Lesson 20: Auden & Beckett Modernism III

Who was W. H. Auden?

W. H. Auden (1907–1973) was an important Anglo-American modernist poet.

• Born in York, England

• Moved to the USA in 1939

• Later returned to Europe

• Professor of Poetry at Oxford

• Interested in politics, psychology, ethics and art

• Asked whether poetry can influence society and political change

What is ekphrasis?

Ekphrasis = a literary description or interpretation of a visual artwork.

In Musée des Beaux Arts, Auden reflects on paintings in a museum, especially a painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

Musée des Beaux Arts

What is the summary of Musée des Beaux Arts?

The speaker visits a museum and reflects on how great painters understood human suffering.

He notices that:

• terrible events happen

• but ordinary life continues

Auden focuses on Bruegel's painting of Icarus.

In the painting:

• Icarus falls into the sea

• nobody pays attention

• a farmer continues working

• a ship continues sailing

The poem suggests that human suffering often goes unnoticed because life simply continues.

Musée des Beaux Arts

What is the central theme of Musée des Beaux Arts?

Human indifference to suffering.

Auden argues that:

• tragedy may feel enormous to the victim

• but it is often insignificant to everyone else

People continue:

• eating

• walking

• working

even while others suffer nearby.

Musée des Beaux Arts

What is juxtaposition and how is it used in Musée des Beaux Arts?

Juxtaposition = placing two contrasting things next to each other.

Examples:

Tragedy	Ordinary Life
Icarus falls	Farmer ploughs
Suffering	Daily routine
Miraculous birth of Christ	Children skating

Effect:

• emphasizes how ordinary life continues despite major events

• highlights society's indifference

Musée des Beaux Arts

Why is the date "December 1938" important?

The poem was written shortly before World War II.

At the time:

• many people knew about growing danger in Nazi Germany

• yet everyday life continued

The poem therefore has a political dimension:

people often ignore suffering until it directly affects them.

Musée des Beaux Arts

How does Auden use Bruegel's painting of Icarus?

Bruegel's painting shows:

• Icarus drowning

• only his legs visible

Nobody notices him.

This becomes a symbol for:

• overlooked suffering

• human indifference

• the way tragedy can become invisible

Musée des Beaux Arts

How is Musée des Beaux Arts connected to Modernism?

Modernist features include:

• questioning human behaviour

• interest in perception

• ambiguity

• focus on ordinary life

• reflection on art itself

The poem also makes readers think about:

• how we view art

• how art affects us

Who was Samuel Beckett?

Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)

• Born in Dublin

• Moved to France

• Friend and collaborator of James Joyce

• Wrote in English and French

• Nobel Prize in Literature (1969)

• Major figure of late Modernism

• Important influence on Postmodernism

What is the Theatre of the Absurd?

Theatre of the Absurd = dramatic movement of the 1950s–60s showing the apparent meaninglessness of human existence.

Characteristics:

• little plot

• repetition

• circular structure

• confusion

• failed communication

• existential questions

Waiting for Godot

What is the summary of Waiting for Godot?

Two men:

• Vladimir

• Estragon

wait beside a tree for someone called Godot.

During two acts:

• they talk

• argue

• joke

• consider leaving

• meet Pozzo and Lucky

A boy arrives twice and says:

Godot will come tomorrow.

Godot never arrives.

The play ends exactly where it began:

they decide to leave,

but do not move.

Waiting for Godot

Why is Waiting for Godot considered an absurd play?

Because:

• almost nothing happens

• characters repeat themselves

• there is no resolution

• meaning remains uncertain

The play reflects existential questions about:

• purpose

• identity

• hope

• time

Waiting for Godot

What is existentialism?

Existentialism = a philosophical movement exploring:

• freedom

• meaning

• loneliness

• mortality

It asks:

How do humans create meaning in a world that may have none?

This question lies at the heart of Waiting for Godot.

Waiting for Godot

What is tragic about Waiting for Godot?

Tragic elements:

• endless waiting

• inability to act

• uncertainty

• loneliness

• Pozzo's blindness

• Lucky's suffering

• imprisonment in time

The characters cannot stop hoping.

Waiting for Godot

What is comical about Waiting for Godot?

Comic elements include:

• absurd conversations

• misunderstandings

• repetitive dialogue

• physical comedy

• silly jokes

Example:

the discussion about hanging themselves and getting an erection.

This mixture of tragedy and comedy makes the play a tragicomedy.

Waiting for Godot

What is circularity in Waiting for Godot?

Circularity = events constantly repeat instead of progressing.

Examples:

• same setting

• same waiting

• same message from the boy

• same conversations

Effect:

• creates a feeling of being trapped

• challenges the idea of progress

Waiting for Godot

What is Beckett's view of language?

Beckett distrusts language.

He shows:

• communication often fails

• language breaks down

• words cannot fully explain reality

This connects to both Modernism and Postmodernism.

Waiting for Godot

What is minimalism in Beckett's work?

Minimalism = reducing material to the essentials.

Examples in Waiting for Godot:

• bare stage

• one tree

• very little action

• simple dialogue

Beckett described his art as:

subtracting rather than adding.

Waiting for Godot

How does Waiting for Godot explore humanism?

Humanism = a focus on human experience, dignity and relationships.

The play explores:

• friendship

• dependence

• suffering

• freedom

• hope

Even when meaning seems absent, the characters continue living.

Waiting for Godot

How can Godot be interpreted?

Possible interpretations:

• God

• salvation

• meaning

• political change

• hope

• death

However, Beckett rejected definitive interpretations.

He argued the play avoids fixed meaning.

Waiting for Godot

How can Waiting for Godot be read through different critical lenses?

Christian

• Godot as God

Existentialist

• search for meaning

Marxist

• Pozzo and Lucky represent class oppression

Psychological/Freudian

• unconscious desires and fears

Queer

• Vladimir and Estragon resemble a long-term couple

Historical

• references to slavery, imperialism, war, or the Holocaust

What are grand narratives?

Grand narratives = large stories that claim to explain the world.

Examples:

• progress

• religion

• nationalism

• heroism

Postmodernism distrusts these explanations.

What is metafiction?

Metafiction = fiction that draws attention to its own fictional nature.

Examples:

• breaking the fourth wall

• characters commenting on being characters

• stories discussing storytelling itself

What is self-reflexivity?

Self-reflexivity = a work reflecting on itself.

The text becomes aware of:

• its own form

• its own construction

• the act of reading or viewing