The line "I sit in one of the dives" really brings out the state of the street; it gives it a downtrodden and gloomy atmosphere. "Uncertain and afraid as the clever hopes expire of a low dishonest decade". Shows how fragile the people were at the time and how the promise of glory for the 30s turned into depression and war. "Waves of anger and fear, circulate over the bright and darkened lands of the earth" in this the darkened lands are probably the ones under the nazi rule, and the bright are the free countries, but in the back of everyone"s minds is a fear, as they anticipate Hitler"s next move. "The unmentionable odour of death offends the September night" stress" the fact that no one wants to talk of war, maybe they are afraid of it or maybe they have been promised they will not be involved.

             "All that a speech can say about democracy" seems to imply that democracy isn"t real, and the elected government still act like dictators. "The elderly rubbish they talk, to an apathetic grave" implies that the leaders lead fake lives and they have no Friends, Just Acquaintances. So no-one cares, not even death. "The enlightenment driven away" is the freedom of the people and there civilian rights being removed "Mismanagement and grief, We must suffer them all again" leaves no hope for the future. Auden is saying human kind will never learn and we will all suffer grief due to mismanagement by the governments again and again.

             "Faces along the bar, Cling to their average day, The lights must never go out, the music must always play" shows how reluctant humans are to change. They cling to their average day and cling to what"s normal. It gives them stability even though the music always playing is almost false. "All the conventions conspire, to make this fort assume the furniture of home" is about the governments keeping the people on their side by telling lies of victory to boost morale.