We all know how difficult is to be a human being. Feelings, emotions and experiences are present in our daily life. However, our past is also important. Our past experiences and facts are crucial to understand the world we are leaving in now. I chose the poem “September 1, 1939” by W.H Auden, to make a connection between it and EFL. In order to accomplish this, I will explain the context in which the poem was written, I will give my own interpretation to some quotations of the poem and finally, I will explain how useful the poem can be in EFL.
“September 1, 1939” was written at the beginning of World War II. Auden’s idea was to describe the social and personal issues that were taking place during those times. To understand what was happening in 1939 I will name some facts that caused the outbreak of WW2.
- March 15th, Adolph Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia.
- March 18th, Stalin asked for a coalition against Germany.
- April 3rd, France and Great Britain signed an agreement of cooperation.
- July 4th, Germany: Neuengamme concentration camp was used to lock up Jewish people.
- September 1st, German troops invaded Polonia, beginning with WW2
- September 3rd, Great Britain and France declared war to Germany
This was the atmosphere in which the poem was written. Many people suffering political persecutions, countries invaded and people dying. According to my interpretation, Auden is trying to show what was happening during those days and how all those issue were affecting people’s life.
Now that we know the context in which the poem was written, we can talk about the poem itself. For that, I will choose some stanzas that called my attention and I will explain them following my own interpretation.
This is how Auden started the poem. This stanza really called my attention because when I read it I felt that the writer was trying to express his own feelings towards something.
“I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second Street
Uncertain and afraid”
The atmosphere during the year 1939 was surrounded by uncertainty and fear. People were aware that something was not good, and that something bad was coming.
Another stanza that appealed to me was when he wrote the following;
“A psychopathic god”
I need to admit that this line is controversial for everyone, no matter what religion you follow or if you believe in “a” God or not. I discussed this stanza with many people, most of them were Catholic. Obviously, they did not like this part of the poem. According to most of them, God is not crazy, on the contrary, he (or she) is the sanest of all. Everyone asked me why I was not in shocked because of that line, if supposedly I believe in a God. My answer was short and simple: God is personal. In my opinion, in who someone believes is not my problem. He or she will have an opinion about “it” regarding his or her own experiences in life. If Auden says that his God is psychopathic, who am I to say that he is wrong?
The last stanza that I will analyze is the following:
“The dense commuters come,Repeating their morning vow;'I will be true to the wife,I'll concentrate more on my work,'”
After reading it I had a feeling of discomfort. I felt that he was making fun of the people who say that everyday. My interpretation is that he is trying to say that people are hypocrites and that they say that they will do something, but they do not do it in the end. We are always complaining about everything, because we are always asking for more. If something is red, we want it to be blue. If we have a house, we want to have a department. If we go on vacations to Brazil, we would like to be in Canada, and so on. This is how people are always discomfort with everything, but do they do something to change what they do not like? Obviously, they do not.
“September 1, 1939” is a very interesting poem, and that is why I will use it in EFL. Regarding it historical background and references, there is something else that called my attention. Leaving a side the stanzas that I have already mentioned, there is one in particular that really appeal to me the most and that I would like to use it in my teaching practice.
“What all schoolchildren learn,Those to whom evil is doneDo evil in return”
I think that this stanza does not need an interpretation, because the meaning it has is very clear after you reading it.
My decision to use this stanza in EFL is because I thought that it could be useful to talk about certain topics more easily, for example, bullying. It came into my mind that when a child suffers at home, for example when he or she is abused, he will repeat this behavior with other people. In other words, if his or her parents hit him at home, he will hit his or her classmates at school too. My idea is to avoid this behavior in children; therefore I will use this poem to come up with the topic I want to discuss and then I will work on how to promote tolerance and respect among children. I thought about a specific activity that I would like to do with my students regarding this topic. My idea is that they will have short “meetings” with their classmates, where they will have to talk about their lives and experiences, so as they can know each other better.
I have given my opinion from the beginning of this paper up to the end of it. To conclude I would like to say that I really enjoyed this poem, in fact thanks to this poem I am starting to appreciate poetry. It is impossible to teach something that you do not like; therefore, the fact that this poem has appealed to me help me to include literature in my classes. Literature needs to be promoted in children’s life; hence it is my duty as a teacher to promote it and I need to say that I will be happy to do it.
References
1.- Auden, W. SEPTEMBER 1, 1939. 1939
2.- “History learning site”. World War II
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