Lullaby Analysis | Analysis of W H Auden’s Lullaby

Lullaby Lyrics

Lay your sleeping head, my love,

Human on my faithless arm,

Time and fevers burn away,

Individual beauty from.

– – – – – – – –

Soul and body hare no bounds,

To lovers as they lie upon,

Her tolerant enchanted slope,

In their ordinary swoon.

Grave the vision Venus sends

of supernatural sympathy,

Universal love and hope,

Among the glaciers and the rocks. (Selected Poems 75-76)

Analysis of Lullaby | Download

W.H. Auden’s many poems are saturated with spiritual value and mores that accordingly to Auden are the true factors to save the entire humanity from the eternal damnation. In his own words Eros of the humanity activated by modern maladies should be replaced with the Agape for eternal bliss. Eros in Auden refers to all those debased desires of modern humanity that has put the whole humanity at stake and caused its movement in the direction of callous indifference, fragmentation, chaos and decay. This has subsequently contaminated the whole of humanity. Agape comes to balance, or even redeem the humanity, from the evils of Eros and forms the spiritual basis of humanity addressing the drought of a meaningful metaphysical meaning felt by the modern world after the supposed death of the God. In his poem, “Lullaby” he seems to be valorizing the sense of spirituality so as to get rid of from the modern pathological social make-up.

Auden, here points out that satisfaction of carnal passions brings with it satisfy. The loves have to pay the full price in terms of suffering, for their moments of physical satisfaction, with the morning comes disillusionment, and all their vision of love and beauty come to an end. Hence fort, they will not like to waste one look, thought or kiss, on each other. They will grow entirely indifferent to each other. The fountain of love will dry in their hearts, and they will become spiritually wretched and miserable. Auden suggests only one cure for this spiritual and emotional dryness. No doubt their love for each other will come to an end but still they have a beautiful world to live in. They should accept it as a great blessing and thank for it. Then by providence by divine dispensation, foundation of love will flow out of their hearts for god who has blessed them in this way. Just as Venus inspires sexual love, so god will inspire them with spiritual love and with love for all God’s creatures.

In short, Eros should be transformed into Agape, universal love and charity healer, it alone can protect them form the insects, cares and worries of the world. This is the very core and center of Auden’s philosophy, and thus is the ‘message’ of present lyric.