오든 초기시의 인간중심적 고찰

Abstract

Humanism in Auden’s Early Poems Jooseong Kim (Dankook Univ.) Jooseong Kim (Dankook Univ.) W.H. Auden is the leader of the so-called “Auden Group” which brings glory to English poetry in the thirties. Many critics call him a socialist poet or a political poet, and of course he writes many good political poems. But, at the same time, he is strongly against politics; he thinks poetry must in no way be concerned in with politics. He writes poems for the purpose of showing his love for the fellow-men, especially, for poverty -ridden labor workers. So it is much more proper to call him a poet of love. This study tries to investigate the concept and the role of love, one of the most recurrent themes found in Auden’s early poems. At times it means erotic love; at other times loving one’s neighbor in equal relationship; at other times the social revolution; at still other times it has the best of these impulses by confusing them. No matter how various Auden’s love stands for, it always places man in the heart of its landscape. So Stephen Spender correctly claims that the direction of Auden’s poetry has been towards the defining of the concept of love. To Auden, love is the only way to human redemption. He believes that the moderns and their society are taken sick for want of sound and true love. And he shows us through his poems the image of the ideal human being who is able to conquer the widespread symptoms which are the human condition.