In W. H. Auden's "The Capital," an unnamed capital city glitters with false promise. This city lures rural people in with the promise of freedom and wealth, but the reality of city life is sinister and bleak: the city's rich people live shallow, selfish lives, while its poor suffer dreadfully. The poem makes a cynical, even "appall[ed]" assessment of urban life. To be fair, however, rural life in the poem isn't much better, consisting mostly of "outraged, punitive father[s]" and dull "obedience." "The Capital" first appeared in Auden's important 1940 collection Another Time.

• Read the full text of “The Capital”

• “The Capital” Summary

• “The Capital” Themes

  • 

    The False Promise of the Big City

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-20
  • 

    Rural Vs. Urban Life

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 5-8
    • Lines 17-20
  • 

    Wealth, Class, and Inequality

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2
    • Lines 13-16

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Capital”

  • Lines 1-4

    Quarter of pleasures ...
    ... a malicious village;

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  • Lines 5-8

    You with your ...
    ... here is apparent.

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  • Lines 9-10

    Yet with orchestras ...
    ... our infinite powers;

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  • Lines 10-12

    and the innocent ...
    ... heart's invisible furies.

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  • Lines 13-16

    In unlighted streets ...
    ... into fortuitous shapes.

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  • Lines 17-20

    But the sky ...
    ... children you beckon.

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• “The Capital” Symbols

  • 

    Light and Darkness

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 7: “Far from your lights the outraged punitive father,”
    • Line 13: “In unlighted streets you hide away the appalling;”
    • Lines 17-18: “But the sky you illumine, your glow is visible far / Into the dark countryside”

• “The Capital” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Apostrophe

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

    Where apostrophe appears in the poem:

    • Lines 5-8: “You with your charm and your apparatus have abolished / The strictness of winter and the spring's compulsion; / Far from your lights the outraged punitive father, / The dullness of mere obedience here is apparent.”
    • Lines 9-10: “Yet with orchestras and glances, O, you betray us / To belief in our infinite powers;”
    • Line 13: “In unlighted streets you hide away the appalling;”
    • Lines 17-20: “But the sky you illumine, your glow is visible far / Into the dark countryside, the enormous, the frozen, / Where, hinting at the forbidden like a wicked uncle, / Night after night to the farmer's children you beckon.”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 14-15: “Factories where lives are made for a temporary use / Like collars or chairs,”
    • Lines 15-16: “rooms where the lonely are battered / Slowly like pebbles into fortuitous shapes.”
    • Line 19: “hinting at the forbidden like a wicked uncle,”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-4: “O little restaurant where the lovers eat each other, / Café where exiles have established a malicious village;”

  • Juxtaposition

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

    Where juxtaposition appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-4
    • Lines 7-8
    • Lines 13-16
    • Lines 17-20

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “lovers,” “eat each,” “other”
    • Line 4: “established,” “malicious village”
    • Line 6: “strictness,” “winter,” “spring's”
    • Line 8: “mere,” “obedience,” “here”
    • Line 15: “lonely”
    • Line 16: “Slowly”
    • Line 17: “visible,” “far”
    • Line 18: “Into,” “dark”
    • Line 19: “hinting,” “forbidden,” “wicked”

• “The Capital” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Quarter
  • Malicious
  • Exiles
  • Abolished
  • Apparatus
  • Compulsion
  • Punitive
  • Apparent
  • Furies
  • Appalling
  • Fortuitous
  • Illumine
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “Quarter of pleasures”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Capital”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “The Capital” Speaker

• “The Capital” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “The Capital”

• More “The Capital” Resources

  • External Resources

    • A Brief Biography — Read the Poetry Foundation's short biography of Auden.

    • Auden's Legacy — Visit the W. H. Auden Society's website to take a look at some contemporary Auden scholarship.

    • Auden's Influence — Read a recent appreciation of Auden by journalist Susan McDonald.

    • An Interview with Auden — Read the Paris Review's interview with Auden to get a taste for his wit (and his pronounced opinions on poetry).

    • Portraits of Auden — See some portraits of Auden via the National Portrait Gallery in London.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by W. H. Auden

    • As I Walked Out One Evening

    • Epitaph on a Tyrant

    • Funeral Blues (Stop all the clocks)

    • In Memory of W. B. Yeats

    • Lullaby

    • Musée des Beaux Arts

    • Partition

    • Refugee Blues

    • September 1, 1939

    • The More Loving One

    • The Shield of Achilles

    • The Unknown Citizen

Cite This Page