Chekhov's Mistress
A Profane Poem
W.H. Auden:
Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.
How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.
Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed on terribly all day.
Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.
Profane? Apparently the asinine officials at the Coral Academy of Science in Reno, Nevada think so. They’re forbidding a ninth-grader from reciting the poem in a competition there next week because of the words “hell” and “damn.” The kid’s suing.
(via The Poetry Foundation)
comments
A federal judge has now ruled that the school violated the First Amendment. From the opinion by Judge Brian Sandoval:
“Defendants (Coral Academy) apparently consider the poem inappropriate because it contains language that conflicts with the school’s policies against students general use of profanity. However, when spoken in the context of a poem at a school-authorized, off-campus competition and written by a nationally recognized poet, the court finds that the language sought to be censured cannot even remotely cause a disruption of the educational mission.”
– Richard (04/14 at 02:57 PM)
Ah it is a sad day indeed when great poetry gets clamped by the sensor, and not only that it is completely regressive given that so many have done so much to allow for freedom of speech over the centuries.
– AndrewE (04/16 at 03:55 PM)
The matter of the censor / lawsuit / Coral Academy aside, it’s quite an arresting poem;—indeed among poems of Auden’s I’ve seen, this seems among the best. Thanks for it.
For a moment I thought you would suggest the notion of a starless sky to be obscene. Isn’t there a scene in Dante in which the stars one by one go out? Perhaps I’m dreaming this.
cheers,
d.i.
– david israel (04/17 at 11:42 PM)
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