W.H.

AUDEN
:

was an Anglo-American poet

one of literary figures of 20th century
was born in York on 21 February 1907
died in Austria on 29 September 1973.
is concerned with moral issues with a strong
political, social, and psychological contents.
Takes human life short and brief,
relies on concrete images and everyday
language.

O WHERE ARE YOU GOING

1.

Dialogue between two imaginary persons

2.

is a dialectic between the active and the passive personalities

3.

Personified as reader and rider

4.

Is a bold and courageous and ambitious person

5.

Wants to make his way through thick and thin.

6.

Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be. Eleanor Roosevelt

7.

Is going to some adventure

8.

Is the symbol of courage and perseverance

9.

Represents cowardice and pessimism

10.

Cowards die many times before their deaths The valiant never taste of death
but once. WILLIAMSHAKESPEARE,

11.

Represent two aspects and approaches to life

12.

full of awe and reverence

frightens the rider that the valley beyond is full of dangers

13.
14.

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.
MUHAMMAD ALI

15.

Tells about the heaps of dung and rubbish

16.

sickens and maddens the human mind

O WHERE ARE YOU GOING

1.

Represent the difficulties of the journey and opposite force

2.

Coward and fearful

3.

Discourages the traveler from going farther and farther

4.

Doesnt believe in fears

5.

Knows Fortune favors the brave. TERENCE,

6.

The way to glory and success is vague and uncertain

7.

it can be paved through with courage and perseverance

8.

Is similar to Islamic message given as: But do not fear them-fear Me if

you are believers. (Surah Al 'Imran, 175)

9.

Present the human life

10.

Is full of trials and difficulties shown through fatal valley, furnace,

dunghill, long distance, darkness, ghost and a shocking disease

11.

Should continue his journey with hope and determination

12.

Either life entails courage, or it ceases to be life.E. M. FORSTER

13.

Drives us through difficult odds

14.

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul -. Emily
Dickinson

O WHERE ARE YOU GOING

1.

O where are you going? said reader to rider,

2.

That valley is fatal when furnaces burn,

3.

Yonders the midden whose odours will madden.

4.

That gap is the grave where the tall return.

5.

Fatal: lethal, deadly, mortal, causing death, killing,

destructive,

6.

Yonder: away, distanced

7.

Midden: dunghill or pile of refuse

8.

Odour: smell, scent, perfume, fragrance, stink, bouquet,

aroma, whiff,

9.

Gap: distance

10.

Tall: great, courageous, brave

O WHERE ARE YOU GOING

1.

O do you imagine, said fearer to farer,

2.

that dusk will delay on your path to the pass,

3.

Your diligent looking discover the lacking

4.

Your footsteps feel from granite to grass?

5.

Dusk : twilight, evening, nightfall, sunset, dark, gloom,

obscurity

6.

Delay on : persist, stay, prolong

7.

Lacking : deficient, wanting, needing, missing, inadequate,

8.

Granite to grass : metaphor, difficulties and easiness

9.

Two aspects of human life

O WHERE ARE YOU GOING

1.

O what was that bird, said horror to hearer,

2.

Did you see that shape in the twisted trees?

3.

Behind you swiftly the figure comes softly,

4.

The spot on your skin is a shocking disease?

5.

Horror: terror, fear, alarm, panic, dread, dismay, awe, fright,

6.

Shape : ghost, apparition, spirit

7.

Swiftly : quick, immediate, prompt, rapid, instant, abrupt,

ready,

8.

Shocking: terrible, appalling, dreadful, frightful,

O WHERE ARE YOU GOING

1.

Out of this house said rider to reader,

2.

yours never will said farer to fearer,

3.

Theyre looking for you said hearer to horror,

4.

As he left them there, as he left them there.

5.

Farer: brave, courageous, dauntless

O WHERE ARE YOU GOING

QUESTIONS:
1.

With what names does the poet address the optimist and
pessimist? OR What is the personification of the reader and
rider? What are the names given to the reader and rider?

2.

What are the qualities of the reader and rider?

3.

What kind of feelings does the poet create in the minds of the
readers?

4.

What type of poem is this?

5.

What is the theme of the poem?

6.

What does the title of the poem signify?

7.

What is the personification of the reader and rider?

8.

What are the hardships of the journey? OR Describe the

journey. OR What are the dangers indicated by the reader? OR
What is gap in the poem?