At the Party
At the Party - meaning Summary
Isolation Amid Social Noise
Auden's "At the Party" depicts a crowded social scene where conversation is superficial and a background of mutual distrust undercuts every topic. The speaker insists on an inner self that others refuse or fail to perceive, issuing a plea for recognition that is swallowed by self-absorbed listeners. The poem traces the loneliness of performative sociability and the persistent failure of real connection in group settings.
Read Complete AnalysesUnrhymed, unrhythmical, the chatter goes: Yet no one hears his own remarks as prose. Beneath each topic tunelessly discussed The ground-bass is reciprocal mistrust. The names in fashion shuttling to and fro Yield, when deciphered, messages of woe. You cannot read me like an open book. I'm more myself than you will ever look. Will no one listen to my little song? Perhaps I shan't be with you very long. A howl for recognition, shrill with fear, Shakes the jam-packed apartment, but each ear Is listening to its hearing, so none hear.
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