The Gift of Speech: Truly a Gift?

“Their Lonely Betters” (1950)

W.H. Auden

As I listened from a beach-chair in the shade

To all the noises that my garden made,

It seemed to me only proper that words

Should be withheld from vegetables and birds.

A robin with no Christian name ran through

The Robin-Anthem which was all it knew,

And rustling flowers for some third party waited

To say which pairs, if any, should get mated.

Not one of them was capable of lying,

There was not one which knew that it was dying

Or could have with a rhythm or rhyme

Assumed responsibility for time.

Let them leave language to their lonely betters

Who count some days and long for certain letters;

We, too, make noises when we laugh or weep.

Words are for those with promises to keep.

In Auden’s “Their Lonely Betters,” the narrator addresses the subject of the unique ability of humans to speak and be separated from nature. Sure, every species has its own way of communicating with other members of its species and even members of other species, but we as humans are the only ones who can actually “speak.”

A fan of words and language and the manipulation of the two in general, I, at first thought, would never have second guessed the amazing-ness that is communication and language. However, after reading Auden’s poem, I think we all might question just how amazing the ability to speak really is.

Now, I’m not saying it’s not. It is. There just may be some drawbacks that inherently come with the ability to speak and communicate one’s thoughts and ideas to another being. First, we are separated from nature. Unlike flowers and birds, we, with the help of speech, take an active role in which choices to make and which paths to go down. I guess this is a debatable drawback. But at least with the creatures of nature, they just live their nature-lives in an inevitable manner. They basically have one path to go down and they just do it. We get to make decisions. And even though I’m all about the taste of the decision salad, it can lead us to mistakes, mishaps, and misinterpretations.

Another issue that comes along with the power of speech: the power to lie. I’m not refuting the fact that sometimes lying is acceptable, and even preferable (i.e. “No roommate, that pimple on your forehead doesn’t make you look like a unicorn!) However, lying is lying. Birds can’t lie. Flowers can’t lie. Even dogs can’t lie. They just exist, without apologies or fake representations.

The narrator ends the poem with suggesting that words “are for those with promises to keep.” Although this is an interesting proposition, I don’t believe it is necessarily the way to go, Mr. Narrator. The world would be like the movie “Liar Liar” on repeat, without the funny Jim Carrey to lighten the tension when a mishap happens. It is something to think about, though. I imagine a Superman-like character, with the “S” on the chest on all, standing proudly and strongly with his hands on his hips. But instead of flying like a bird, a plane, the super-being has the powers of both good and evil… he just needs to know when to use them.