The London Symphony Orchestra is playing under Bernstein’s direction.īernstein’s second symphony is quite different from most symphonies. In a New York Times Op-ed by Daniel Smith, the poem is described as being “a difficult work - allusive, allegorical, at times surreal” (3).īelow is a recording of Bernstein’s second symphony. The poem itself is described as a Baroque Eclogue, an ornate tribute to the bucolic, and is written in alliterative verse. The material is definitely unwieldy and has been called nebulous by some. Each one of the four protagonists represent one of Carl Jung’s archetypes – Thought, Feeling, Sensation and Intuition (2). Auden was able to draw upon modern science to enhance his work as well. Into The Age of Anxiety, Auden incorporated elements of popular culture, current events, and common vernacular. Created soon after WWII in the age of McCarthyism, Auden’s poem grapples with themes of human isolation and faith. With this in mind, I set out to answer the following question – does Bernstein’s “The Age of Anxiety” deserve to be called one of the great symphonies of the 20th century?īernstein’s second symphony, was heavily inspired by W.H. Some critics have lambasted the improvisatory nature of the work, while others ardently praise its incorporation of jazz elements.
Auden’s written work, and despite being based upon a narrative, Bernstein’s symphony seems to be lack one. Critics debate endlessly concerning the symphony’s connection to W.H. Although none of Bernstein’s symphonies could be considered at all orthodox, his second in particular seems to be a work in contradictions. Out of Bernstein’s three symphonic works, his second symphony, entitled “The Age of Anxiety,” is most perplexing to me. I have a deep suspicion that every work I write, for whatever medium, is really theater music in some way" (1) - Leonard Bernstein The Ascent of F."If the charge of 'theatricality' in a symphonic work is a valid one, I am willing to plead guilty. Letters from Iceland (Random House, 1937) The Dyer's Hand and Other Essays (Random House, 1962) Auden (Random House, 1945)įorewords and Afterwords (Random House, 1973) The Age of Anxiety: A Baroque Eclogue (Random House, 1947) The Shield of Achilles (Random House, 1955)Ĭollected Shorter Poems 1930-1944 (Faber and Faber, 1950) Thank You, Fog: Last Poems (Random House, 1974)Įpistle to a Godson (Faber and Faber, 1972)Īcademic Graffiti (Faber and Faber, 1971)Ĭity Without Walls and Other Poems (Random House, 1969)Ĭollected Longer Poems (Random House, 1968)Ĭollected Shorter Poems 1927-1957 (Faber and Faber, 1966) Auden served as a c hancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 1954 to 1973, and divided most of the second half of his life between residences in New York City and Austria. Generally considered the greatest English poet of the twentieth century, his work has exerted a major influence on succeeding generations of poets on both sides of the Atlantic. A prolific writer, Auden was also a noted playwright, librettist, editor, and essayist. His own beliefs changed radically between his youthful career in England, when he was an ardent advocate of socialism and Freudian psychoanalysis, and his later phase in America, when his central preoccupation became Christianity and the theology of modern Protestant theologians. He visited Germany, Iceland, and China, served in the Spanish Civil war, and in 1939 moved to the United States, where he met his lover, Chester Kallman, and became an American citizen. His poetry frequently recounts, literally or metaphorically, a journey or quest, and his travels provided rich material for his verse. He had a remarkable wit, and often mimicked the writing styles of other poets such as Dickinson, W. In 1928, his collection Poems was privately printed, but it wasn't until 1930, when another collection titled Poems (though its contents were different) was published, that Auden was established as the leading voice of a new generation.Įver since, he has been admired for his unsurpassed technical virtuosity and an ability to write poems in nearly every imaginable verse form the incorporation in his work of popular culture, current events, and vernacular speech and also for the vast range of his intellect, which drew easily from an extraordinary variety of literatures, art forms, social and political theories, and scientific and technical information. At Oxford his precocity as a poet was immediately apparent, and he formed lifelong friendships with two fellow writers, Stephen Spender and Christopher Isherwood. As a young man he was influenced by the poetry of Thomas Hardy and Robert Frost, as well as William Blake, Emily Dickinson, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Old English verse. He moved to Birmingham during childhood and was educated at Christ Church, Oxford. Wystan Hugh Auden was born in York, England, on February 21, 1907.