All work of fiction contains some degree of social commentary, analysis or perspective. Most authors cleverly disguise this commentary – without being didactic – through the use of metaphors and leave it up to the reader to uncover their observations. More so than fiction, poetry is almost entirely metaphor. W.H. Auden uses metaphor and motif in all of his poems to effectively convey his ideas. In particular, his poem “August 1968,” though brief, offers a scathing commentary …showed first 75 words of 1336 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1336 total…August 1968. From eight lines of poetry, two completely different interpretations could be reached, and more interpretations are certainly possible. Although both used the image of an ogre as its source domain, the target domain could either be the United States, or those who were against the civil rights movement, depending upon the social event being looked at. In the poem, W.H. Auden effectively used metaphor to create a scathing social commentary, without being didactic.