ELEKLr.TS OF SATIRE IN THE WORKS OF LOUIS MACNii^ICE
by
NELSON C. SAGER, B.A.
A THESIS
IN
ENGLISH
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty
of Texas Technological College
in Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements for
the Degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
Approved
Accepted
May, W66
AC
SOS
T3
No. 1^7
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am deeply indebted to Professor Hugh Pendexter
III for his invaluable criticism and unlimited patience in
the direction of this thesis, and to my wife for her patience
and understanding.
ii
CONTiilNTS
I.
II.
III.
INTROIMTCTION
ELEKILNTS O F
1
SATIRE IN THE POETRY
8
ELEMENTS OF SATIRE IN THE PROSE AND
DRAMA
1+1
IV. CONCLUSION
58
BIBLIOGRAPHY
61
11
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Within the poetry, drama, and prose works of Louis
MacNeice there are specific elements of satire which he uses
in his critical commentary on and observation of the world
surrounding him.
However, before turning to MacNeice's
actual use of satire in his creative writing, one might
first consider what critical remarks he has made on the use
of satire.
In Modern Poatry he makes the statement: ''I
would say that pure satire is a low form of writing because
it does not admit any sympathy with its subject, but would
add that little modern poetry is pure satire."^
This would
seem to be a strange quotation with which to begin a study
of the satiric elements in the works of MacNeice, especially
since the greater part of the study will be directed toward
his poetry, but one should take note of the expression "pure
satire" and exactly what MacNeice means by it.
The "pure
satire" of MacNeice's statement corresponds to the biting,
harsh invective of the Juvenalian form.
Very little invec-
tive is found in MacNeice's works; what one does find in
his poetry and drama as well, is a witty, humorous ridiculing of society and its institutions and a satiric criticism
''Louis MacNeice, Modern Poetry (London:
University Press, 1938), p. 27.
Oxford
of the individual in his relations with society, other individuals, and God.
Almost all of MacNeice's criticisms
of the vices, foibles, and failings of mankind are done with
the gentle, laughing nudge of the Horacian manner rather
than the angry, bitter lash of Juvenal.
The literary form of satire is difficult to set
into a precise theory with rigid limits and bounds.
MacNeice
mentioned only one form of satire in his statement about
poetry, yet David Worcester in The Art of Sr.tire mentions
four different forms to which satire can correspond.
Be-
cause "any formal theory must involve contradictions and
anomalies," Worcester suggests that one "identify a work
of literature as satire by its motive and spirit alone. "'^
In Modern Poetry MacNeice discusses the elusiveness and
varying quality of satire in verse:
The two poles of lighter poetry are the "Grain of
Salt" and the "Urge to Nonsense". These can be
roughly correlated with . . . "Criticism of Life"
and "Escape". Pure satire would be an expression
of the former, pure nonsense verse of the latter.
But it is rare to meet with either pure satire or
pure nonsense. Much nonsense verse, . . . conceals
genuine emotional reactions to the writer's life
and world, while, on the other hand, much satire is
written for the fun of it rather than as pure criticism. . . .3
These statements hold true for all of MacNeice's poetry,
^David Worcester, The Art of Satire (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 19^0), p. h,
3Modern Poetry, p. 179.
serious and light, because as he says, "Some intensely serious poetry has a streak of lightness in it, while there is
littlo Might verso' which has not a serious overtone, however tiny."^
In fact, these comments that he makes on
"lighter verse" could apply to all of his works.
In his
poetry, prose, and drama "the 'Urge to Nonsense' and 'Grain
of Salt' are blended"^ together in such a way that the reader is confronted with elements of a varying purpose. These
elements vary from comedy to satire, but can be properly
separated when one remembers the laughter of comedy is relatively purposeless while the laughter of satire is directed
toward a preconceived end.^
Even when the elements are
identified as satire, there is still a further variation
in intensity.
"The spectrum analysis of satire runs from
the red of invective at one end to the violet of the most
delicate irony at the other.
Beyond either end of the scale,
literature runs off into forms that are not perceptible as
satire. "-^ These forms correspond to the pure comedy mentioned before and often to the framework and basic subject
matter of the play, poem, or piece of prose of which the element of satire is but a part.
Considering these elements
^Ibid.
^Ibld., p. 180.
^v;orcester. The Art of Satire, p. 38.
"^Ibid. . p. 16.
k
of satire in MacNeice's works in light of this proposed
spectrum, one would find that they would appear in a hue of
deep purple graduating into the violot of the light ironic
touch and an occasional touch of the red of invective.
MacNeice is not exclusively a satirist; he points
this out when he says, "Few poems are exactly what they
appear to be; you cannot say 'This is a love poem' or 'This
is a nature poem' or 'This is a piece of satire' and leave
it at that."°
In the same manner few of MacNeice's poems,
plays, or prose works are exclusively satire; there may be
elements of satire present even though the purpose of the
complete work may be something entirely different.
1
Crossed the Minch is essentially a travel book, yet it contains specific caricatures from English society in the forms
of Perceval and Crowder.
Autumn Journal is an occasional
poem, but it also contains highly critical remarks directed
at the English society for the part it had in sowing the
seeds of the Second World War.
In the introduction to The
March Hare Saga MacNeice points out that many of the listeners wanted to "pigeonhole everything—fun must be pure
fun, satire must be pure satire, you can't be serious and
frivolous simultaneously."9
As a result they fail to see
°Louis MacNeice, The Poetry of W. B. Yeats (London:
Oxforn University Press, 19^1 ), p . ^ .
^Louis MacNeice, The Dark Tower rind Other Radio
Scripts (Lon'jon: Faber and Faber Ltd ., 1 9^7), p"^^ 1 3^ .
that the elements of satire present in these plays, as well
as in other products of MacNeice's pen, are often blended
with other features of the work so that the work is entertaining as well as critical.'^ This tendency, that of combining elements of satire with humor, fiction, fact, and
other literary components, one finds throughout the creative
writing of KncIIeice.
There are points where MacNeice's
"Criticism of Life" is the primary purpose of the poem,
play, or prose work; occasionally the satire approaches invective; but, for the most part, MacNeice's elements of
satire are integral parts of the work that add to its quality and value of literature rather than brand the author
as a satirist.
MacNeice follows in the steps of the satiric writers
before him in that his subject matter is from the contemporary world, and his literary tools match those of the
traditional satirist—irony, burlesque, and occasionally
invective.
Of these three general types of satire, MacNeice
emphasizes the variations of the first two, irony and burlesque, with verbal irony being the most common.
bal irony takes many forms.
Even ver-
MacNeice uses irony of inver-
sion, where the statement made must be inverted by the reader to obtain the true meaning intended by the author, but
often allows this technique to degenerate into sarcasm.
lOlbid.
MacNeice also satirically understates facts known to the
reader in order to place ironic emphasis upon them.
This
technique of understatement is blended with the dramatic
irony in the poetry about the Second World V/ar. The irony
in this poetry becomes apparent when the reader realizes
the conditions at that time and considers the poems in light
of the final outcome of the war.
When MacNeice considers
the concept of God, he often uses what V/orcester- calls
"Cosmic Irony."''
MacNeice emphasizes tha discrepancies
between God's omnipotence and the failings of the highest
form of his creation--man.
The portrayal of man mocking
and arguing with a God that he claims does not exist also
adds to the irony.
Burlesque appears in the form of parody,
travesty, and caricature.
One finds parodies and travesties
of the Bible, prayers, and others' poetry; extreme personalities found in society are portrayed as caricatures.
MacNeice burlesques economic systems such as communism and
capitalism; he similarly ridicules the effects of psychiatry
upon mankind and satirizes the position of art and culture
in society.
Occasionally the barbs of his satiric remarks
are not as well hidden, and the elements of satire take the
form of invective.
MacNeice's comments on Ireland's neu-
trality during the Second World War and his descriptions
of the Germans that bombed England often approach invective.
^^The Art of Satire, pp. 131-137.
7
One doctoral dissertation, "A Critical Appraisal
of the Works of Louis MacNeice," by Ottilie F. S. Stafford
at Boston College, was written in I96O as a critical introductory study of the works of MacNeice, but does not take
the viewpoint of this thesis.
First in this thesis, the
poetry of MacNeice will be considered for its satiric elements according to its subject matter; then, the prose and
drama will be considered as the elem.ents of satire appear
in each separate work.
The main emphasis will be placed
on MacNeice's criticism of the prime forces of mankind-the individual and socisty—and the purpose of his satiric
commentary upon them.
CHAPTER II
ELEMENTS OF SATIRE IN THE POETRY
The elements of satire within the poetry of Louis
MacNeice can be grouped into three general areas of subject
matter--satire dealing with society, satire dealing with
the individual, and satire dealing with the concept of God.
Because the major part of MacNeice's poetry is either set
within or related to the contemporary world, the elements
of satire found in the poetry are focused upon man and his
actions, thoughts, and problems in the modern world. A::
seen through the eyes of MacNeice, it is not an entirely
satisfactory world, and the technique of satire becomes a
definite part of his poetry.
When he plays the part of the
satirist, he exhibits a heightened awareness of the true
state of the world around him:
. . . He knows that he has missed
VTiat others miss unconsciously. Assigned
To a condemned ship he still must keep the log
And so fulfil the premises of his mind
v;here large ideals have bred a satirist.^^
These lines from "The Satirist" indicate the role of the
writer of satire in the world.
He is a man whose high ideals
prevent him from accepting the lower standards that the world
has to offer.
don:
It is his duty to record the failings and foi-
''^Louis MacNeice, Collected Poems, 1^25-19^8 (LonFaber and Faber Ltd., 19^9), P« ^3^^
8
bles of man and call attention to these errors which the
rest of the world, uncona:iDusly, and often consciously,
passes by.
As he says in the same poem, he has no reverence
for "hero, saint, or lover."^-^
comments.
All are fair game for his
Nothing is sacred, not even religion or God.
The satirist is true only to his ideals, exposing everything with lower standards; "he is an onlooker, a heartless typ^,"'^ unconcerned with the consequences his observations may produce for others.
Even though the world
seemed a rondnnned vessel, MacNeice dutifully stood by and
logged with barbed pen the causes of its prenicament.
\'Ihen
his society refused to use the intelligence of which it was
capable, Mac?Jeice ridiculed the world's senseless actions
in ink.
MacNeice's satiric concern with society stretches
from the period following the First World War to the era
of nuclear power of the 1960's.
England would never again
know Edwardian grandeur after the First World V/ar. During
the 1920's there was a brief period of gaiety, but it soon
slumped into depression, unemployment, and threats of a new
war.
The poem, "Aubade," illustrates the feelings of soci-
ety in the late 1930's:
Having bitten on life like a sharp apple
Or, playing it like a fish, been happy.
^^Ibid.
10
Having felt with fingers that the sky is blue.
What have we after that to look forward to?
Not the twilight of the gods but a precise dawn
Of sallow and grey bricks, and newsboys crying war.'^
In the poem MacNeice compares the holocaust of World War I
to the legendary twilight of the gods which was supposed to
be followed by a new heaven and earth free from evil and
pain with plenty for all. His statement of what actually
followed the war--a dawn breaking on a grey scene of misery,
want, and threats of a new war--ironically portrays the true
conditions.
The society in England had experienced a taste
of the good life, just before, and for a short period, just
after the First World War; they hated to give it up.
Even
though Britain was caught up in the depression of the 1930's,
there was still the materialistic struggle to get whatever
one could, even in these trying times. With cutting derision MacNeice uses his poetry to point out the false values,
mediocre goals, and weak hopes of a society that was torn
between what life now had to offer them and what they were
willing to accept.
In the poem, "Birmingham," MacNeice
speaks of those pursuing the symbols of status, accepting
the lowest standards of beauty, and gaining their position
in society at the expense of others.
In cheaply constructed
houses, men of the rising middle class:
. . . pursue the Platonic Forms
With wireless and cairn terriers and gadgets
^^Ibid., p. 86.
11
approximating to the fickle norms
And endeavour to find God and score one over
the neighbour
By climbing tentatively upward on jerry-built
beauty and sweated labour.'^
It is with great irony that MacNeice uses the term, "Platonic Forms," for the universal ideals of beauty envisioned
by Plato hardly correspond to the latest gadget or presently
popular pet dog.
Names like Freud and Marx had done a great
deal to destroy any image left of a God other than mammon.
But as MacNeice says, it is better to have "authentic mammon than a bogus god;"'' at least this would have seemed
reasonable in the mind of a member of the worldly society
of the 1930's.
This representative of society was quite
content with beauty of a hastily constructed and poorly
built nature turned out by a labor force that worked under
the poorest conditions of employment.
No matter what the
quality was, society was interested in how it could get more.
To live was to have the greatest amount of presents, jewelry, gadgets, furs, and solicitations.
Hedonism is the
word of the day; it is a false world where:
. . . we pretend
That eating and drinking are more important than
thinking
And looking at things than action and a casual
16 Ibid., p. 7^.
^-^Louis MacNeice, Autumn Journal (London:
and Faber Ltd., 1939), p. W i
^^Ibid.. pp. 10-11.
Faber
12
friend
Than a colleague and that work is a dull convenience
Designed to provide
Money to spend on amusement. . . ,^^
All of the values, standards, and rules that have served
society in the past are inverted or modified so that they
conform to one guiding credo--the greatest amount of property, pleasure, and status should be yielded to the member
of this society to keep him happy.
The Second World War provided MacNeice with further
opportunities to observe and criticize the actions of society.
again.
Many did not wish to believe that it was happening
They tried to ignore it and place it in the back-
ground, but the problems that faced this society seemed to
multiply and finally culminate in one extreme solution--the
approaching war.
MacNeice points out the futility of ig-
noring the situation that faced the world in "Bagpipe Music," where he compares the increasingly serious situation
with a falling barometer saying:
The glass is falling hour by hour, the glass
will fall for ever.
But if you break the bloody glass you won't
hold up the weather.^^
Closing one's ears to the cries of war or burrowing one's
head in the sand would not stop the oncoming disaster any
more than smashing a barometer would prevent a hurricane.
^^Ibid.. p. 87.
^QCollected Poems, p. II7.
13
Autumn Journal, written in the fall of 1938, describes the
events preceding the war and satirizes the attitude of both
the British public and government.
MacNeice castigates the
public of this society that would think, "'This must be
wrong, it has happened before,'" and yet would "laugh it
off and go round town in the evening. . . ."^^
It all
seemed like a bad dream, yet some were aware of what was to
be the outcome.
The rebuilding of the military power of the
Germans during the early 1930's was quite apparent in England; in 1935 a "Government ^Afhite Paper on Rearmament" was
issued in time to see Hitler announce the existence of a
German air force and the practice of conscription.^^
Still
no action was taken; the historians wrote off England's
complacency as a result of the traumatic experience of the
First World V/ar and a belief in the power of the League of
Nations to guarantee peace. The public was unwilling to
face an experience similar to World V/ar I and they felt
certain no single power could defy the League of Nations.^-^
Even so, MacNeice continued to remind society that real
dangers seldom vanished.
One could not say:
^^Autumn Journal, p. 22.
2%enry Felling, Modern Britain. 188^^-1955. Vol.
VIII of A History of England, ed. Christopher Brooke and
Denis i-lacK SiT.ith (8 vols.; Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and
Sons, i960), p. 115.
23 Ibid.
1^
"Take away this cup";
Nor can ve hide our heads in the sands, the
sands have
Filtered -away;
Nothing remains but rock at this hour, this zero
Hour of the day.2"*
The cup of responsibility remained poised in front of England, but she refused to accept it.
The government and the
people were aware that Germany was breaking conditions of
the Treaty of Versailles, yet Britain continued on a political road of appeasement.
It was indeed the zero hour of
the day, and the sands of pretended ignorance had drifted
away until there was nothing left but the rock-hard facts
of a German war machine that was beginning to consume Europe.
The policy of appeasing Hitler was cli.Tir.xed by sac-
rificing the national conscience to postpone what was ultimately to come anyway.
Chamberlain met with Hitler at Mu-
nich and in exchange for a declaration of Germany's friendship decided to allow Hitler a free hand in Czechoslovakia.
MacNeice-regarded Chamberlain's decision at Munich as a
disgrace and he poetically portrayed it as such:
Save my skin and damn my conscience.
And negotiation wins.
If you can call it winning,
Glory to God for Munich
And stocks go up and wrecks
Are salved and politicians reputations
^^Auturrn Journal, p. 2^.
15
Go \];' like Jack-on-the-Ber<nstalk; qply the Czechs
Go down and without fighting.
Ironically, MacNeice's commentary emphasizes the dishonor
of the action vhen Chamberlain had referred to th3 agree-ent as "peace with honour."
He continues in the same
ironic vein, glorifying Munich, with tongue in cheek, but
also pointing out that as the reputation of Chamberlain as
a politician soared briefly, the people of Czechoslovakia
were conquered by Germany without even a fight. However,
the government officials of England were not to be blamed
completely, for the attitude of the English people corresponded to that of the government.
They had little or no
feeling for those coming under the German war machine.
The
people of the British society had the same apathetic attitude toward the conquests of Hitler in Europe and were
willing to accept such promises as those of Munich as long
as the German wolf was kept from their door.
Actually,
they had little choice; once they embarked on the political
policy of appeasement and delayed rearmament, there was
little else they could do.
Still, MacNeice continued to
satirize the attitude of the English people.
"Bar Room
Matins," provides a good example of MacNeice's satirization
of this attitude as well as a satire on religious liturgy.
^^Pelling, Modern Britain, p. 118.
16
MacNeice points out that because they felt they were safe
from the German war m.enace, the British were those "whose
Kingdom has not come";'-'^ the society of Britain would deal
only with problems that affected them at that time.
They
couldn't be bothered with thoughts of the future; if they
did, they might see the future of England reflected in the
nations being conquered by Germany then.
Society played
the part of Cain, who was not his brother's keeper, and
Britain refused to take action to prevent the rise of Hitler.
The poem reflects the attitude of the British in a
parody of prayer:
Mnss destruction, mass disease:
V/e thank thee. Lord, upon our knees
That we were born in times like these
When with doom tumbling from the sky
Each of us has an alibi
For doing nothing--Let him die.
Die the soldiers, die the Jews,
And all the breadless homeless queues.
Give us this day our daily news.^o
The tone of the complete poem is the same as that of the
last three lines; if people are dying in the world, let them
die; the society that MacNeice satirizes doesn't want to get
involved.
They only know what they are told in the daily
news; if they know more, their alibi for their inaction
would no longer exist.
Much of MacNeice's poetry of the
^"^Collected Poems, p. 200.
^^Ibid.. p. 201.
17
Second World V/ar is taken up with describing the ironic
qualities of war and society's role in the war.
In "Brother
Fire" he reveals how the ruthlessness of fire echoes the
wartime thoughts of society, "'Destroy!
Destroy!'"^9
The
tone of the poetry varies from caricature and parody to near
invective.
The poem, "The Streets of Laredo," is a parody
of the cowboy song in which MacNeice walks out into the
streets of the city of London after a bombing to find out
walking also an unwelcome bride, fire, carrying with her a
dowry of death.
Both of the poems, "The Trolls," and
"Troll's Courtship," paint a propaganc; istic caricature of
the Germans who bombed England.
In the eyes of MacNeice,
the troll is a clumsy, fumbling, evil goblin who cannot
accomplish what he set out to do--silence the voice of freedom symbolized by the English people.
In the poem the troll
carries out his task haphazardly so that his distribution
of his bombs of death only emphasizes his stupidity. "Neutrality" approaches bitter invective as MacNeice portrays
neutral Ireland as a traitor to the Allies because she did
not allow England to use the Irish southern ports.
As a
result, the German submarine packs, which were based from
Norway to the borders of Spain, had a decided advantage.
The closing lines express the bitter sentiments of Irishborn MacNeice as he vividly comments on the contents of the
^^Ibid.. p. 218.
18
seas west of England:
. . . to the west of your own shores the mackeral
Are fat--on the flesh of your kin.30
Allied shipping was completely at the mercy of the German
submarine force.
Because the submarine strikes were taking
place near the north coast of Ireland, the British protective forces were badly inconvenienced by having to operate
out of English ports.3'
Much of the blame for the fatten-
ing of the mackeral in northern waters, as MacNeice states
it satirically, could be directed toward Ireland.
The basis
for Ireland's neutrality might have gone back to the days
of conflict between Ireland and England before Irish independence, but the fact still remained that English lives
were being lost that need not have been.
The satire in
MacNeice's war poetry continued in the same vein; it struck
out at the enemies of England at home and abroad and emphasized the futility and destruction inherent in war.
All of MacNeice's satire was not directed to the
wartime world and society.
His poetry after the war re-
veals society still maintaining the false values and mediocre goals that existed before the war.
There were only
changes due to modern technology and new inventions; these
tended to dehumanize mankind, rob him of his soul, and con-
^^Ibid., p. 225.
3h"-'elling, Modern Britain, p. 1^5.
19
vert him into some type of unfeeling automaton that fitted
well into the materialistic age.
MacNeice compares life in
the mechanized present day to electric power governed by a
switch; in the same manner:
. . . food and freedom, thought and life.
Can be switched on just so--or off.32
With the awesome power of nuclear weapons and modern warfare, and control of mass communications, the domination
that a powerful nation can exert over life, food, freedom,
and to an extent, thought, is just as sure as that of a
switch over a circuit of electric power.
Mankind becomes
an insignificant entity in the modern world, subservient
to the modern gods of plastic, wire and transistors.
As
the citizen of this new world described in the tenth stanza
of "As in Their Time," he lived in the ever expanding universe and "among the plastic gear so long"33 that when they
decided he must be fingerprinted, the man "left no fingerprints at all."3^
The individual member of society becomes
only a number at best, accounted for in the same manner as
any machine with serial numbers.
Perhaps this is what Mac-
Neice had in mind as a substitute for such human identifying
3^Louis MacNeice, Solstices (London:
Faber Ltd., 1961), p. ^ 1 .
Faber and
33Louis MacNeice, The Burning Perch (London:
and Faber Ltd., 19^3), P» ^^*
3^ Ibid.
Faber
20
marks as fingerprints.
Everything revolves around a schedule and as MacNeice says:
V/e must bow down to telephone and clock
And the small clayfoot gods from whom we borrow
Such small sums at such interest. A pound of flesh
To whom is neither flesh nor joy nor sorrow
But merely a pound in weight; . . .35
The modern "clayfoot gods" are only extensions of the mammon of old; they have no more feeling or human em.otional
response than any of the other idols mankind has worshipped
in the past.
Society finds itself increasingly indebted
to these technical advantages until they become necessities
instead of luxuries.
The only way to eliminate the dominat-
ing influences of these modern conveniences is to return
tb the ways of the past.
But, because of society's ever-
advancing movement, this too becomes an im.possibility.
The
task that required that a pound of flesh be yielded with
some emotion in the past is now accomplished by some modern
convenience—telephone, computor, assembly line, or drug.
One thing remains unchanged in the modern society;
there is still the desire for material gain and wealth.
The member of the society is measured by the wealth or symbols of status he can acquire.
These symbols change from
generation to generation, but MacNeice recognizes them for
35Louis MacNeice, Autumn Sequel (London:
Faber Ltd., 195^), p. ^ 2 .
Faber and
21
what they actually are.
He satirically portrays them as
just a series of boxes in his poem, "Jigsaws."
tensions of body and soul into property.
They are ex-
By recognizing
these material objects for what they are, MacNeice reveals
what he feels are dangers to society.
These objects:
A box to live in, with airs and graces,
A box on wheels, that shows its paces,
A box that talks or that makes faces,36
tend to keep man apart from the rest of society.
His con-
stant quest to get only the latest, best, and biggest status symbol keeps his interest centered on material things
instead of the society surrounding him.
They have a de-
humanizing effect upon him, transforming him into an unfeeling creature with no concern for the rest of the world.
He is content to sit in "a sterilized cell, unshared, insured. "37
After all, he has his fancy home, expensive car,
and television set to keep him company.
As long as this
member of society is safe and "insured," why should he worry about the rest of the world?
In almost a cyclic move-
ment, mankind was on its way back to the same type of situation that led to the Second World V/ar.
MacNeice's last collection of poetry. The Burning
Perch, contains striking criticisms of the modern age.
36Louis MacNeice, Visitations (New York:
University Press, 1958), p. 37.
37Ibid.
Oxforc
22
"Chateau Jackson" is a parody of the nursery rhyme about
the house that Jack built.
MacNeice modernizes the verse
to include many of the problems that face the world and ends
the poem with the question, "Where is the Jack that built
the house?"38
The poem, "In Lieu," is another satire of
the practices of the modern world.
In lieu of an altar and
religious rites, a man receives the wafer and wine of the
holy sacrament from a vending machine.
The world is a chaos
of overcrowded deserts, packaged weather, orbiting spacemen and deep freezes.
In the poem MacNeice acts as a sa-
tiric prophet commenting on the problems of ,T.odern technology now and in the future.
In the modern world there
is no refuge or escape from the unremitting, scheduled existence in which man must live.
Before the war in "Museums"
and "The British Museum. Reading Room" MacNeice described
the museums and libraries as a refuge or retreat from the
pace of the scurrying crowd.
With almost a touch of sar-
casm he described the museum as a place where man could return to relive the glories of the past.
Those who inhabit
the reading room of the British Museum are:
Hanging like bats in a world of inverted values.
Folded up in themselves in a world which is safe
and silent:
This is the British Museum Reading Room.39
38The Burning Perch, p. 17.
39collected Poems, p. I83.
23
At least here was a haven for the individual whether he was
one of the "cranks, hacks," or "poverty-stricken scholars, "^'-^
but in MacNeice's more recent poetry there is no mention of
such a refuge; perhaps the pace of modern life does not
allow for such leisure pursuits.
The plight of the individual in modern society occupies much of MacNeice's poetry and a great deal of his
satire relates to this subject.
The individual is faced •
with the task of living in a complex society.
"Prayer Be-
fore Birth" is an imaginary prayer uttered by a soul before
birth enumerating the undesirable traits that society tries
to force upon the individual.
Through this prayer MacNeice
satirically takes to task a society that tries to form the
individual into another "cog in a machine,"
and freeze
what humanity the unborn would have so that it would never
thaw.
The new soul asks for consolation when mankind at-
tempts with tall walls to wall him, strong drugs to dope
him, and wise lies to lure him.^^
The poem castigates so-
ciety for all its attempts to mold an individual into a
mindless, will-less automaton.
In "The Habits," a poem
from The Burning Perch there is a similar idea expressed.
Once again MacNeice is satirizing the attempts of society
^Qibid.
Ibid . , p. 21 5.
1 lilrl .
2U
to mold an individual to fit a specific pattern.
Habits
are imposed upon the individual at his birth, and proceed
right through life with him; however, these habits must be
successively approved by the parents, the school master,
the adgirl, and the computer.
As each one approves of the
individual's use of his habits, MacNeice satirically comments that each of these society-appointed overseers "said
it was all for the best."^3
However, to add a twist to
the theme, MacNeice has the habits outlive their usefulness and at death the individual discards them as "the Lord
God said it was all for the best."^^
Ironically, the final
approval, given by the most important overseer of all, is
bestowed when the individual discards the habits for good.
MacNeice satirizes the influences of modern society upon
the individual--his parents' wishes, the school master's
commands, advertising's slyly induced appetites, and the
computer's mechanical programs for life.
The individual
in the modern world feels the pressures of both human and
technical forces impressed upon him to conform to the norm
of established society.
The best example of what standards MacNeice expects
the individual to meet is found in the poem, "The Kingdom."
^^The Burning Perch, p. ^1.
Ibid.
25
The title refers to "the Kingdom of individuals."^^ By emphasizing the qualities he feels that the individual should
possess, MacNeice manages to satirize those who do not conform to his image.
Some of his examples tend to be carica-
tures--the old, retired English colonel, the unselfish mother
of many, the loner, the plain girl, the dedicated scientist,
the old, stately minister--and yet, the reader can tell that
MacNeice is not criticizing them but rather praising them.
They all possess traits that proclaim their individuality
in a world of conformity.
They hold within themselves the
secret of living in a complex society:
These are the people who know in their bones
the answer
To the statesman's quiz and the false reformer's crude
Alternatives and ultimatums. These have eyes
And can see each other's goodness, do not
need salvation
By whip, brochure, sterilisation or drugs.
Being incurably human; . . .^6
The salvation that MacNeice refers to, is that offered by
society as incentive to conform to the required image.
However, these people possess the strength of character and
qualities of humanity that enable them to resist the attempts of society to make them conform by force, propaganda,
or medical methods.
^^Collected Poems, p. 270.
^^Ibid., p. 276.
26
Not all of MacNeice's caricatures of types in society are as complementary.
Several of his shorter poems de-
pict specific types of individuals.
In Blir/^ Fireworks he
considers three particular types of individuals in the poems,
"Middle Age," "Old Maid," and "The Court Historian."
"Mid-
dle Age" concerns an individual that has reached this point
in life and MacNeice satirically portrays him speaking of
his great achievem.ents in life:
I cater to the public's common sense,
I pandpr tastelessly the public taste
And live a perfect life in perfect tense.
I walk the parade of earth with confidence.
And search in Heaven's Woolworth's for a soul.^7
This man has lost all traces of individuality.
Though he
feels that he is living the perfect life, actually he has
fallen back into a world of no taste, no sense, and no future.
Searching the five-and-ten-cent store for a soul,
even in heaven, if one takes the line literally, does not
speak of any great success in life.
is an unsuccessful success.
"Old Maid" similarly
She is a "triumphant fugitive
from bonds and love," yet MacNeice reminds the reader that
in the background remains the "trivial tragedy of spinsterdom."
MacNeice's satire of the figure lies in the in-
^^Louis MacNeice, Blind Fireworks (London:
Gollancz Ltd., 1929), p. 6'5';
^^Ibid., p. 61 .
Victor
27
verting of values.
Being an old maid is a "trivial" thing
while escaping the bonds of love and marriage is considered
a successful accomplishment.
The values of society were
certainly the inverse of these.
In "The Court Historian"
MacNeice selects a court recorder who lists births, deaths,
and funerals as an understudy of death, but who is in turn
tapped on the shoulder and asked about the court historian
himself.
So caught up with the recording of the lives and
deaths of others, he is caught unaware by death when it is
his time to go.
The poems, "The Mixer," "The Libertine," and "The
Drunkard" all contain caricatures of types of individuals
that MacNeice satirizes.
The mixer is a colorless indi-
vidual that depends upon others for his popularity.
The
libertine is a man aged past his romantic tendencies and
now wishes only to be left alone by the opposite sex.
The
drunkard is dependent upon liquor to create an atmosphere
in which he can exist.
"His last train home is Purgatory
in reverse,"^9 a fitting description of his life away from
the bottle.
Each of these individuals is an extreme of the
type of person that cannot exist in society without having
a crutch to lean on to keep from losing all claims to his
individuality and drifting back into the masses.
"To a Communist" is different in that the satire
^9Collected Poems, p. 2^8.
28
is directed toward the political philosophy that the individual is trying to expound rather than the personality
traits of the individual himself.
The poem is a reminder
to the communist that the world is ripe for exploitation
by communism for a very short time.
As MacNeice says:
. . . before you proclaim the millenium, my dear.
Consult the barometer-This poise is perfect but maintained
For one day only.50
What MacNeice is satirically reminding the communist of, is
that though the free systems of government of the world have
their ups and downs, periods of depression are usually shortlived; what may seem the ideal time for a communist revolution, evidenced by conditions and popularity of the movement
with the people, may actually only be temporary disillusionment with the present system of government.
The poem, "The
Individualist Speaks," also contains a hint of satire. MacNeice pictures the world as a fair where, as in "Vanity Fair"
of Bunyan and Bartholomew's Fair of Jonson, the world's
temptations, vices, and immoralities are available to the
visitor.
da,"^
"Drunk with steam-organs, thighrub, and cream so-
society pays no heed to the fact that there are en-
emies in the valley where the fair is pitched.
Neither do
they give attention to the prophet in the poem that fore-
^^Ibid., p. 78.
^^Ibid.
29
casts threats of war.
The individualist speaks out saying
that he will go to the far side of the fair to escape and
leave society to its fate; yet, since the fair represents
the world, there really isn't anywhere to go; ironically,
in a world filled with war, there are few neutral ports.
The far side of the fair will be no better than any other
side.
"Flight of the Heart" has a similar theme.
The nar-
rator discusses with his heart the possibilities of escaping the demands of life, with the end result of the heart
deciding to go back to the "fore-being of mankind."52
Here
MacNeice is satirizing the desire of returning to the womb,
popular in Freudian psychology.
The complex problems that the individual must face
do not revolve entirely around the concept of society as
an entity; the individual will have some form of relationship with other individuals.
The relationship that MacNeice
satirically emphasizes is the love relationship between man
and woman.
Some of the sarcasm and irony underlying the
commentary on the relationship between man and woman may have
a basis in MacNeice's own experiences for he was married
twice, the first marriage ending in divorce.
He comments
ironically on the dampening power of marriage on passion in
"Les Sylphides" comparing before and after marriage:
52ibid., p. 202.
30
So they were married--to be the more together—
And found they were never again so much together,^3
because they were constantly separated at tea, by their
children, and by the problems of married life.
In "Trilogy
for X" there is much the same idea expressed as the married
man sits and wonders what became of the girl he wanted.
For
him love has gone up like a vapor to reside between the
floor and the ceiling.5^
In the longer poem Autumn Sequel,
MacNeice considers the ironies of love exclusive of marriage.
He describes love as a myth that man physically embodies in
woman by turning lust into love.
He considers the fact that
there may be many temples of love where men repent their
follies and in the next breath repent that they repented.55
However, even here he hints at the idea that the end of love
is marked by brides who unveil to "show the serpents in their
hair."-^
In "Figure of Eight" MacNeice compares the love
outside of marriage to that within.
The feeling of expect-
ancy as a man travels to a rendezvous with his mistress is
contrasted with the feelings of drudgery as he returns from
work to meet his wife.
In stanza three of "As in Their
Time," MacNeice portrays the plight of the lover in the mod-
^3ibid., p. 19^.
• ^^Ibid., p. 108.
55Autumn Sequel, p. 71 •
56rbid., p. 73.
31
ern world:
She believed in love, but was it
Her self or her role believed?
And was it believed and not
professed or envied? Lastly
Was it love she believed in?57
This short verse illustrates with underlying irony, that
one of the major problems involved in the relationship of
love between two individuals is identifying what love is.
The individual is constantly bombarded with advertising and
literature emphasizing different definitions of love and
creating an image that changes at the will of the one who
defines the word.
In his love poetry, MacNeice emphasizes
that lust and passion are often mistaken for love, and that
love exists for those individuals that try to experience it
rather than define it.
The qualities of love begin to fade,
however, once love extends into the bounds of marriage.
There passion fades and the feelings between the two individuals take one of two routes--mutual understanding or
mutual confusion.
Love may come at any time, often as in
the case of the poem, "The Introduction," too late.
The
introduction is between a girl that is too young and a man
that is too old.
is too late.
For her, he is too early; for him, she
To underscore the irony of the incident, Mac-
Neice describes the introduction taking place in a green
glade, but in the final line he says, "They were introduced
57The Burning Perch, p. U3.
32
in a green grave."58
when the two individuals in the poem
realize there is no possibility of romance, the meeting becomes meaningless as the grave to both.
MacNeice's concept of God covers a variety of extremes.
In almost all cases, he points out that even re-
ligion has little to offer except doubt, questions, and
myth.
In his earliest volume of poetry. Blind P^ireworks,
he displays a rather cynical disbelief in regard to the existence of God.
In "The Humorous Atheist Addresses His Hu-
mourous Maker" there is the figure of the atheist painting
God as an old man hawking wonders and meddling in the affairs of mortals.
The old man sells life and death, but
the atheist claims that he possesses the truth on the matter.
Yet, when he goes to show the old man "the real goods,"
the old man is gone because he didn't "care a particle."59
MacNeice satirically portrays God as a force that doesn't
care whether man believes in him or not.
In "Cynicism"
MacNeice again gives the image of a God that is not concerned
with his actions or the actions of the world.
He comments
on the action of God despoiling the beauty of poppies for
their opium-scented, pagan prayers, "because He is so wonderful and wise."^^ The sarcasm of the last words is de-
^^Ibid., p. 35.
^"^Blind Fireworks, p. 50.
^^Ibid., p. 51.
33
pendent upon the ironically inverted meaning that MacNeice
intends in his description of a "wonderful and wise" God.
From the position of the cynic, MacNeice proceeds to that
of the agnostic.
The enigma of God's existence plays a
central part in the satiric commentary of MacNeice upon the
concept of God.
In the closing stanza of "Jigsaws" he sat-
irizes the agnostic attitude prevalent today.
It is ironic
he says that.
Although we say we disbelieve,
God comes in handy when we swear--6^
for we are actually affirming our belief in something by
our curses.
Although we cannot prove or disprove the ex-
istence of God, it may be better that this is the case. He
concludes:
That God exists we cannot show.
So do not know but need not care.
Thank God we do not know; we know
We need the unknown.
The Unknown is There.^^
As long as the situation exists where the existence of God
cannot be proved, man can take comfort in the fact that His
existence cannot be disproved either.
This leaves open the
possibility for some form of divine guidance for mankind.
It may be very comforting to have a God such as that described in Christian scripture or any other religion, but
God as interpreted in the words of man is subject to error.
^'Visitations, p. UO.
^^Ibid.
3^
When man tries to describe a concept that is beyond the capacity of man-made systems of communication, the results
are going to be less than the perfection demanded.
The question of what form God takes appears all
throurh the poetry of MacNeice.
In Autumn Journal he asks
not only who man should pray to, but also what should man
pray for.
Satirically he asks if we, like ancient Athens,
should make an altar to an unknown God, or assume, as did
the deists, that God is in nature and exists all about us.
Still questioning, he asks, if God is all about us, how is
he reflected in the empty stomachs and empty smiles of the
world.
In the poem, "Prayer in Mid-Passage," although he
doesn't specifically designate the power he is addressing,
MacNeice suggests a feeling of subservience to this power:
By whose decree there is no zone
Where man can live by men alone.6^
depicting a power greater than human will.
There is still
the satiric undercurrent; MacNeice refers to the power as
"my monster" and "my guide," "a pattern of inhuman good,"
and "my meaning" and "my death."^^ However, there is a recognition of an organized entity that guides man's destiny.
Perhaps one of the most satirical poems on this sub-
3Autumn Journal, p. 12,
^^Collected Poems, p. 23^.
^^ibid.
JI
ject is "London Rain."
In this poem MacNeice explores the
possibilities of a God and a No-God.
He visualizes the two
powers playing at pitch and toss with Man's fate.
Actually,
it makes no difference which one wins, for under God we can
count on pardon for our sins, and under No-God nothing will
matter anyway.
As MacNeice states the situation in the poem
Whichever wins I am happy
For God will give me bliss
But No-God will absolve me
From all I do amiss
And I need not suffer conscience
If the world was made amiss.66
The idea of No-God corresponds to that of "Mechanical Reason," the power in the poem, "An Eclogue for Christmas,"
that employs man as "merely counters of an unknown Mind." '
Yet, in the end, MacNeice concludes that whether the superior power is God, No-God, or Mechanical Reason, it doesn't
matter because:
The world is what was given.
The world is what we make.
And we can only discovfir
Life in the life we make.°^
The important thing is to live life to the best of our ability and not worry about the form and existence of God.
One
can see a trend considering MacNeice's poetry from the beginning to "London Rain" of a disbelief in God changing to
^^Ibid., p.
^8k.
^"^Ibid. , p. 20.
^^Ibid., p. 185.
36
an acceptance of a possibility of one and finally to the
belief in some form of superior guidance of man.
From "Lon-
don Rain" forward the form of God and the relationship between God and man are considered and satirized.
The idea
of men existing as counters of an "unknown mind" is just
one of the relationships that MacNeice visualizes between
God and man.
In the poem, "Trains to Dublin," MacNeice
portrays mankind as painted, wooden idols that are moved
about by God much as a puppet master would move his puppets.°9
In the poem, "Visitations," from the volume by the same name,
MacNaice pictures man in the modern world seeking God in
the atom and the whirlwind of the rapid pace of life.
Man
sits in his office between the in-basket and out-basket,
staring at typed memoranda and seeking God in modern business.
Not finding God in the rush of the world, man re-
laxes in a bar; there he discovers an atom-powered genie
that mushrooms out of his glass and obscures the words of
creation.
Since man cannot find God in either his busi-
ness or the atom, he returns to the cave of his mind and
finds in the voice of his conscience the voice of God.
MacNeice is satirically saying that no matter how the exterior world changes, and these changes seem to negate and
cancel out the old truths, the voice of God will remain
within the conscience of man.
^^Ibid., p. 83.
37
A great deal of the satire on the concept of God,
religion, and the relationship between God and man concerns
the Christian religion.
For all of his questioning of the
form of God, MacNeice gives the impression that basically
he holds to the tenets of Christian doctrine.
He questions
the ability of other doctrines to deny the basic beliefs of
Christianity.
In Ten Burnt Offerings in the poem, "Areop-
agus," MacNeice states:
'.'ot fez and hookah (there is no God but God),
Not tu,T;T.y-gun and brochure (there is no god
but Man),
Could cancel out Christ's death. . . .70
Neither the great power of the Moslem religion that encompassed a large amount of the world nor the materialistic
doctrines of modern day dictators enforced by weapons could
stop, overcome, or deny the existence of the Christian religion.
"To be denied, truths must first be believed. "7''
This statement from "Easter Returns" is characteristic of
the ironic quality of MacNeice's Christian poetry.
The
modern world cannot completely cancel out and replace the
characteristics of Christianity;
. . . no chromium gloss
Could ever disguise a manger, no transmitter,
Gantry or pylon dare replace the Cross.72
'^^Louis MacNeice, Ten Burnt Offerings (London:
Faber and Fr.ber Ltd., 19^9), p. 23.
7Wisitations, p. k^ ,
^^Autumn Sequel, p. 150.
38
These are established symbols in the society of MacNeice's
world no matter how modern and advanced it is. However,
MacNeice is not above satirizing the weak brand of religion
found in some members of society.
In "Easter Returns" he
asks how many actually felt grieved on Good Friday and
therefore have the right to feel joyous on Easter Sunday.
Whether the Christian truly believes the story of the resurrection or not, ironically the very earth dramatizes the
act in the coming of spring, the rebirth of vegetation all
over the world.
story.
"Place of a Skull" also concerns the Easter
It relates the story of the soldiers that cast lots
for the seamless coat of Christ.
Though they were trained
to carve up continents and empires with a sword, they could
not agree to rend the coat into pieces to divide among them.
It is ironic when one of the soldiers wins the coat he
states:
. . . Why the first time I wore
That dead man's coat it frayed I cannot say.73
The symbolism of the fraying robe is lost to the soldier,
but intended for the reader to grasp.
The robe is the last
visible trace of Christ on earth, and since it is only material goods, it begins to fade away as all worldly articles
do.
The poem, "The Blasphemies," returns to the theme
"^^Collected Poems, p. 260.
39
of belief in God.
The poem traces a man's belief as it
fades in his childhood, becomes non-existent as he approaches
manhood, and reaches the point of denying blasphemy as the
man reaches thirty.
But as the man reaches middle age, he
finds that he requires something to use as a crutch as he
faces life and now the prospect of death.
He tries the sym-
bols of his childhood, but finds they give no comfort without the faith that should accompany them.
As he reaches
the age of fifty, he learns how important the issues actually are--who was Christ, what is God, and is there a God.
The poem ends in irony, for the man questions whether he
actually blasphemed against God.
If there isn't any God,
how could he have?
MacNeice explores the complete gamut of faith and
non-faith, belief and non-belief, in the questions surrounding the relation between God and man, religion, and the concept of God.
He offers no exact, conclusive answers to the
questions that arise, but through his satiric commentary,
stimulates the reader's mind beyond answers limited to
shades of black and white or tangible, visible proof.
The last statement could be applied to all of MacNeice 's poetry that contains satiric elements.
He is in-
terested in the contemporary world and man's place in it
along with the problems that face man.
His satiric remarks
are intended to make the reader look beyond the stock answer given to him by society.
The member of today's society
^0
must become an individual by MacNeice's standards.
He must
think for himself, resist the efforts of society to relegate
him to the position of just another number, and come to his
own conclusions in regard to the concept of God.
All the
problems the individual faces must be met with intelligence,
reflection, and qualities of humanity.
Perhaps this last
quality, that of being humane, is one of the most difficult
to retain because of the tendencies of society and the modern world to move toward the automation of all spheres of
influence in the world.
These then are the areas that Mac-
Neice considers satirically in his poetry--the problems of
society as an entity, the problems of the mem.ber of society
as he tries to remain an individual, and the problems of
man as he tries to visualize a concept of God and his relation to this God.
CHAPTER III
ELEMl'NTS OF SATIRE IN THE PROSE AND DRAMA
In analyzing the prose and drama of MacNiice for
elements of satire, one finds that he relies primarily upon
the techniques of burlesque and irony.
Here burlesque is
used in the sense of a term inclusive of the related satiric forms of caricature, parody, and travesty; in a similar
manner, irony is meant as a general term encompassing its
many variations such as verbal irony, ironic understatement,
dramatic irony, and cosmic irony.
Of these forms of satire,
caricature plays a large part in both the prose and drama;
however, burlesque of the institutions of civilization and
ironic commentary upon the frailties of humanity appear as
well.
The satiric elements of the prose of MacNeice are
limited to the dialogues found in the travel book, I Crossed
the Minch.
These are dramatic in quality and differ very
little from the dialogue found in the radio plays. The
dialogues are between two imaginary characters created by
MacNeice to accompany him on his trip and between MacNeice
himself and his guardian angel.
The two imaginary char-
acters, Crowder and Perceval, are both caricatures.
Crow-
der is the traditional English figure, a pipe in his mouth
and dressed in tweed plus fours.
The other, Perceval, is
a composite of aspects that made up the liberal intellec-
k2
tual of the 1930's in Great Britain.
He reads the Dally
Worker and novels of Kafka in the original, sniffs cocaine,
and leans politically to the Left (when it suits him). As
far as his true loyalties are concerned, they are summed up
in the statement, "It is wholly illogical to fight for the
right unless one is financially incapable of basking in the
wrong. . . . You wait till I've spent my capital. Then
I'll have a conversion."7^
Perceval is a communist at heart
only when it is convenient to Perceval. He says:
If I could sit in a garden shady
With a Horse's Neck or a V/hite Lady
And snap my f ingures [sicj like a Turk
To make the other bastards work,
Then I should feel extremely hearty:
But, as it is, I'll join the party.75
Perceval is all for modern conveniences, especially when
it means little or no work for him.
Percolators are great
for making coffee and he especially despises "those Wordsworthian aesthetes who make it in an open jug with a wooden
spoon I "'^6 When asked how he makes it, he replies, "I never
make it.
My manservant does that for me."'^''
MacNeice makes use of burlesque as well.
When his
guardian angel tries to convince him that the communist party
^ Louis MacNeice, I Crossed the Minch (London:
Longmans Green and Company'^ 1938), pp. 210-211 .
"^"^Ibid. , p. 211 .
"^^^Ibid. , p. 210.
77 Ibid.
^3
line should be accepted without question, MacNeice replies
with a satiric song that burlesques the heavy hand of communism as it tries to clumsily emulate democracy:
He took up the hammer
And hammered the wheat.
He took up the sickle
And cut off his feet.
He took up the hammer
To open an egg,
The hammer fell down
And it fractured his leg.
He took up the sickle
To tickle his wife,
He cut her to pieces
And ruined her life.'^^
The satire of the song is directed toward the inability of
the communist system to deal with problems that arise in
everyday life.
The examples of the song are ridiculous, but
communism's failures in dealing with problems concerning
agriculture, economy, and the rights of individuals are
what MacNeice wishes to ridicule, and the satiric intention
of the song becomes clearer when communism's failures are
compared to the examples of the song.
Perceval and Crowder have isome rather ironical comments on religion in some of their conversations.
Through
these two characters, MacNeice handles this element of satire effectively also.
Remembering Perceval's Leftist tend-
encies, his reply to Crowder's comment about religion being
'^^Ibid., pp. 136-137.
all right in its place reveals his own feelings about extremists and religion:
The whole point about religion is that it doesn't
know its plaee. And one must have extremists, you
know. One must have chaps sitting out at the end
of the seesaw. It's no good thinking in terms of
well-balanced individuals. We must think in terms
of the community. And a well balanced community
must contain extremist individuals.79
The irony of Perceval's statement lies in the way it will
be interpreted by Crowder and the way that Perceval actually
meant it.
Religion's place as far as Perceval is concerned,
is out of the picture entirely.
The extrem.ists that he has
in mind are of the Left wing variety.
After all, well-
balanced individuals are happy individuals and less likely
to revolt against their capitalist overlords.
One can al-
most hear the wheels whirring in Perceval's brain as he
expounds this little speech.
In a second conversation on
the subject of religion, MacNeice uses the two caricatures
as voices speaking for him to reveal their actual purpose.
V^Tnen Perceval comments that "we Britishers have every reason to be grateful for our puritan background" because it
makes us "appreciate the naughty little figures in the foreground, "80 meaning Crowder and himself, this is actually
the voice of MacNeice calling attention to the fact that
Crowder and Perceval are indeed caricatures of types found
'"^^ihid., p. 220.
^^Ibid., p. 170.
^5
in England.
Neither of them is completely bad, but Mac-
Neice tries to emphasize the several glaring faults in each.
Crowder is so set in the traditional behavior of the English
aristocrat that he refuses to give up even the aspects of
this position that are completely outmoded in the modern
world.
Perceval is so caught up in playing the part of the
new intellectual that he is oblivious to the dangers inherent in communism.
In speaking of education and women students, MacNeice allows his ironic touch to slip into sarcasm, vrnen
Crowder makes a comment about "those up-to-date-school
schools," Perceval asks, "You mean those co-educational
bear gardens where no one is allowed to be repressed?"8'l
MacNeice apparently had little respect for the new concept
of co-educational schools, for in another conversation between Crowder and Perceval, they make the following comments:
Crowder: I can't bear students.
Perceval: I can't bear students if they're women.
Crowder: I can't bear women if they're students.
They're all so awfully mental.
Perceval: I have never met a woman who was not
mental."^
When one remembers that MacNeice at one time taught in a
girl's school, the sarcasm intended in the dialogue becomes
clearer.
Because most of the elements of satire in MacNeice's
^hbid., p. 88.
^^Ibid,, p.
^k6,
he
prose are found in the dialogues, these elements are very
similar to those found in the dramatic works.
In the drama
of MacNeice one finds the same variations of burlesque and
irony with a heavy emphasis on caricature.
In the play.
Out of the Picture, almost all of the characters are caricatures.
Portright is a starving artist who only finishes
one picture in his entire career.
Miss Haskey is the sweet
pristine house keeper who tries to buy the one finished
picture of Portright's back when it is impounded and auctioned off to cover Portright's bad debts. There is a narcissistic movie actress, Clara de Groot, and an equally
satiric portrait of a psychoanalyst. Dr. Spielmann. Spielmann in German is a term for a carnival medicine man, and
in the play. Dr. Spielmann would be just as at home selling
snake oil as he is analyzing Clara de Groot's problem.s. He
is aided by a parrot who knows more of psychiatry than the
doctor does.
Another caricature is Sir Sholto Spielmann,
the doctor's twin brother and Minister of Peace. He is
satirically portrayed as the typical English bureaucrat.
The second scene of the play takes place in Dr.
Spielmann's office where he is in consultation with Clara
de Groot.
This scene is a complete burlesque of the modern
psychiatrist and his techniques.
It begins with the doctor
interpreting the actress's dream, always managing to say
exactly what she wants to hear.
In fact, Spielmann's main
talent resides in his ability to keep wealthy clients for
^7
long periods of time without ever telling them anything
definite.
He is a master at saying nothing at all and mak-
ing it sound like a great deal.
In his analysis he manages
to impart just enough scientific terminology to the jargon
and constant flow of patter that he uses to make it sound
good :
To return, if you insist on some immediate indication . . . as to the line of approach I am
taking in respect of a preliminary diagnosis
with regard to the premises, or it might be more
scientific to call them the presupposed factors
which conditions . . . the nodus of balanced
elements positive and negative apart from the
assumption of which as subordinate causes working backwards as well as forwards--83
The parrot's comment on this speech, "topside, backside.
Oh
chump-chop, tripe,"°^ is probably as good as any on Spielmann' s ability as a psychoanalyst.
The doctor is completely
dependent upon the bird to supply the right word at the
right time for an effective line of patter for his patients.
The actress is completely under his power of suggestion,
even though she refuses his suggestion of a love affair
because it might damage her image as the screen "Modern
Diana."
The scene in which Portright's picture is auctioned
is one of the more effective portions of satire in the play.
°3Louis MacNeice, Out of the Picture (London:
and Faber Ltn., 1937), p. 3^^
S^Ibid.
Faber
U8
MacNoice uses the auction to reveal the state of art in
society and the materialistic values of society at the time
the play was written.
The auction itself is presented as
a burl :soue of a holy ritual.
The collectors are portrayed
as a congregation and the auctioneer as a priest. The collection of fine art is elevated to the status of a panacea
for the ills of the world.
The collectors are not inter-
ested in the works for their artistic quality, but only to
keep them from the hands of the uninitiated of society--the
common people.
auction.
MacNeice satirizes both groups during the
The hymn of the collectors reveals their true
snobbish and hypocritical motives:
Then gather all ye faithful
Combined against the foe,
The Philistine and film-fan.
The bitch, the hog, the crow.
They snuffle in their nosebags.
They drag the hangman's cart
But we will hold our noses
And cull the fruits of Art.
So gather in this precinct
Before the days grow worse
With reverence on your eyelids
And money in your purse;
And since the cheque for thousands
Reveals the contrite heart
Bid high the fancy prices
Of priceless works of Art."-^
Cn the other hand the common herd is portrayed by Miss Haskey when she buys a life size statue of an elephant in stone
instead of the painting she came to purchase.
85 Ibid., pp. 60-61.
'+9
As the bidding begins, the audience is aware that
this is not a normal type of auction.
MacNeice is symbol-
ically portraying the civilization of the 1930's with its
lack of purpose and loss of proper values.
The world was
on the brink of war and time was running out.
The auctioneer
implores the collectors to hurry and "buy while you may before he runs out,"°'^ but the peace that Britain thought she
had bought at Munich turned out to be only worthless promises from Hitler as he continued past his conquest of Czechoslovakia onward to his proposed conquest of the world.
The auctioneer may as well be talking about peace as he concludes the bidding with:
Any o f f e r s , any offers, going for
a song, . . . a snap of the fingers.
Going for an oath on the Bible or a
promise of eternal love.
...
a medal of service.
The work of a gpister, the chance of a
lifetime?^/
Irony also plays a part of the elem.ents of satire
in the play.
The play is set against a background of im-
pending w a r , conditions similar to those actual conditions
of 1937 when the play was written.
In the initial scene
w h e n Portright's picture is being impounded, the Bailiff
remarks that his men have gone off to enlist for the expected
86 Ibid . , p. 6^ .
87 Ibid.
LIBRARY
50
var.
V/hen asked why, his reply is, "So as to be safer from
the air-raids."88
The irony of this statement probably
didn't become apparent to the audience until the winter of
19UO when Hitler began his air-raids on England.
Again irony appears in the second act within a conversation between a radio announcer and his listener.
In
discussing the ancient games of the Greeks, the announcer
ironically corri.r.ents on the state of the world comparing the
civilization of the Greeks to that of modern times.
fp
Those old Greeks were very talented men both
mentally and physically but they lacked something.
They lacked the idea of Progress, the idea which
has brought the modern world to where it stands
today.^
The irony of the statement depends upon the audience's
knowledge of where the modern world does stand.
Both in
the play and in actuality, the world's position was not the
best.
In the closing scenes of the play the war is imminent within the next twenty-four hours.
Sir Sholto Spiel-
mann, the Minister of Peace, is forced to resign.
Ironi-
cally, as a going away present, his friends at the War Office
give him. samples of the latest lethal weapons to take home
to his sons for toys.
Sholto is actually the converse of
what one would expect as a Minister of Peace.
^^Ibid., p. 17.
^^Ibid., p. 80.
He advocates
51
the building of more battleships to insure the keeping of
the peace.
He is, however, a caricature of the British
bureaucrat, ready to retire to the country now that he has
precipitated his country into war.
At the end of the play the auctioneer returns to
ask for bids for a dying world.
His requests, addressed
to ladies, gentlemen, and comrades, are ironical in that
the world is:
going, going—going for a song.
Going for a next to nothing, a
nought, a cipher.
Going for a wisp of paper, a wraith
of power,
GOING GOING GOING
G0NE90*
The play is intended as a "vision of a violent, chaotic,
and purposeless civilization."^
In the two portions of The March Hare Saga. The
March Hare Resigns and Salute to All Fools, MacNeice once
more makes use of caricature and burlesque.
These two short
plays are the most topical of his drama and the two intended
to be the most satirical.
However, MacNeice deviates some-
what from the traditional satirists in that he tries not to
be partisan.
As he expresses it:
The two March Hare programmes, written on the
principle of a-little-bit-of-mud-for-everyone.
^-^^Tbid., pp. 125-126.
^''v/orcester. The Art of Satire, p. 106.
52
both managed to outrage a large number of listeners. Partly because these listeners could not adjust themselves to what was happening . . . partly
because of their mistaken assumption that satire
must be partisan, and partly because of their instinctive desire to pigeonhole everything— . . .92
MacNeice burlesques the bureaucracy of the English government by creating a Ministry of Flops and Stoppages to which
the March Hare applies to stop time on the last day of
March.
With typical talent of passing the buck, the offi-
cial tells the Hare that he must obtain a quorum of persons
desiring the prolongation of March.
This leads the Hare on
a tour of the country and allows MacNeice to introduce caricatures and parody institutions found in post-war Britain.
The Hare visits a government official that is ready to write
a white paper to prove that all that can be done has been
done, and a member of parliament who is more interested in
being the chairman of the Standing Committee than talking
to the Hare.
MacNeice parodies Britain's planning program
in the person of the planner whose runner beans turn into
red tape.
Much of the planning was based on the social-
istic examples found in the communist nations.
The planner
decides that everyone, including the Hare, must be employed
by the state.
When the Hare refuses, the Planner tries to
coerce him into a stream-lined, air-conditioned trap where
he can be liquidated.
Although the socialistic practices
^^MacNeice, The Dark Tower and Other Radio Scripts,
p. 136.
53
of Great Britain didn't reach the extremes of liquidation
of any opposition as they did in Russia, MacNeice does not
miss a chance to ridicule the socialist's position. MacNeice attacks the other side as well when he portrays the
Magnate as the extremist of capitalism.
He refuses to agree
with the March Hare's plan because it will prevent the boom
in industry that he is planning.
MacNeice even ridicules
the concept of the old world five star hotel.
Its renown
is due to its cuisine and its distance from enemy action.
The five stars stand for the "ancient British virtues:
Self-importance, Self-Repetition, Kindness to Pekes, Unearned
Increment, and Indigestion."93
Salute to All Fools has its share of caricatures
as well.
In it, the March Hare is once more on a quest.
This time he desires to find truth.
He is introduced to
Journalist's Truth who changes her dress everyday to conform to Fleet Street's rendition of what is actually happening in the world.
He next meets Poetic Truth who is as
affected as the poet that introduces her.
The Hare manages
to burlesque Shelley and Pater when he defines the poet as
the unacknowledged legislator of the world that sits in the
corner and burns with a'hard gem-like flame.^^ Each of the
caricatures introduced has his own version of tha truth.
^^Illll., p. 153.
^^Ibid., p. 172.
5^
Each version helps to add to the satire that surrounds the
caricature.
An old British colonel introduces Tory Truth
who is red in the face, dressed in tweeds, and carries a
shooting stick.
When the Hare encounters a Marxist and his
followers, he manages to avoid the Leftist firing squad by
proving he has four left feet and is a well-read hare, punning on the word red.
The Marxist has his version of truth
also, one that can change the future by being ruthless, and
the past by tearing out the pages of the history book.
The
analyst in the play claims that truth is in the unconscious,
and a Gael encountered contends that truth resides only in
Gaelic.
To the scientist the truth lies in atomic energy,
and to the Yogi, the truth is resting beside him at the top
of his rope floating in the air.
Each of the caricatures
is quite jsure he knows what truth is, and each one's definition tends to make the caricature that much more satiric.
Although The Nosebag contains very little satire,
what one finds in the play is in the form of caricature.
MacNeice chooses to let the tale remain close to the Russian
original.
Only in regard to the characters of the Tsar and
Chamberlain does he alter anything, hinting "at modern
types—with a touch of satire."^^ The Tsar is portrayed as
the autocratic ruler and the Chamberlain as his yes-man.
Typical of his speeches in the play is his comment upon the
^^li?„Ll- ' p. 101 .
55
arrival of the soldier in the play:
A discharged soldier? Go and discharge him
again. . . . I will not have m.y morning disturbed
by men of the people. There is such a thing as
autocracy. Why, in my father's time--9c
MacNeice portrays the Tsar as the caricature of the monarch that had faded from the modern European scene.
The
chamberlain is the satiric figure of the lackey that waits
hand and foot on royalty.
In The Mad Islands, a play taken from Irish folklore, there appears a satiric figure in the person of the
Miller of Hell.
He offers to take all the disappointm.ents
and hopes of the people of the world, but ironically offers
nothing in return once they are ground up in his mill.
As
he says, "Bring it all up and shovel it in, it's grist to
my mill and to hell with itl"97
He is quite willing to
take such items as mergers and treaties, dud manifestoes,
and brand new obsolescent weapons.9°
MacNeice once again
uses the caricature of the scientist; at first he is presented as an alchemist looking for gold and later he takes
the form of a nuclear scientist interested in invention and
discovery just for the sake of experimentation.
His main
concern is proving his first premise, "at the center of
9^Ibld., p. 108.
97Louis MacNeice, The Mad Islands and the Administrator (London: Faber and Faber Ltd., 196^), p. 2^.
^^•Ibid., p. 33.
56
everything is nothing."99
when he is asked how he manages
to keep from blowing himself up in his experiments, he replies, "Me?
PlQ«"
But I'm a dreamer; I only blow up other peo-
The Mad Islands also contains a satiric auction
scene; at the beginning of the scene, something has been
sold for thirty pieces of silver to a man in a mask.
The
connotation of the price and the masked bidder establishes
the irony underlying supposition as to what v;as just auctioned.
The auction continues with bids Tan^,lng from "one
book of truth—both home and foreign" to "one book of lies
— both black and white. "^^''
Once again MacNeice uses the
auction to portray a purposeless, valueless society.
The satiric elements of The Administrator appear
in the dream sequences of the main character, Jerry King.
He is faced with choosing between advancing to a higher
administrative position with more prestige or remaining at
his present position where he researches in nuclear physics.
His dreams are filled with the status symbols that would go
along with the promotion to the new 'position.
Through these
dream sequences MacNeice satirizes a society where the values and goals are based only on the material gain and social
prestige involved.
In one dream. King sees himself as a
99 Ibid., p. ^ 2 .
^Q^Ibid., p. 58.
^Q'^Ibid., p. he.
57
king whose main purpose on earth is, ironically, simultaneously maintaining peace and killing off all of his enemies .
^n "': ' Dnrk Tov;er the main character, Roland, is
confronted with the temptations of the world as he seeks
to fulfill his quest of reaching the dark tower and blowing a note of challenge on his trumpet.
Ironically at the
last mom.ent he is released from his quest by his mother,
yet he still goes on to fulfill his original obligation.
The prose and plays of Louis MacNeice are not intended to be completely satirical. Yet, underlying portions of those considered in this chapter there is specific
satiric intention by MacNeice.
The plays and prose may
serve as entertaining and enlightening literature, but they
also serve as vehicles for the satiric criticism that MacNeice has for the failings of mankind.
CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSION
The elements of satire in the works of Louis MacNeice center upon MacNeice's ideas of what roles society
and the individual, each as a separate entity, are to play
in the drama of life.
It is only when these two principal
forces of humanity do not live up to MacNeice's expectations
that one finds "Criticism of Life" within his poetry, prose
and drama.
What role does MacNeice expect society to play in
Life?
Actually, he expects society to accomplish an im-
possible task; on one hand he wants society to move forward to the technical, ideological, and scientific advances
of the future, while, on the other hand, he expects it to
retain the beliefs, values, morals, and ideals that made
up the culture of the past.
He desires society to have
all the equality of a classless social body, and at the
same time, yearns for the snobbery inherent in a society
with class stratification.
MacNeice demands that society
be constantly questioning and exploring each new discovery
and event to the upmost of its intellectual ability, yet
he expects it to accept a belief in God with faith alone
as justification.
It must be a modern world with its bound-
aries extending into space, but one that can find a place
in the scheme of progress for the cultural treasures of the
58
59
past.
Society's role is not an easy one.
MacNeice is just as demanding of the individual.
The individual must be willing to accept each new technical,
ideological, or scientific advancement as it appears in life,
yet he must examine each of them in light of their value
and full meaning to mankind.
He must retain the moral char-
acter, values, and beliefs that guarantee his individuality
in a society that strives to eliminate all inequalities between its members in its drive to becom.e classless. MacNeice's individual must maintain a belief in a governing
power higher than mankind in a world that denies the physical existence of such a power with each new discovery.
The
individual must remain aloof from society and still exist
within its established limits.
Sstire is MacNeice's means of awakening both society and the individual to the fact that they often fail to
live up to his ideals.
When either becomes complacent or
self-satisfied over its ability to compromise between the
progress of the new and the values of the old, MacNeice is
there to satirically remind each of them that compromise
can combine the worst qualities of two choices of action
as well as the best.
He may criticize the individual for
accepting the bland values of a society whose culture is
often characterized by progress without regard to quality.
MacNeice may also criticize society when it settles its
disputes by war instead of intelligent discussion.
Because
60
MacNeice demands an idealistic perfection, neither society
nor the individual can ever reach this acme he sets up as
a standard; for this reason satire plays an important part
in MacNeice's works.
The elements of satire in the works
of Louis MacNeice are there as a reminder to mankind that
the quest for perfection is an ever present responsibility.
MacNeice holds up a literary mirror in which both society
and the individual can see a reflection that emphasizes
all their faults, foibles, and failings.
The clarity of
the reflection is due to the most striking characteristic
of MacNeice's works--the elements of satire.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
MacNeice, Louis. Autumn Journal.
Ltd., 1939.
. Autumn Sequel.
195^1.
London:
London:
. B^ ind Fireworks.
19-9.
Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber Ltd.,
London:
Victor Gollancz Ltd.,
. C o l l e c t e d Poems, 1925-19^8.
Faber L t d . , 19^9.
London:
Faber and
. I Crossed t h e Minch.
and Com['any, 1938.
London:
Longmans Green
. Out of the Picture.
Ltd., 1937.
London:
Faber and Faber
.
Modern Poetry.
London:
Oxford University Press,
I93B:
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Solstices.
London:
Faber and Faber Ltd., 196I.
. Ten Burnt Offerings.
Ltd., 1952.
.
The Burning Perch.
London:
London:
Faber and Faber
Faber anc Faber Ltd.,
1963.
. The Dark Tower and Other Radio Scripts.
Faber and Faber Ltd., 19^7.
. The Mad Islands and the Administrator.
Faber and Faber Ltd., 196^.
. The Poetry of W. R. Yeats.
versity Press, 19^^^ .
. Visitations.
195^:
New York:
London:
London:
London:
Oxford Uni-
Oxford University Press,
.f
Felling, Henry. Modern Britain, 1885-1955. Vol. VIII o:
A History of England. Edited by Christopher Brooke
and Denis Mack Smith. Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson
and Sons, I96O.
Worcester, David. The Art of Satire.
University Press, 19^0.
61
Cambridge:
Harvard