still present

[@EmphaticW]

Hello. Other than war and death, what would you say are other themes present in the poem?

[@maolsheachlannoceallaigh4772]

Cathleen Ni Houlihan was a play, not a poem. I enjoyed the discussion, thanks.

[@maolsheachlannoceallaigh4772]

"Homophobically tinged?". Oh, please... This was long before PC. Would Orwell even have known Auden was gay?

[@stephenparkin3220]

Yes, Orwell did know Auden was gay. There is a reference to "Nancy poets" in The Road to Wigan Pier when he is describing the miserable working conditions experienced by Yorkshire coal miners. It is clearly derogatory, although Orwell also criticises himself and the Archbishop of Canterbury among others for being beneficiaries of social injustice. His conclusion being "that it is only because miners sweat their guts out that superior persons can remain superior."