O Where Are You Going?
"O where are you going?" said reader to rider,
"That valley is fatal when furnaces burn,
Yonder's the midden whose odours will madden,
That gap is the grave where the tall return."
"O do you imagine," said fearer to farer,
"That dusk will delay on your path to the pass,
Your diligent looking discover the lacking
Your footsteps feel from granite to grass?"
"O what was that bird," said horror to hearer,
"Did you see that shape in the twisted trees?
Behind you swiftly the figure comes softly,
The spot on your skin is a shocking disease."
"Out of this house," said rider to reader,
"Yours never will," said farer to fearer,
"They're looking for you," said hearer to horror,
As he left them there, as he left them there.
Commentary
Commentary: I think this is a beautiful poem, although I don’t pretend to understand it. I just enjoy the rhythm, with its overtones of despair and hope in the face of despair. The wonderful imagery has inspired me to paint a series of pictures based on this poem.
~Daedalus
Thomas adds
Vikram Doctor has a nice mini-essay on the nightmarish qualities of Auden’s mid-30s output, in his commentary on Poem #427 on the Minstrels website. Other Auden poems on the Minstrels can be found here: The Wondering Minstrels
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From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.
Celine · 20 May 2004
I find this poem beautiful. It reminds me of a poem named ‘Excelsior’ by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Mallika Chellappa · 20 May 2004
Lovely poem. I think it is about a young man or woman leaving home to spread his/her wings. The over-protective and sometimes downright unsupportive parents are the reader, fearer, horror. Mallika
ab547 · 20 May 2004
my short introduction: I am an irregular follower of the minstrels but I love it.
I think its a wonderful poem. Many a time you come across those who even not dare to dream, forget doing. The poem tells inspires to keep the insecurities aside, because the reason of living lies there, in the experience. The reader is able to read today, because rider was there once. I choose to be a rider, because I am not here for the ‘vicarious’ life.
-amit batra
nix16 · 25 May 2004
I read this poem and it was the rhythm that struck me first, but then I read it again, trying to wrestle some sort of meaning from it. My thoughts are these: that Reader, Fearer, and Horror are the people in our lives, or even the parts of ourselves, that would keep us hidden away from the world for fear of the undiscovered. I enjoyed this poem, and had only ever read ‘Twelve Songs’ by Auden before this. Thanks!