One of the poems that I really enjoyed that we did not talk about in class was Auden’s “Who’s Who” which refers to the popular “capsule biographies of famous people.” I think I was immediately drawn to the poem, being familiar with the various “Who’s Who” publications that exist today.
The first stanza describes the biography of an individual listed in a “Who’s Who” publication. The biography describes “how he fought, fished, hunted, worked all night/Though giddy, climbed new mountains; named a sea” (5-6). Auden describes all of the things that you would associate with an influential or famous person.
The turning point of the poem lies within line nine. “With all his honours on, he sighed for one.” He then goes on to describe the life of the “one” who, “did little jobs about the house with skill/And nothing else” (11-12) among other things typical of a typical man. I was a bit torn in how I took the sigh. On one hand I thought that the sigh could have meant that he pitied the man who never made a name for his self. He thought the man led a futile existence. On the other hand I thought that the sigh could mean that the “Who’s Who” subject was envious of the common man who got to enjoy all the little things in life. I think that when it was all said and done, I tend to believe the second evaluation.
The final two lines say that he “answered some/Of his marvelous letters but kept none” (13-14). I wondered if this meant that he was concerned with the practical aspect of answering the letters but as less worried about keeping the “marvelous letters” as proof of his abilities. He was the common man who never aspired to be a member of any “Who’s Who” list.
I read “Who’s Who” differently. The first stanza is about a great and famous man and his various achievements by which he won renown and homage. But “love made him weep” because his love was unrequited. The object of his unrequited love was the person referred to as “one” in line nine. To the astonishment of the critics, the object of this great man’s love was an ordinary person who lived a mundane life at home, doing mundane things. This ordinary person answered some of the “long marvelous” letters the great man sent to her but she kept none of his letters. The implication is that this ordinary woman was unimpressed by the great man’s achievements and high status. Signed, Stephen W. Richey
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