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28th out of 185 books
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185 voters
Collected Poems
Between 1927 and his death in 1973, W. H. Auden endowed poetry in the English language with a new face.Or rather, with several faces, since his work ranged from the political to the religious, from the urbane to the pastoral, from the mandarin to the invigoratingly plain-spoken.
This collection presents all the poems Auden wished to preserve, in the texts that received his...more
This collection presents all the poems Auden wished to preserve, in the texts that received his...more
Paperback, 960 pages
Published
April 23rd 1991
by Vintage
(first published 1976)
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3rd out of 64 books
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17 voters
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People are always surprised to hear this is Auden's, but it is:
As the poets have mournfully sung,
Death takes the innocent young,
The rolling-in-money,
The screamingly-funny,
And those who are very well hung.
As the poets have mournfully sung,
Death takes the innocent young,
The rolling-in-money,
The screamingly-funny,
And those who are very well hung.
May 16, 2013
Kelly
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Shelves:
kindle,
meh,
poetry,
love,
losing-my-religion,
classics,
inspiration,
liberal-agenda,
cutting_for_pleasure,
depressing,
romance
Lullaby
Lay your sleeping head, my love,
Human on my faithless arm;
Time and fevers burn away
Individual beauty from
Thoughtful children, and the grave
Proves the child ephemeral:
But in my arms till break of day
Let the living creature lie,
Mortal, guilty, but to me
The entirely beautiful.
Soul and body have no bounds:
To lovers as they lie upon
Her tolerant enchanted slope
In their ordinary swoon,
Grave the vision Venus sends
Of supernatural sympathy,
Universal love and hope;
While an abstrac...more
Lay your sleeping head, my love,
Human on my faithless arm;
Time and fevers burn away
Individual beauty from
Thoughtful children, and the grave
Proves the child ephemeral:
But in my arms till break of day
Let the living creature lie,
Mortal, guilty, but to me
The entirely beautiful.
Soul and body have no bounds:
To lovers as they lie upon
Her tolerant enchanted slope
In their ordinary swoon,
Grave the vision Venus sends
Of supernatural sympathy,
Universal love and hope;
While an abstrac...more
Mar 12, 2013
Ken W.
marked it as to-read
Having read an autobigraphy, interspersed with poetry, of Auden by Charles Osborne, I think I have a better understanding, holistically, of the man and his writing. Auden used his wayward intellect to create a flippant, yet cleverly contrived personal style, with witticisms of the cartoonish kind, and bon mots, to be applauded like a theatrical event, similar to his many collaborations with Stravinsky and Benjamin Britten.
He was sometimes outrageously gay, and belonged to an Oxford group which...more
He was sometimes outrageously gay, and belonged to an Oxford group which...more
There is never a volume of Auden far from me. No matter who you are or what your background, he is a poet you can love.
As I walked out one evening,
Walking down Bristol Street,
The crowds upon the pavement
Were fields of harvest wheat.
And down by the brimming river
I heard a lover sing
Under an arch of the railway:
"Love has no ending.
"I'll love you, dear, I'll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,
"I'll love you till the ocean
Is fold...more
I first became aware of Auden in my early teens after hearing a reading of Funeral Blues in the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral. That poem enchanted me and I have been an Auden fan since! This collection of poems may seem a bit daunting because of the size; good for picking up and reading a few at a time or getting lost in Auden's spell-binding language for hours at a time.
Auden tends to either hit the mark with great skill, or be totally off base.
It's nice to have the whole collection of poems, but there are a lot of totally forgettable ones in here.
However, some of his work is so starkly and utterly beautiful, this is a collection I'll always want to have with me.
"Lullaby" alone makes this a treasured book.
It's nice to have the whole collection of poems, but there are a lot of totally forgettable ones in here.
However, some of his work is so starkly and utterly beautiful, this is a collection I'll always want to have with me.
"Lullaby" alone makes this a treasured book.
Hmmm. I checked this book out because I'd read a couple of Auden's more anthologized poems, "The Unknown Citizen" and "The More Loving One," and enjoyed them very much. Well, it turns out they're not typical. Auden reminds me of Eliot in some ways -- fond of allusion and over-figurative language that confuses rather than illuminating, or at least says "this poem is not for you." Even at his worst, however, Eliot is pithy. "The Waste Land" is incomprehensible, but you can extract a few dozen abso...more
Although Auden is supposed to be one of the 20th century's greatest poets, I've never been able to get into him. A few poems of his I like as much as any in the language ("Musee des Beaux Arts", "In Memory of W.B. Yeats", "The Shield of Achilles", etc.), but most of it just leaves me cold.
This is a huge book of poetry(around 1000 pages) and all I read was "For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio." It is a long poem, a word-meditation on the incarnation of Christ the Lord. Auden does a masterful job of contextualizing it for us, dressing Joseph and Mary, even Caesar and Simeon, in our cultural clothing, and in doing so, helps us place ourselves into the Gospel story. There are times where I felt a bit removed from Auden's cultural setting (heavy modernism), but overall, there are...more
I dipped back into the old Auden collection this week. Wow, still blown away. He's our bridge from the Romantic to the Modern. Formally flawless in so many poems, always stimulating intellectually, even when he misses the mark. I favour the earlier poems, but find beauty throughout.
As with every time I pick up Auden, I'm quickly turned off. Its understood that he's quite smart. But enough of his poems seem full of crap to not make me interested in him as a poet. Too sentimental, too frightened, too much fat.
Nov 02, 2012
Emilian Kasemi
added it
Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell...
Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.
That, for all they care, I can go to hell...
Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.
As with every time I pick up Auden, I'm quickly turned off. Its understood that he's quite smart. But enough of his poems seem full of crap to not make me interested in him as a poet. Too sentimental, too frightened, too much fat.
Try as I might, I just can't take too much Auden. I don't what it is, I'm not just a big fan... I made it through half of his collected poems, but they didn't touch me, not like Ruth Stone, Charles Simic or even Denise Levertov
Dec 28, 2010
Alessandra Simmons
is currently reading it
I don't think I will ever finish is 800 page book, collection of all his poems and plays, but its good to keep by your bedside to read a little now and then. Every time I open up this book i am awed.
There are many poems in here I have yet to mine, but this collection has kept me company on many cold nights when all I want to do is curl up with some words, some wine, and my own thoughts. Tough to beat.
1 like · like · see review
Ah, to find a book of a certain Wystan Hugh,
Is to find a gem in a field of residue;
It has been a long time coming, but in my hands I hold
A paper book of Auden, worth its weight in gold.
Is to find a gem in a field of residue;
It has been a long time coming, but in my hands I hold
A paper book of Auden, worth its weight in gold.
Sometimes clear as a bell. Sometimes I'm lost. But lots of it really sends my mind off in new directions. Wonderful! It's worth it to read his Christmas poem/play "for the time being."
Auden is a poet like Dylan Thomas who critics have not been so kind to - I suggest they read his works again. A very accomplished poet - one who deserves rereading.
I thought I liked Auden; apparently I only like the few poems editors always anthologize. His later poems are better though.
How I have a degree in Literature and barely read Auden til this past Winter is beyond me. Amazing, amazing, amazing.
Auden is a fantastic poet. This is a loooong book but worth it if you like poetry from a master.
I don't usually read poetry anymore, but when I want to this is definitely the book I turn to.
"Musee des Beaux Arts" is one of my favorite Auden poems.
Great poet offered up by a great editor.
I will be reading this book until I die.
1 like · like · see review
The greatest poet of the past 100 years.
I love his 'Stop All the Clocks.'
beautiful book of poetry
For Beauty
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![Collected Poems [Of] W. H. Auden](http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1167298634s/20705.jpg)
Wystan Hugh Auden who signed his works W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet, born in England, later an American citizen, regarded by many as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. His work is noted for its stylistic and technical achievements, its engagement with moral and political issues, and its variety of tone, form and content. The central themes of his poetry are love, politics...more
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“Evil is unspectacular and always human,
And shares our bed and eats at our own table ....”
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76 people liked it
And shares our bed and eats at our own table ....”
“I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return.”
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60 people liked it
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What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return.”
Dec 29, 2011 10:24pm