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.
Auden was very attuned to sound, and one way to understand this poem is simply to read it out loud. The sounds and the way it makes your mouth feel when his words are spoken are alone a grand justification for the poem. You can feel many of the contrasts in your mouth, in the vowel and consonant sounds.
I am reluctant in many ways to assign more meaning to a poem than the way it sounds. But there is plenty of contrast to talk about in the imagery and structure of the poem too.
The primary contrast is between an alive participant (the "rider", the "farer," the "hearer,") and a semi-dead asker of questions, who is sitting on the sidelines (the "reader," the "fearer," the "horror"). You could consider it the poet's critique of his audience if you wished--the poet descends into the maelstrom of human experience, while the reader, horrified, can only wonder.
But that doesn't do full justice to the poem. As you read it think how the vowel sounds contrast. The starting place is between the speaker and the one spoken to (fearer to farer, etc) but there is so much more. What a lovely surprise in the second stanza to find consistent vowel sounds in a the context of contrasting consonants (and textures) when we move from "path to pass" and "from granite to grass."
You can't boil this poem down without ruining it, so don't try. But as you revel in the sounds of the poem, think about the active character, who strikes out for the fatal valley where furnaces burn, and compare him to the fearful speaker of the first three stanzas.
Then consider the active character's responses in the fourth stanza, particularly the third response, where the active character suggests that whatever it is that the passive character fears is looking for HIM, who is left behind with his fears. Is our active character, who runs fearless into the fire, the one who escapes it, while the passive character, who avoids it, is burned?
Much, much more contrast in consonant and vowel sound, in image, in theme. The poem is an orgy, and I thank you for sharing it. Reading it has made my evening.
For one thing, it has a rhythm and word pattern that are very musical and alliterative as well as rhyming in the 2nd and 4th lines. If you read it by emphasizing the stressed syllables, it all falls into a very appealing forward moving rhythm with sounds that reinforce each other and repeat with variations and rhymes. Part of the intention is to give you this nice experience of sounds. The pattern is taken from Irish and English folk poems that have the same pattern, i.e., "Where are you going, said ------- to --------, etc."
As to the meaning, what I get from it is that three questions are asked in the first three stanzas and are answered in the final one. They have to do with a passive someone questioning an active someone about what they are up to, with the intention of inhibiting or discouraging them. The active retorts are much briefer and more to the point than the verbose questions and are characteristic of an active person who somewhat resents being questioned and refuses to be discouraged. Who it is that leaves them all there I am uncertain.
I believe that the rider, farer and hearer are the same person, the "he" who left "them" there. I think the reader, fearer and horror are different people, or different aspects of the same person,
At the beginning, the two people are about the same. Though the Rider is more active than the Reader, nobody faced with those two nouns (rider, reader) would be able to clearly say...this one is better. But when you get to Fearer and Farer, clearly the fearer is worse, and by the time we are at horror and hearer...well, nobody would want to take advice from a Horror! Also, the Horror pulls out all the stops in terms of trying to promote fear: the farer is being pursued by a bird, a figure, and has a shocking disease. Pure fear, without logical connection.
To me, when the Rider says "out of this house," the Rider is an adolescent making his way. Later he taunts a bit: "you will never find the pass, and if death is stalking us, it is stalking you, not me. I am beginning my life."
This may be over-reading it, but it is a fun, swinging poem about setting out, being young (at least at heart) and ignoring the nay-sayers.
All of the "characters" in this poem are in reference to the speaker. The reader, fearer and horror are the internal voices that tell you to take the easy route, to settle, to be one of the crowd. The rider, farer and hearer encourage the self to discover, critically observe, and experience the world. The ominous three stanzas that feature the stagnant characters entice the reader with ingenious syllable measure and repeated consonant sounds, not to mention the rhyme scheme. In the last stanza, the speaker abandons inclinations to stay put, keep to the beaten path, fear the unknown, as he "left them there." Auden's ornate verse, of course, makes his take on it something worth commenting on.
The purpose of writing the poem 'O Where are You Going?'is to advice the modern generation to go forward in life and discover the entire world as the paths of triumphs are looking forward for us , so we shall discover the world. We shall not care about the small danger as the negative characters still think that they will discourage us . Keep working hard.
Hope this helps
Does anyone know why 'As i walked out one evening' is a ballard
Thanks