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

[Skip Fox]

I was thinking about "We must love one another and die" this a.m. and see
the problem from a slightly different angle. This is an imprecise poem. It's
meant to be relaxed in diction, but firmly aware of its
relevations/recognitions. The poet in full touch with himself in a monologue
at night, say. Even the line reflects that relaxation and understated
surety. In this type of poem, with this kind of honesty, Auden was
distressed with a breech of the literal, which would seem dishonest. (We
must be honest with ourselves, in a quiet but certain way, and the use of
the metaphorical in that line would rupture that sense of honesty.)

Dickinson is more precise than this poem and uses "die" metaphorically all
the time. ("I felt a funeral in my brain" etc.) As Dorn wrote, there are
deaths at twenty and burials at eighty. Dorn was also being precise. 

Auden's poem of imprecise honesty cannot allow for the metaphorical use,
whereas Dickinson's poetry of precisions can. 

I, too, see Auden's quandary. And I wonder if he felt a pang when he
originally wrote the line.