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I thought that “The Poet and the City” by W. H. Auden addressed some pertinent issues concerning the occupation of writing. He shows concern over the direction artists in today’s technologically advanced world have taken. He specifically spells out the difficulties artists face in modern society and gives readers what he considers to be the four aspects of this decline. These aspects really gave me a great deal to think about and for the most part I agree with Auden’s viewpoint.
Today artists cannot just create. Instead they have many more things to consider than their forbearers had to think about. The artist is now under tremendous pressure to create something that is worthy of enduring throughout time. Difficulty also lies in the fact that artist’s in modern society realize through science that their creations hold no universal truths and that everything they do is subjective. Artists of previous times when science was not as developed did not have to deal with this knowledge. Overall, Auden seems to be saying that today’s artists are under much more pressure when they create.