W. H. Auden Quotes - Page 18

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As I walked out one evening, Walking down Bristol Street, The crowds upon the pavement Were fields of harvest wheat. And down by the brimming river I heard a lover sing Under an arch of the railway: 'Love has no ending.

As I walked out one evening, Walking down Bristol Street, The crowds upon the pavement Were fields of harvest wheat. And down by the brimming river I heard a lover sing Under an arch of the railway: 'Love has no ending. 'I'll love you, dear, I'll love you Till China and Africa meet, And the river jumps over the mountain And the salmon sing in the street, 'I'll love you till the ocean Is folded and hung up to dry And the seven stars go squawking Like geese about the sky.

W. H. Auden

Stars, Ocean, Love You

Another Time (1940) "As I Walked Out One Evening"

There was still gold and silver in the mountains, And hunger was a more immediate sorrow

W. H. Auden

Sorrow, Gold, Mountain

For time is inches And the heart's changes, Where ghost has haunted Lost and wanted.

W. H. Auden

Time, Heart, Ghost

Sob, heavy world Sob as you spin, Mantled in mist Remote from the happy.

W. H. Auden

Grieving, Fog, World

Age of Anxiety (1947) p. 104

Swans in the winter air A white perfection have

W. H. Auden

Winter, Swans, Air

Between labor and play stands work. A man is a worker if he is personally interested in the job which society pays him to do; whatfrom the point of view of society is necessary labor is from his point of view voluntary play. Whether a job is to be classified as labor or work depends, not on the job itself, but on the tastes of the individual who undertakes it. The difference does not, for example, coincide with the difference between a manual and a mental job; a gardener or a cobbler may be a worker, a bank clerk a laborer.

W. H. Auden

Jobs, Work, Men