Joanna Young over at Confident Writing has invited her readers to join in a project sharing some of our favourite questions found in poetry. Needless to say, I couldn’t resist and so I’ve recorded one of my favourite poems which features many questions all focusing on the subject of love. It’s called Tell Me The Truth About Love and it’s by W.H. Auden:
I think one of the things that I like best about this poem is the way it continually inquires about an abstract concept in materialist terms. It asks if love is comparable to a bird, a little boy, a pair of pyjamas. It asks for a description of its tangible, visual, aural, olfactory qualities. And, of course, ultimately what all these unanswerable questions emphasise is the way that love escapes our words. It is impossible to explain what love is like to one who has never experienced it before. By continually asking if love is like something else, the poem makes us aware that a direct articulation of love can never be truly apprehended. We can only approach it through simile and metaphor, and because of this it evades any and all attempts to pin it down.
Auden’s purposeful questions are asked with an aim to highlight the failure of language; they tell us that we need to experience love to fully appreciate it. We can try and describe our experience of it to another, but the very fact of our own subjectivity prevents the transmission of that experience through our choice of words.
What our questioning words can do, and which Auden’s do so wonderfully well here, is to lead us to greater self-awareness.
- They hint at what lies beyond words: the unspeakable realms of love, death, desire, sensuality.
- They invite us to ask our own questions regarding our identity, our subjectivity, our hopes, our aspirations.
- They illuminate our expectations, assumptions, prejudices.
- They express a desire for connection, communication, understanding.
- They strike at the heart of humanity’s need to establish affinity with one another.
I’m reminded of another poem which asks a couple more powerful questions:
Late Fragment by Raymond Carver
And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.
What do these poems say to you? What questions would you ask to discern the truth about love? Do you have a favourite poem which asks unanswerable questions?
PS You can either leave your comments here in the comment box, or, if you have an account at Voice Thread (which I thoroughly recommend!) you can leave a voice comment. To find out more about voice thread read these excellent post on the subject over at Joyful Jubilant Learning and at Managing With Aloha.
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Poetry makes so much more sense to me when I hear it, so thank you, Amy for making this recording. What struck me about Auden’s poems is that none of them can really be answered. In asking the questions, the poet made me realize that love is a little like a lot of things, but exactly like nothing else in the world.
Brad Shorrs last blog post..Which Chess Piece Do You Write Like?
Amy, what a wonderful contribution, thank you. Your reading made me cry, just like you did the first time I heard you on voice thread - the first time I met you! - reading A Red, Red, Rose
It’s a great poem and indeed, and I think you’ve captured really well how the questions work - your first point in particular
“They hint at what lies beyond words: the unspeakable realms of love, death, desire, sensuality.”
Late Fragment was part of my inspiration for the project and I was going to include it… then changed my mind, partly in the hope that somebody else wonderful would.
Joanna
Joanna Youngs last blog post..When The Purpose Is Singing Your Song
Wonderful poem. And I love the audio thread. I’ll have to work up the courage to do that kind of recording though. Hmmm.
Bos last blog post..Thorny Issue
Hi Amy. You’ve picked two lovely poems here, and I like your interpretations / explanations too. I’ll have to put some more thought into the poems that I would choose!
Autumn Songs last blog post..Magic Money Pots
What a treat to hear your voice! I haven’t heard this poem since I was in college. I think a boyfriend read it to me.
nouveaufauvess last blog post..Yosemite Calendar Pics
Amy, it was fascinating to hear your voice! I didn’t quite understand everything of the poem, but I’ll try and get the poem somewhere written down, so I can read it and at the same time listen to it.
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