

Loading... Selected Poemsby W. H. Auden
![]() No current Talk conversations about this book. He shares his name Wystan with the dedication of Repton church. He said “We must love one another or die”. Favourites: “On this island” and “Follow, poet, follow right” from “In memory of W B Yeats”. I've had a paperback copy of Auden's Selected Poems since I was 17 years old, when I went through my first serious poetry phase in high school. It was a pleasure to re-read this past week and revisit old loves ("The Sea and the Mirror" will never get old for me) as well as make new discoveries ("Thanksgiving for a Habitat," "Bucolics," "Under Which Lyre"). Somewhere, I got it in to my head that I don't like Auden, or at least that I'm not meant to like Auden, which makes it a pleasant surprise every time I pick up this book and realize just how good he is. If you're considering taking on Auden, then start here. Though the Collected Poems is certainly the superior collection, this book makes the better introduction. Auden edited his corpus repeatedly, even removing entire works, such as "Spain," regardless of the esteem they were held in. This collection represents early Auden better. It includes earlier versions of his poems, as well the first incarnation of "Spain." It also has a good introduction by Auden's literary executor Edward Mendelson. If, after finishing this, you find your thirst for Auden's poetry unslaked (or intensified, as I did), then get the Collected Poems. A note: my copy is of the expanded second edition (2007), and it has typos, most notably in the "Vespers" of Horae Canonicae where it reads "He hope they will behave like baritoni cattivi," but should read, "He hopes..." I'm not aware of any others, but check your copy before you buy it. Full of surprises and gems. Good soul food for sad days, because just as you are feeling routed and lost, he reminds you that the torturer's horse is scratching his innocent behind on a tree. An Old Master indeed. no reviews | add a review
This significantly expanded edition of W. H. Auden’s Selected Poems adds twenty poems to the hundred in the original edition, broadening its focus to better reflect the enormous wealth of form, rhetoric, tone, and content in Auden’s work. Newly included are such favorites as “Funeral Blues” and other works that represent Auden’s lighter, comic side, giving a fuller picture of the range of his genius. Also new are brief notes explaining references that may have become obscure to younger generations of readers and a revised introduction that draws on recent additions to knowledge about Auden. As in the original edition, the new Selected Poems makes available the preferred original versions of some thirty poems that Auden revised later in life, making it the best source for enjoying the many facets of Auden’s art in one volume. No library descriptions found. |
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