W.H. Auden Poems
Selected by John Fuller
1) Did
you notice any recurring themes or subjects within the collection?
2) What
did you think of the selection of poems that John Fuller made?
3) Are
any of the themes and topics that Auden writes about relevant to what is going
on in the world now?
4) Who
do you think the he is in “Argument Part III? Is it one person, more than one
person, God?
5) Did
you think there was a cloaked meaning in the poem “The Detective”?
6) Did
you notice any particular forms or rhyme schemes?
7) “Funeral
Blues” was made popular by the film “Four Weddings and a Funeral” – do you
think it merits the excitement? How do you think it stands up as an elegy to
lost love?
8) What
was your favourite/least favourite poem? Why?
9) What
does the Sphinx stand for in the poem “Sphinx”?
10) Themes
of the book are loss, time passing, war, death – did you feel that Auden dealt
with these themes effectively?
11) Auden
has been called “the first post-modern poet – would you agree with this statement?
What is post-modern about his work?
