LOVE’S WORDS/WORD: A POETICS OF COMMUNITY IN W. H. AUDEN’S POETRY

Abstract

The poetics of W. H. Auden straddles the public and the private realm, implicitly driven by a continual questioning of the nature of poetry’s ‘action’ in the world. Drawing on J.L Austin’s concept of the performative utterance as well as Geoffrey Hill’s notion of one’s word as one’s bond, I argue that the ‘act’ of poetry is predicated on one’s faithfulness to one’s words, and thus one’s word, which ultimately realises itself in a commitment to the Other. It is such a commitment, requiring a risk of faith, that brings into being a poetic and human community, undergirded by a love for one’s neighbour. Chapter 1 examines how a betrayal of one’s words/word exerts an enchanting effect that negates the existence of a community. Chapter 2 then turns to the necessary transmutation of Eros to Agape through Grace that enables one to remain faithful to one’s words/word and concomitantly speak a community into existence. Chapter 3 considers how an acknowledgement and accommodation of the presence of Others implicit in language enables poetry’s true act of reconciliation that recuperates the material effect of poetry in the world.