“Johnny” Written by W. H. Auden Eleanor Bingheim and Cheyenne Coad “Johnny” Written by W. H. Auden A3
Thesis Statement In “Johnny”, Auden conveys the speaker's love for johnny and the struggle they have of moving on through the speaker’s memories.
STRUCTURE Every stanza is 6 lines long and ends with the same line “But he frowned like thunder and he went away.” This shows the repetitiveness of how many times the speaker was left alone when Johnny went away. The first line says “ valley in the summer” then it jumps in time to… “ O that friday near christmas as I recall” line 7 “ As I recall” could represent that this poem takes part in the past and the speaker is talking about memories they had with Johnny. Stanza Time
AUTHOR’S CHOICES Rhythm Point of view The pattern sequence can be seen throughout the whole poem. It helps create the feeling of a song. AABB rhyming scheme The rhyme scheme contradicts itself with a positive and a negative Example: The last word of each line Play Away Obey Lover Other “ I leaned on his shoulder; “O Johnny, letś play” line 5 When it says “I leaned” it shows that Auden was writing the poem in a first person perspective This shows that the speaker is telling their past and memories, when the speaker was in love with Johnny. . Rhythm Point of view
SENSES The whole poem shows a change in mood from happy and in love to sad and hopeless. The poem starts with the speaker recalling memories with Johnny. “While the flowers at our feet and the birds up above argued so sweetly in reciprocal love” Same stanza ends in “But he frowned like thunder and ran away” Speaker goes from feeling like he’s in heaven to feeling like he’s lying deep in a pit (lines 17 and 29). “O his eyes and his smile they went straight to my heart” line 22 “Went straight to my heart” shows that the speaker is so in love with johnny “His smile” could imply that johnny was happy with the speaker until the speaker said something to scare him off. Mood Speaker
SENSES Symbolism Imagery “But he frowned like thunder and went away” which can be seen on lines, 6, 12, 18, 24, and 30. “Frowned like thunder” could imply that the current situation makes him sad or upset. When it says “he went away” it could mean that he was too scared to stay in the relationship. Even though he is too scared he keeps going back but then continues to go away again. “You’d the sun on one arm and the moon on the other.” Line 26 “ The sun on one arm” could represent his loving side, the part of Johnny that was happy with the speaker. “The moon on the other” could represent Johnny’ s fears, the side of him that always walks away from the speaker Symbolism Imagery
STYLE Personification Irony Lines 3 and 4 says “While the flowers at our feet and the birds up above argued so sweetly on reciprocal love” Reciprocal means mutual This is personification because it says the flowers and birds are arguing This could mean that Johnny and the speaker are the ones that are arguing so sweetly. ““Squeeze me tighter, dear Johnny, let’s dance till it’s day” : but he frowned and walked away” lines 11 and 12 “ Squeeze me tighter” implys they were already dancing. Johnny makes it seem that he loves the speaker back until he just walks away. Johnny keeps making memories with the speaker but it always ends up with him leaving. Personification Irony
Conclusion: In the poem “Johnny”, Auden shares the struggle of moving on from a one sided relationship.