W.H. Audens Poems and Homosexuality Essay -- Auden Gay Homosexual Poe

W.H. Auden's Poems and Homosexuality W. H. Auden published â€Å"This lunar beauty† in 1930; he published â€Å"Now through night’s caressing grip† in 1935, and he published â€Å"Lay your sleeping head, my love† in 1937 (Auden 16; 41; 51). â€Å"[I]t has been argued that the first part of the twentieth century’s culture is dominated by attempts to keep homosexuality hidden, †¦ [and a] number of homosexual writers in the period maintain public silence about their sex lives, and dramatize homosexual themes indirectly, if at all† (Caserio). While it’s unclear whether Auden’s abovementioned 1930s poems dramatize homosexual themes, they do share obscure settings and references to wandering, clandestine lovers who seek healing, safety, and freedom. The lovers find what they seek both in the obscurity of the night and in the obscure diction of the poems’ speakers who don’t even identify them by gender. The speakers act as the mediators of the exper ience of clandestine love and they invite readers to travel to places where illicit love occurs, empathize with clandestine lovers, and see the beauty in their love. Because genders are carefully obscured, the poems serve as pieces of coded propaganda that advocate for the freedom of clandestine, and possibly homosexual, lovers. First, all three poems share obscure, nighttime settings and references to wandering, clandestine lovers who seek healing, safety, and freedom. â€Å"This lunar beauty† is described in the following manner: This like a dream Keeps other time And daytime is The loss of this; For time is inches And the heart’s changes Where ghost has haunted Lost and wanted. (8-15) Da... ... Transgender, and Queer Culture. Ed. Claude J. Summers. 5 Apr. 2005. New England Publishing Associates. 10 May 2005 . Grimshaw, Tammy. â€Å"The Sexual Offences Act, 1967.† The Literary Encyclopedia. 16 Aug. 2004. The Literary Dictionary Company Limited. 10 May 2005 . Hammelmann, H. A. â€Å"Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution.† The Modern Law Review 21.1 (1958): 68-73. Rousseau, George S. â€Å"Travel Literature.† glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual,Transgender, and Queer Culture. Ed. Claude J. Summers. 23 Nov. 2002. New England Publishing Associates. 10 May 2005 . â€Å"Succubus.† Def. 1. The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 10 May 2005 . Ten, C. L. â€Å"Enforcing a Shared Morality.† Ethics 82.4 (1972):' 321-329.