To what extent do you agree that Auden’s poetry is largely about human suffering?

I agree with this statement to a large degree as many of Auden's poems, namely Miss Gee and 1st September 1939, involve varying levels of human suffering. For example, 1st September 1939 talks of 'fear and uncertainty', was written around the time of the second world war, and republished the day after the World Trade Center was attacked. Therefore, it almost exists as a symbolisation of human suffering.

In the poem Miss Gee, there is a recurring theme of loneliness. Miss Gee asks, 'Does anyone care that I live on Clevedon Terrace, on one hundred pounds a year?' This is deeply self-pitying and raises the idea that the worst way to suffer is by being alone. Another theme in this poem is religion; Miss Gee attends church and is a devout Christian, however regardless meets her demise through cancer despite her devotion to God. She suffers in old age through having no one, suffers through cancer, and then it may be said that her body suffers after her death when dissected and used for medical research.

Victor is another one of Auden's most prominent poems when regarding human suffering. In this poem, Victor is recited the bible for many years by his father. Again it is almost like the protagonist is being punished by their faith, - ''Father, will she ever be true?' And the oaks and the beeches shook their heads and they answered: 'Not to you,' - as in the end Victor looses his mind and murders his promiscuous wife, which is like the gateway to Victor's inevitable suffering following this as punishment for his actions. It is not as though the entire poem focuses on this, Victor does not endure any notable suffering for majority of the poem, however like many of Auden's works, the ending centralises on some form of affliction. Of course, Victor is not the only character who suffers, as the last stanzas including Anna feature her fearing for her life and eventually being stabbed.

O What Is That Sound applies to the rule implied at above, that the poems do not necessarily have to be surrounded by suffering, but ends this way due to some external element. The husband and wife in O What Is That Sound seem a happily married and in love couple at the beginning of the poem, referring to each other as 'dear', and in the eighth stanza, 'I promised to love you, dear, but I must be leaving.' However even here is when the disequilibrium has taken hold and the husband is being torn away from his wife by the 'scarlet soldiers', to which the connotations of the words change and the mood is pained, reinforcing the inescapable theme of human suffering.