An aubade is a poem or piece of music appropriate to the dawn or early morning. By the 1930’s it was clear that the war that was supposed to end all wars was not going to. MacNeice wrote this in 1934 and it well expresses a sense of impending doom. Not the dawn of a bright new era of hope and fresh starts but one of foreboding and the closing in of sallow grey news of war. 

Aubade

Having bitten on life like a sharp apple
Or, playing it like a fish, been happy,

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.

by Louis MacNeice

Ypres Salient at Dawn by Edward Handley-Read (1915)
1914 A Dawn
Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson (1889–1946)
The Latest News
William Conor (1881–1968) 19
Gerardo Dottori Portrait of the Duce 1933
Street Scene Kentish Town circa 1931 Cliff Rowe 1904-1989
News
William Patrick Roberts (1895–1980) 1941

Featured image: Clive Branson Selling the ‘Daily Worker’ outside Projectile Engineering Works 1937

JosieHolford

Recent Posts

A Bonfire in the Dark

When I was in the emergency room last year having busted my elbow, a nurse…

6 hours ago

Locked Out

Most of us have done it at some point or another - accidentally locked ourselves…

3 days ago

The #1970 Club: Germaine Greer and The Female Eunuch

Thanks to the #1970 Club, I've spent the spare moments of the past week immersed…

2 weeks ago

The Forgetful Mog

Thanks to the #1970 Club,  I have a new mog in my life and a…

3 weeks ago

The #1970 Club: Language and Learning

The #1970 Club is starting tomorrow (October 14th) and I'm prepared with some reading and…

3 weeks ago

How do they live with themselves?

How Do They Live with Themselves? This was the question Roger Rosenblatt asked in The…

4 weeks ago