Consider the ways in which W.H.Auden and Alfred, Lord Tennyson used myth to explore themes and ideas about life.

Firstly, it is essential to understand that while both poets have used myth to explore themes and ideas about life, this is influenced by experiences and thoughts in their own lives. Tennyson uses The Lady of Shalott to represent that as a poet, he feels he is isolated from society. He shows us this with the idea of The Lady of Shalott being imprisoned in a castle with only a mirror to give any sign of reality and that she is in isolation. This is also a representation of the idea that myth gives us an insight or an education about reality. The lines “Four grey walls and four grey towers” and “And moving through a mirror clear, that hangs before her all year, Shadows of the world appear.” Clearly show us these two main ideas about isolation and learning from myth about reality. Auden bases his poem on a painting named “The fall of Icarus” and in addition to this, the actual myth of Icarus to display this thought. His thought is that even though great tragedy happens all around us, people continue with life regardless. He gets this idea from the painting where a pair of legs can be seen sticking out of the sea which is of course a person drowning and that all the people around this tragedy occurring, are ignoring it and continuing with their lives. The Lines “About suffering they were never wrong, The Old Masters; how well, they understood, Its Human position; how it takes place While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along” and also “In Breughel’s Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away Quite leisurely from the disaster” clearly show this thought of people ignoring the everyday tragedy and how the painting tells us about the nature of life and people. So, as shown, both poems use myth, but this is to simply reflect their thoughts in life.

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Imagery in these two poems provides a more in depth meaning about the thoughts of the poets. They both contrast Dull, monotone and ordinary with the vibrant, dramatic and interesting. In The Lady of Shalott, Tennyson does this with the outside world, reality and with the Lady of Shalott’s world and the mirror, myth. Reality is bright, colourful, dynamic, interesting and alive, where as her world is dull, boring and lifeless. The lines “Four grey walls and four grey towers” and also “the mirrors magic sights” show us this. This could mean that Tennyson is trying to tell us to live life to the full, that living inside, shut-up and isolated is not the way to live; the world needs to be experienced. It also helps us to understand how Tennyson may have felt isolated and that his myth of a life was like the Lady of Shalott’s, dull. This helps us to understand the poem better. Auden helps to understand the poem better but in a different way, he contrasts ordinary life with dreadful pain, helping us to understand the poet’s thoughts and the poems meaning. He could also be trying to tell us to care once and a while about what happens around us because if you find yourself in tragedy and no one so much as notices, you will curse them forever more. The lines “That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course, Anyhow in some untidy spot, where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturers horse scratches its innocent behind on a tree” is an example of this. Innocent and the ordinary dogs are contrasted with torture and martyrdom. So Imagery shows us more in depth ways in which the poets try to explore themes and ideas of life.

The structure of the two poems also is another way these poets explore themes and ideas about life. Tennyson uses narrative, a story to explain his thoughts and ideas, he structures the poem In a such a way as that when Sir Lancelot the knight discovers the death of The Lady of Shalott, he honestly does not care, he is respectful enough but diverts his mind quickly from other things, this could suggest that Tennyson may try to tell us that in life, isolation will not render yourself as remembered in the world, also he may possibly think as he has isolated himself, he may indeed not be remembered when his dead body is in the open world. Auden structures his poem in a way that represents his thoughts as they come into his head, he talks about the old masters and that they realised how suffering goes ignored, which is shown in the painting. He could be trying to say to us this is what we should be doing, noticing tragedies. Both poems are easily to follow, as these two poems are just thought processes of the poets, certain parts have meanings which enables the reader fathom out just what the poet was thinking and how they want the reader to understand the poem.

Rhythm and Form can also be considered as it to reveals further detail about the poet’s thoughts and ideas. Auden for instance uses an unrhymed and irregular pattern, representing thoughts as they entered his head. This shows us that thought is untidy and irregular, and this untidy style of thinking causes us to forget these tragedies that occur in the world, he may be saying through this structure that we should thinking more clearly in life. Tennyson uses a ballad form; the poem is structured with rhyming and a set pattern. The part of this pattern that needs to be noted is that the last five lines of each stanza is repeated all the way through the poem, symbolising that like the Lady of Shalott’s life, his life is repetitive and monotone. Again, this may be telling us to life to the full.

The language and vocabulary used in both poems is a key element in making the themes and ideas in each poem register on the users mind.

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