Skyline operations

[Alexey Fuchs]

Dear List Members,

This query might seem irrelevant to the list, and I apologize if that is the
case.

W.H.Auden's poem 'Missing' contains the following lines:

Heroes are buried who
Did not believe in death
And bravery is now
Not in the dying breath
But resisting the temptations
To skyline operations.

I have difficulty with the last line; after running an Internet query I
found out that 'skyline operations' is used a number of times in the context
of large-scale wood-chopping activities (that last phrase must be extremely
awkward). I could not find any other information on the expression.

I'd be delighted to know what does it mean, technically and generally, was
it used before Auden (the poem in question was written in 1928) and in which
context, was it used after Auden and in which context etc. Anything that can
be found out by the usual for this list 'explore-the-phrase' procedure.

There must be something on this in Auden criticism, but I have no access
currently to any book... etc., the usual whining about not having anything
handy... :)

I read somewhere that Auden's friend, Christopher Isherwood, had travelled
once to Cape-Wrath, drunk, just to prove that he could do it anytime, and
'skyline operations' refers to such journeys, or such bravery (this fact is
backed up by the appearance of Cape-Wrath later in the text), but it does
not explain the phrase. It might help you help me, though.

Thank you in advance,

                        Alexey Fuchs