W. H. Auden’s Border-Crossing Poetic Drama: The Memory and Anticipation of the World Wars in On the Frontier.

This article analyzes *On the Frontier: A Melodrama in Three Acts*, a poetic drama co-written by W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, as a complex artistic response to the memory of World War I and the anticipation of another global conflict. The play, set in fictional fascist Westland and democratic Ostnia, explores the interplay of political ideology, propaganda, and private emotion through a hybrid form combining prose and verse, highlighting tensions between public narratives and personal experiences during times of crisis. Key scenes depict cross-border empathy and solidarity, including poetic dialogues between characters on opposing sides and a chorus of journalists foretelling further wars, reflecting Auden’s engagement with contemporary international conflicts. The drama concludes with a hopeful yet uncertain vision of a just and peaceful public realm, challenging interpretations that Auden withdrew from political concerns in the late 1930s. [Extracted from the article]