W. H. Auden's Book of Light Verse (New York Review Books Classics) [Paperback]

W. H. Auden (Author), Edward Mendelson (Preface)

Book Description

Series: New York Review Books Classics | Publication Date: July 31, 2004

Auden's celebrated anthology of light verse is packed with surprising finds while also offering a striking rethinking of the poetic canon. Commissioned by Oxford University Press in the 1930s, when Auden's own work was at its boldest, the book caught its original publisher off guard. For it is less a collection of humorous verses than a celebration of the popular voice in English, in which the work of great satirists like Swift and Byron keeps company with ballads, chanteys, ditties, nursery rhymes, street calls, bathroom graffiti, epitaphs, folk songs, vaudeville turns, limericks, and blues. Turning away from the post-Romantic cult of the sentimental lyric, Auden features poetry that is clear, enjoyable, and, no matter its age, absolutely modern.

This new edition includes previously censored poems, together with Auden's remarkable introduction and a new preface by his literary executor, Edward Mendelson.

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About the Author

W. H. AUDEN (1907–1973) was born in North Yorkshire, England, the son of a doctor. He studied at Oxford and published his first book, Poems, in 1930, immediately establishing himself as one of the outstanding voices of his generation. Auden emigrated to New York in 1939, where he became a US citizen and converted to Anglicanism. He wrote essays, critical studies, plays, and opera librettos for such composers as Benjamin Britten, Igor Stravinsky, and Hans Werner Henze, as well as the poems for which he is most famous.

Product Details

• Paperback: 556 pages
• Publisher: NYRB Classics (July 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159017089X
• ISBN-13: 978-1590170892
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 1.2 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #443,789 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Mixed Bag, January 8, 2005

By 

Daniel T. Barkowitz (Newton, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: W. H. Auden's Book of Light Verse (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

I finished reading W.H. Auden's Book of Light Verse and I found it to be a mixed bag. First some definitions: this book was originally published as part of the Oxford University Press' collection of books of poetry. Commissioned in the 1930s, it is not, simply stated, a book of comedic verse, although many of the pieces are quite humorous.

It is rather a collection of poetry of popular verse, beginning with poems in Middle English ("Sitteth alle stile and herkneth to me ! / the kyng of Alemaignr, bi mi leaute,") and carrying through to Auden's contemporaries ("Spirits of well-shot woodcock, partridge, snipe / Flutter and bear him up the Norfolk sky:"). Representing many forms, from nursery rhymes (the original "Jack and Gill went up the Hill" is in here -- Gil, who knew it was Gil) to elegies to limericks to odes, and many voices (some American, Irish and Scottish, though mostly British) it is a thorough collection.

And therein lies my problem with it. As a collection, I found myself thumbing through, looking at particular pieces and savoring them, and skipping others completely. It is collection which, to me, is often excellent, and occasionally horrible.

One of my favorite pieces (which I have marked since I am sure to read and re-read it) is "The Careless Gallant" by Thomas Jordon. It begins "Let us drink and be merry, dance, joke, and rejoice, / With claret and sherry, thorbo and voice ... In frolics dispose your pounds, shillings, and pence / For we shall be nothing a hundred years hence."

Another seemed particularly relevant to our current time. John Gay's "Ode for the New Year" makes fun of King George, and I drew some inspiration from it, and wrote my own re-interpretation of this poem, titled "Ode for a Second Inauguration." Much of the piece is based on the original John Gay piece -- grab the original to compare and see for yourself.

So, in short, a worthwhile piece to add to a poetry collection, but not one to start your library.