Auden’s Grumpy Moon Landing Poem
by Nina Martyris
Jul 19, 2019
4 minutes
Shortly after Apollo 11 put men on the moon and brought them safely back to earth, W. H. Auden, widely regarded as the greatest living English poet of the age, wrote a poem about it. It’s called “Moon Landing,” and from start to finish, it’s one long grumble.
Untouched by the sublime romance of the moon mission, Auden’s poem opens:
It’s natural the Boys should whoop it up for
so huge a phallic triumph, an adventure
it would not have occurred to women
to think worth while, made possible onlybecause we like huddling in gangs and knowing
the exact time
Auden’s prolific career is
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