The Modern Lyric and Prospero's Island
1988; Duke University Press; Volume: 34; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/441439
ISSN2325-8101
Autores Tópico(s)Samuel Beckett and Modernism
ResumoW. H. Auden wrote The Sea and the Mirror as an epilogue Shakespeare's The Tempest; at the same time, it is an epilogue that part of Auden's life when he could believe in poetry as an important act. His rigid work schedule would not change significantly. He would still arrange his days so that he could rise early and spend all morning writing-after all, one mustn't be bohemian.' He could still allow himself write a good poem now and then, more or less by accident. He certainly saw no harm in writing mediocre poetry or light verse on purpose, in much the same way that he would complete countless crossword puzzles. After this great poem, however, he was careful not take poetry too seriously. But The Sea and the Mirror does not suffer from any lack of seriousness. Prospero's farewell speech is riddled by fearful ambivalence and Caliban speaks in an eloquent pastiche of Henry James's prose, but these transformations of Shakespeare's play are far from whimsical, because they illuminate Prospero's two great failures, both of which are critically important Auden's commentary on the play and his own renunciation of poetry. One is Prospero's inability feel comfortable in a faith that does not depend upon anything in the common world. The other is Caliban's subjection, a result of Prospero's inability make him into an elegant man. With these failures, Prospero has broken both of the promises he made in his apprenticeship: to hate nothing and ask nothing for its love.2 His dedication magic should have been self-sufficient and his acceptance of slavery necessarily implies a hateful sense of superiority. So he wants go back Milan, even though he cannot give Ariel a convincing reason why his
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