September 1, 1939 by W. H Auden

Clearly, just reading the title of this poem I understood that the author was pointed out historical facts. On September 1, 1939 was the invasion of Poland and that issue was the beginning of the Second World War. Moreover in 1939 was the end of Spanish Civil War. These two historical aspects determined this poem.

In the following stanza he is criticizing the consequences of the invasion of Poland,

waves of anger and fear
circulate over the bright
and darkened lands of the earth,
obsessing our private lives;
the unmentionable odour of death
offends the September night

Auden in this part of the poem illustrates the fear of people and the imminent death of million of human beings. He also explains how the land had been destroyed by the invasion, desolation and darkness controlled the streets of September 1.

He also refers to religion, he mentions Luther to place us in a specific context that from him until now, religion has controlled the way we see God and what children have to learn about religion. As consequence they have developed a psychopathetic, with multiple personalities and mentally ill.

When he says “All I have is a voice”, he wants to be listened to and he also wants to express that through his voice we can criticize authority, progress, democracy, collective man, religion and nationalism.

To conclude, this is an excellent poem to analyze and to present it in an EFL class because it has many contemporary topics that are affecting our society nowadays.