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Since I seem to have written more in the margins of the Auden piece than any other, I suppose I should like to write about that one. I agree with Dj regarding the introduction and the funny notion of the glamourous world of writing.

I was concerned with a couple of Auden's claims about the poetic-ness of science and politics, wondering why he said what he did. "The true men of action...the scientists. Unfortunately poetry cannot celebrate them...their deeds are concerned with things, not persons, and are, therefore, speechless" (381). I thought this was a rather unfair thing to say; I disagree that scientists aren't concerned with persons (as my mother is a scientist); I think there could most definitely be poetry written about what her research does.

The next concern I had was on the following page, with the quote: "Poets are, by nature of their interests and the nature of artistic fabrication, singularly ill-equipped to understand politics or economics" (382). Well. That seems a bit too generalizing, doesn't it? How can a poet automatically be ill-equipped to understand those things? I feel that comment is just a bit too stereotyping. In fact, now that I am reflecting on the essay, I must admit that I find it hard to relate what Auden has said to the world of poetry. Is the poet the complete opposite of a politician? What is he saying here?