Gulliver's Travels, written by Jonathan Swift in 1726, is a satirical novel that tells the story of Lemuel Gulliver, a ship's surgeon who, through a series of misadventures, ends up visiting four different fantastical societies. One of these societies is inhabited by a race of intelligent horses called the Houyhnhnms.
The Houyhnhnms are a highly advanced and rational species, in contrast to the degraded and irrational human-like creatures known as the Yahoos that also inhabit their world. Gulliver becomes the servant of a Houyhnhnm master, who he refers to as "my dear horse," and learns to communicate with them through their language, which consists mainly of whinnying and other horse-like noises.
The Houyhnhnms are depicted as being superior to humans in many ways. They are rational, logical, and highly moral, and they live in a society that is free from the problems of human society, such as war, corruption, and deceit. They are also physically superior, with faster reflexes and stronger bodies than humans.
Despite their superiority, the Houyhnhnms are not portrayed as perfect beings. They are shown to be somewhat lacking in emotion and imagination, and they are unable to comprehend many of the complexities of human nature. This is exemplified in their treatment of the Yahoos, whom they see as little more than beasts of burden and who are treated cruelly as a result.
Overall, the Houyhnhnms in Gulliver's Travels serve as a commentary on the nature of intelligence and morality. Swift is using them to argue that reason and rationality alone do not necessarily lead to a better society, and that the human capacity for emotion and imagination is an important part of what makes us human. He is also suggesting that the pursuit of perfection can sometimes lead to a lack of understanding and compassion for those who are different from us.
W. H. Auden: Poems Study Guide
The poem talks of praise for ancients practices because that is how the people wished to be governed. Auden, A Selection, with notes and critical essay by Richard Hoggart, Hutchinson, 1961. Cite this page as follows: "W. In addition to his plays, librettos, and prose, Auden wrote for film and radio and worked extensively as an editor and translator. Faced with such a world, he adopts the pose of a clinical diagnostician anatomizing a troubled society. No poet in recent times can match the range of traditional forms he used and often revitalized in his work—oratorio, eclogue, sestina, sonnet, villanelle, closet drama, verse epistle, and ode.
Stop All the Clocks by W. H. Auden: Analysis
Auden, 1928-1938, edited by Edward Mendelson, Faber, 1989. Society suffered a massive loss even for their animals and many people were left with no places to live in. After all, who could possibly know all of these languages and all of these frames of reference, except for Eliot himself? Auden describes an artificial wasteland that is unproductive. Our life span is soon over. Work has ceased at the power-house. Thetis looked at the shield that Haphaestous had designed for her son Achilles. Rome had a wide range of political corruption in the system of governance they applied.
W. H. Auden
Auden, Random House, 1945. His work, branded by the moral and ideological fires of our age, breathes with eloquence, perception and intellectual power. Learn More The fall of Rome The poem of the fall of Rome talks of the Roman problems and political chaos. The poem is written in quatrains throughout: so far, so consistent. Auden, for instance, disliked free verse and the whiff of elitism we find in much modernist poetry. There will be research into consciousness and fatigue and radiation, rediscovery of love and the arts, local politics, and quotidian life.
