W. H. Auden's Sociological Concern: Influences of Marx, Freud, and Lawrence in His Early Poetry

Abstract

In evaluating the early poetry of W. H. Auden, one cannot escape the conclusion that social problems are his primary concern. Although the same might be said of many recent poets, there are few who approach the issues of his time in exactly the same way that he does. Indeed, he appears to be among the small number of writers whose sociological concept encompasses three different spheres of thought: the political, the psychological, and the moral. What is significant is that he synthesizes these fields of ideas in such a way as to construct an ideology primarily his own. . . . In translating this interest into poetry, Auden assimilated diverse ideas from numerous writers. He was rather well-read in many fields of learning, and echoes of many historians, sociologists, and psychologists are demonstrable in his work. In his first poetry, however, the major influences are discernible above any of the others. Critics have shown significant elements of the ideas of Marx, Freud, and L.awrence throughout his 1930 and 1933 collections. Although the theories of these three men are associated with three different disciplines, Auden has combined their beliefs as they relate to his prirnary interest: the sociological concern. [From Conclusion]