We Too Had Known Golden Hours
We Too Had Known Golden Hours - meaning Summary
Joy in a Debased Language
Auden contrasts remembered, wholehearted pleasures and eloquent speech with a modern atmosphere in which sincere words and civil style have been corrupted. Joy, love, and dignified conversation once thrived, but mass taste and editorial manipulation have reduced noble terms to mechanical noise. The poem mourns the loss of truthful expression and social grace, noting that irony and sotto-voce remain, and asks where one can shelter genuine contentment now.
Read Complete AnalysesWe, too, had known golden hours When body and soul were in tune, Had danced with our true loves By the light of a full moon, And sat with the wise and good As tongues grew witty and gay Over some noble dish Out of Escoffier; Had felt the intrusive glory Which tears reserve apart, And would in the old grand manner Have sung from a resonant heart. But, pawed-at and gossiped-over By the promiscuous crowd, Concocted by editors Into spells to befuddle the crowd, All words like Peace and Love, All sane affirmative speech, Had been soiled, profaned, debased To a horrid mechanical screech. No civil style survived That pandaemonioum But the wry, the sotto-voce, Ironic and monochrome: And where should we find shelter For joy or mere content When little was left standing But the suburb of dissent?
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