[New-Poetry] Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue, Auden is Acid, and Y'all Can Go Screw

[Skip Fox]

I heard he dropped the line (he was constantly revising) because he found it
untrue on the very simple level that we must die no matter what. He said
something to that effect if I remember correctly.

 

-----Original Message-----
From: new-poetry-bounces at wiz.cath.vt.edu
[mailto:new-poetry-bounces at wiz.cath.vt.edu] On Behalf Of TheOldMole
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 10:22 AM
To: NewPo
Subject: [New-Poetry] Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue, Auden is Acid,and
Y'all Can Go Screw

 

Has anyone ever heard this before? From Christopher Hitchens.

 

Another celebrated Auden line - "We must love one another or die" - was
annexed without his permission and used in Lyndon Johnson's notorious attack
ad on Barry Goldwater in 1964, showing a little girl counting petals as she
mutates into a thermonuclear countdown. The hideous scene closes with
Auden's words. He was so furious at this that he removed the poem from his
canon. He was prone to excise things that had been exploited or distorted

 

 

Tad Richards
www.opus40.org
http://opusforty.blogspot.com/

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