Analysis man as “an astonished victor” b.

Analysis man as “an astonished victor” b.

Analysis of _The Age of Anxiety_ by W.H.

Auden The themes and ideas in Auden’s _The Age of Anxiety_ reflect his beliefthat man’s quest for self actualization is in vain. I. Auden’s background A. As a 1930’s poet 1. Views of Society 2.

Diagnosis of the industrial society B. Major conflicts of his works II. _The Age of Anxiety_ overview A. As a quest poem 1.

Characters’ search for self-actualization 2. Characters’ inevitable failure in the quest B. Characters’ views on the general situation 1. Their belief to be in Purgatory when they are allegorically in Hell 2. Their disbelief in impossibility III.

_The Age of Anxiety_ character analysis A. Quant B. Malin C. Rosetta D. Emble IV. Part I A.

Commonly called “Prologue” B. Introduces scene and characters C. Characters think aloud to reveal their nature 1. Quant views himself with false admiration 2.

Malin examines the theoretical nature of man 3. Rosetta endeavors to create an imaginary and happy past 4. Emble passes his youthful judgment on the others’ follies V. First act of Part II, “The Seven Ages” A. Malin’s domination of this act 1.

Serves as a guide 2. Controls the characters through his introduction of each age B. Others support Malin’s theories by drawing from past, present, andpotential future experiences C. The ages 1. The first age a.

Malin asks the reader to “Behold the infant” b. Child is “helpless in cradle and / Righteous still” but already has a”Dread in his dreams” 2. The second age a. Youth, as Malin describes it b. Age at which man realizes “his life-bet with a lying self” c.

Naive belief in self and place in life is boundless d. It is the age of belief in the possibility of a future 3. The third age a. The sexual awakening b. Distinction between dream and reality c.

Discovery that love, as it was thought to be, is a sharp contrast to lovein the bounds of reality 4. The fourth age a. Presents circus imagery “as a form of art too close to life to have anypurgative effect on the audience” b.

Rosetta’s definition of life and the world 5. The fifth age a. Conveys the image of man as “an astonished victor” b. Man believes he has made peace with the meaning of life c. Anxiety declines as “He man learns to speak / Softer and slower, notto seem so eager” d. Man is no longer confined to a prison of prismatic color, but is free inthe dull, bland place that is the world e. Emble’s opposition of the fifth age (1) Refuses to go willingly into middle age (2) Demands to know why man must “Leave out the worst / Pang ofyouth” (3) Is disturbed by time unlike the others for he is still young enough tohave a future f.

Quant’s domination of the fifth age (1) Attempt to eliminate all hope (2) View on man’s adaptation to the fifth age 6. The sixth age a. Man begins to show age b. “Impotent, aged, and successful,” Malin’s portrayal of a man of thisage is indifferent to the world 7. The seventh age a. Hypothetical man is tired out b. Malin is ready for this age in contrast to the others’ reluctance to diejust yet VI.

Second act of Part II, “The Seven Stages” A. Unlike “The Seven Ages,” this act is nothing more than a dream B. “The Seven Stages” is an attempt to find the perfect time of life C. The stages 1. The first stage a.

Each character begins alone, “isolated with his own thoughts” b. Justification of the view that the quest is for naught 2. The second stage a. Is initiated by the first pairing of characters (1) Shows possibility of hope (a) Emble (b) Rosetta (2) Shows futility of hope (a) Quant (b) Malin 3.

The third stage a. Begins as the couples turn inland (1) Emble and Rosetta by plane (2) Quant and Malin by train b. The characters complete the third stage without success in their searchfor self 4. The fourth stage a.

Malin speaks for them all in his derogatorative statements about thecity b. Malin passes judgment on its citizens based on the urban surroundings5. The fifth stage a. Rosetta visits a mansion in which she wishes she were raised and towhich she wishes she shall return b. While Rosetta is within the house, the others examine its exterior andits comparison to the human body c. Rosetta finds life inside the house no better than before 6. The sixth stage a.

A “forgotten graveyard” is the setting b. Symbolizes “The results of life” 7. The seventh stage a. The characters wander deep into a forest, each taking a solitary path b. They meet at the edge of the forest with a desert before them c.

As they realize that life has no meaning, the desert becomes the realworld, thus ending this stage with their awakening VII. The remaining three parts A. Follows the characters from the bar to their homes B. The four remember the despair of the conclusion of “The SevenStages” rather than the journey itself Analysis of _The Age of Anxiety_ In Auden’s lengthy poem, _The Age of Anxiety_, he follows the actionsand thoughts of four characters who happen to meet in a bar during awar. Their interactions with one another lead them on an imaginaryquest in their minds in which they attempt, without success, to discoverthemselves. The themes and ideas that Auden’s _The Age of Anxiety_conveys reflect his belief that man’s quest for self-actualization is in vain.

W. H. Auden was born in York, England, in 1907, the third and youngestson of Constance and George Auden (Magill 72). His poetry in the 1930’sreflected the world of his era, a world of depression, Fascism, and war.

His works adopt a prose of a “clinical diagrostician sic anatomizingsociety” and interpret social and spiritual acts as failures ofcommunication (Magill 74). They also put forth a diagnosis of theindustrial English society among economic and moral decay in the 1930’s(Magill 72). Conflicts common in his works are those between war andpeace, corruption of modern society, and the “dichotomy between therich and the poor” (Barrows 317). _The Age of Anxiety_ is, in general, a quest poem. Unlike the idealquest, however, this quest accomplishes nothing.

The characters searchfor the meaning of self and, in essence, the meaning of life, but becausetheir search is triggered by intoxication due to alchohol, the quest isdoomed from the start. Throughout the quest, the characters believethemselves to be in a form of Purgatory when they are allegorically inHell. They fail to realize this due to “the modern human condition whichdenies possibility but refuses to call it impossible” (Nelson 117).

In _The Age of Anxiety_, there are four characters of significance.Quant, the first to be introduced, addresses himself in a mirror, an actiontypical to a drunken man. He is an aging homosexual widower who findsrefuge in the mirror because it offers him the easiest way of facinghimself (Nelson 117-118).

Malin, the most dominant character overall, is a medical intelligenceofficer on leave from the Canadian Air Force. His background labels himas the “would-be doctor and leader” in the world of _The Age ofAnxiety_. His name is reminiscent, in relation to the war, of amalingerer, and the composition of his personality hints at the evil withinhim (Nelson 118). Rosetta, the most human of the characters, is a department store buyer,and comes closer to self-actualization than any of the other characters inthe poem. Emble is a young sailor and would-be prince whose wish is tohave sex with Rosetta.

Ironically, his failure to do so is the primarycomposition of the climax of the work (Nelson 118). Part I of _The Age of Anxiety_, the “Prologue” as it is commonly called,introduces the scene and characters. The characters each think aloud inmonologue so as to reveal their true nature to the reader. Quant viewshimself with false admiration, and Malin questions the natue of man.

Rosetta constructs an imaginary past to compensate for a less thanadequate one. Emble, with youthful tact, passes judgment on the others’follies (Nelson 118). The first act of Part II, “The Seven Ages,” is dominated by Malin, actingas a guide. He controls the actions of the characters through hisintroductions to each age. The other characters support his theories bydrawing from their past, present, and potential future experiences(Nelson 118-119).

The first age begins with Malin asking the reader to “Behold the infant” asthough he is observing us as the infant while his own infancy fails toexist. The child is “helpless in cradle and / Righteous still” but already hasa “Dread in his dreams.” By this, Auden means that even when we aremost innocent, we are still imperfect (Nelson 119). The second age is youth, as Malin describes it. It is at this age at whichman realizes “his life-bet with a lying self.” Despite this, man’s naivebelief in self and place in life is boundless. It is in this age that the beliefin the future is possible (Nelson 119).

The third age is termed by Malin as the age of sexual awakening. It is inthis age that the distinction between dream and reality begins to surfacein the mind of man. With this distinction comes the discovery that love,as it was thought to be, is a sharp contrast to love in the bounds ofreality (Nelson 119). The fourth age presents circus imagery “as a form of art too close to lifeto have any purgative effect on the audience.” It is reinforced byRosetta’s definitions of life as an “impertinent appetitive flux,” and theworld as a “clown’s cosmos” (Nelson 119). Malin conveys the image of man as “an astonished victor” in the fifth age.

Man in this age feel as though he has made peace with the meaning oflife. The anxiety of life declines as “He man learns to speak / Softer andslower, not to seem so eager.” Here, man discovers he is no longerconfined in a prison of prisimatic color, but free in the dull, bland placethat is the world (Nelson 119-120). Emble, being the youngest of the four, refuses to drift into the middleage of the fifth age willingly. Instead, he demands to know why manmust “Leave out the worst / Pang of youth.” He is unlike the others inthat he is still young enough to have an influence on his future (Nelson120).

Quant is more dominant in this age than any other for it is this age thathe represents. In it, he attempts to eliminate all hope for a future. Hefeels that “if man cannot adjust to mediocrity, it is too bad. . .

If manasks for more, the world only gets worse” (Nelson 120). The sixth age is attributed to man’s “scars of time,” to man’s aging.”Impotent, aged, and successful,” Malin portrays man to be indifferent tothe world (Nelson 120).

“Hypothetical man” is exhausted when “His last illusions have lostpatience / With the human enterprise” in the seventh age. Malin greetsthis age with preparedness, but the other characters feel reluctance ingreeting death (Nelson 120). The second act of Part II of _The Age of Anxiety_, “The Seven Stages,”is different from “The Seven Ages” in that the first act is based onexperiences and the second act consists entirely of a dream. The purposeof “The Seven Stages” is to determine the ideal time of life for man inwhich he can reside for eternity (Nelson 121). The first stage begins like all quests begin, with all characters alone.They are each “isolated with his own thoughts.

” Their journey ends inthe same fashion, with each of them alone, which labels this as a falsequest for nothing is accomplished (Nelson 121). The second stage is initiated by the pairing of the characters. This pairingrepresents the possibility of hope with the two youngest, Emble andRosetta, and it also symbolizes the futility of hope with the two eldest,Quant and Malin (Nelson 121). The third stage begins as the couples begin to head inland. Emble andRosetta travel via plane, which symbolizes the useless attempt to escapelife by flying above it.

Quant and Malin, on the other hand, travel bytrain, which represents the same inability to escape life, although thistime the method is through immersion into life (Nelson 121). In the fourth stage, Malin speaks for the group in his derogatorystatements about the city. Malin also passes judgment on the people ofthe city not on the basis of personality content, but on that of thesurroundings of which he thinks so lowly (Nelson 122).

The fifth stage is reached when the group sights “the big house” whileriding on a trolley. Rosetta, with her false past as an outline, referencesthe house to one in which she was imaginarily reared, and to which sheshall return. During her visitation to the house, Quant and the othersanalyze the house’s exterior. Quant comments on the house’sappearance”The facade has a lifeless look.” The house is compared to ahuman being, with its “book-lined rooms” serving as the brain and “theguards at the front gate who / Change with the seasons” serving as thesenses.

Rosetta finds her life within the house no better than before(Nelson 122). The sixth stage takes place in a “forgotten graveyard.” It is observed as a”still / Museum exhibiting / The results of life,” which could either bedeath or the life that results from death as the “Flittermice, finches / Andflies restore / Their lost milieu” (Nelson 122).

The seventh stage begins as each character plunges deep into a denseforest where they are confronted by a vast desert. Here, Quant asks thequestion, “Do I love this world so well / That I have to know how itends?” The four take heed of the question and realize that their quest hasno meaning, and as they do so, their dream world drifts upwards intothe realm of consciousness and the vast desert makes the transition toreality (Nelson 122-123). The remaining three parts follow each of the characters from the bar totheir respective homes. They each remember the despair of theconclusion of “The Seven Stages,” but have no recollection of the journeyitself (Nelson 123).

Auden has effectively portrayed the flaw of man in his fruitless quest forthe meaning of self. His representations of Quant and Malin as the elderswhose future is bleak counters the bright and cheery illusion that Embleand Rosetta may possibly have a future, though, in reality, the only surefuture is death. _Works Cited_ Altick, Richard D. _Lives and Letters_. New York: Alfred A.

Knopf, 1969. Auden, W. H.. _19th Century British Minor Poets_. New YorkDelacortePress, 1966.

—-. _City Without Walls and Other Poems_. New YorkRandom House,1969. —-. _Secondary Worlds_. New YorkRandom House, 1968. Bahlke, George W.

, ed. _Critical Essays on W. H. Auden_. New YorkG. K.

Hall & Co., 1991. Barrows, Marjorie Wescott, ed., et al. _The American ExperiencePoetry_.New YorkMacMillan Publishing Co., Inc.

, 1974. Kunitz, Stanley J. And Haycraft, Howard, eds.. _Twentieth CenturyAuthors_. New YorkThe H. W.

Wilson Company, 1942. Magill, Frank N., ed.. _Critical Survey of Poetry_.

Englewood Cliffs,N.J.Salem Press, 1982. Nelson, Gerald. “From _Changes of Heart_ (_The Age of Anxiety_).

“_Critical Essays on W. H. Auden_. Ed. George W. Bahlke. New YorkG. K.Hall & Co., 1991. ————————————————————–