Ian Sansom says in an article on Auden's influence that
"Auden's words have been used without attribution in many speeches, most notably, and disturbingly, by American politicians and their speech writers: Peggy Noonan, the catchiest of catchphrasers, for example, borrowed "points of light" from Auden's poem "September 1, 1939" for the campaign speeches of the first President Bush." |
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The line that Sansom references is from George HW Bush's 1988 Republican nomination acceptance speech. The line appears twice:
"a brilliant diversity spreads like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky."
"I will keep America moving forward, always forward—for a better America, for an endless, enduring dream and a thousand points of light."
But an article from the Chicago Tribune traces this to a different place - the novelist Thomas Wolfe (who died in 1938). That article points to two places in his work in its claim that the speeches are plagarized:
"In ``You Can`t Go Home Again,`` Wolfe describes America this way:...``It`s your pasture now, and it`s not so big-only three thousand miles from east to west, only two thousand miles from north to south-but all between, where ten thousand points of light prick out the cities, towns and villages, there, seeker, you will find us burning in the night.``Okay, I concede that Wolfe saw 10,000 points of light, while Bush-Noonan saw only 1,000 points of light.
But wait. We then have Wolfe writing in ``The Web and The Rock`` about a character`s longing to be back in his home.
Wolfe wrote: ``And instantly he would see the town below now, coiling in a thousand fumes of homely smoke, now winking into a thousand points of friendly light . . . .``
So perhaps this line does not come from Auden's work? Whether Wolfe or Auden was the source of the inspiration, it seems that there could be a case for either.
The message, perhaps, seems distinct enough from Auden's "ironic" points of light to perhaps come from Wolfe's work.
"a brilliant diversity spreads like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky."
"I will keep America moving forward, always forward—for a better America, for an endless, enduring dream and a thousand points of light."
But an article from the Chicago Tribune traces this to a different place - the novelist Thomas Wolfe (who died in 1938). That article points to two places in his work in its claim that the speeches are plagarized:
"In ``You Can`t Go Home Again,`` Wolfe describes America this way:...``It`s your pasture now, and it`s not so big-only three thousand miles from east to west, only two thousand miles from north to south-but all between, where ten thousand points of light prick out the cities, towns and villages, there, seeker, you will find us burning in the night.``Okay, I concede that Wolfe saw 10,000 points of light, while Bush-Noonan saw only 1,000 points of light.
But wait. We then have Wolfe writing in ``The Web and The Rock`` about a character`s longing to be back in his home.
Wolfe wrote: ``And instantly he would see the town below now, coiling in a thousand fumes of homely smoke, now winking into a thousand points of friendly light . . . .``
So perhaps this line does not come from Auden's work? Whether Wolfe or Auden was the source of the inspiration, it seems that there could be a case for either.
The message, perhaps, seems distinct enough from Auden's "ironic" points of light to perhaps come from Wolfe's work.