W.H. AUDEN

Cocaine lil and morphine sue
Did you ever hear about Cocaine Lil?
She lived in Cocaine town on Cocaine hill,
She had a cocaine dog and a cocaine cat,
They fought all night with a cocaine rat.

BIOGRAPHY

• Wystan Hugh Auden was born in York, England
• As a young man he was influenced by the poetry of many and by Old verse.
• He visited Germany, Iceland, and China, served in the Spanish Civil war, and in 1939 moved to the United States, and became a citizen.
• W. H. Auden served as a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 1954 to 1973

If I could tell you
By: W.H. Auden

Time will say nothing but I told you so
Time only knows the price we have to pay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.

If we should weep when clowns put on their show,
If we should stumble when musicians play,
Time will say nothing but I told you so.

There are no fortunes to be told, although,
Because I love you more than I can say,
If I could tell you I would let you know.

The winds must come from somewhere when they blow,
There must be reason why the leaves decay;
Time will say nothing but I told you so.

Perhaps the roses really want to grow,
The vision seriously intends to stay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.

Suppose the lions all get up and go,
And the brooks and soldiers run away;
Will Time say nothing but I told you so?
If I could tell you I would let you know.

STANZA 1

• Time knows our predetermined fate
• The voice could be telling us about religion, the meaning of life, the past and future if it could. But, it can't. The fact that Time knows our predetermined fate gives it God-like qualities.

STANZA 2

• Things get clumsy in the second stanza
• Clowns are supposed to make us laugh...
• Music should make us dance not fall over...
• This 'time' is staying silent and mocking us

STANZA 3

• Wishing fortunes and the theme of love are introduced
• Doesn't flow the same and tries to predict the future
• What kind of love is this?
• The voice wants to say what he knows but can't

STANZA 4

• Love is coming to an end
• Causality that things happen for a reason
• Now introducing the past
• Imagery of nature is brought into the first line
• Leaves and love are deteriorating

STANZA 5

• Time won't let love continue
• The roses suggest a rebirth and association with love
• Time and society won't let the roses grow (love)

STANZA 6

• Brooks flow and never stop just like time
• The voice is now questioning time against what it said at the beginning
• The rhetorical question entices the reader to answer it and makes the impact bigger

STRUCTURE

• Iambic pentameter
• Villanelle form
• Only 2 rhyming sounds
• Consistency reflects time and prediction of fate

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

• There is alliteration on 'price we have to pay'
• The alliteration of 's' on 'If we should stumble' creates a sense movement
• imagery of nature is used

THEME

• The poem discusses a number of ideas surrounding time, and the ability to see into the future, and learn from things
• It depicts a kind of wisdom, or can be seen as showing a know-it-all attitude

Music is the best means we have of digesting time.

W. H. Auden