As I Walked Out One Evening: Songs, Ballads, Limericks and Light Verse (Paperback)

~ (Author), Professor Edward Mendelson (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

If we are to take Mendelson at his word in his preface to the controversial 1979 Selected Poems?he asserted that "the surest way to misunderstand Auden is to read him as the modernists' heir"?then the validity of "light" poetry as a category may not need questioning. Auden himself, Mendelson reminds us, titled a section in Another Time (1940) "Lighter Poems." But Mendelson is hardly taking authorial intention into account. He is again using texts (invoking the "claims of history," as he did in 1979) that do not reflect Auden's later, "conservative" revisions. And, as in Selected Poems, we are not shown where the variants might occur. What we do have, we are told, are those "immediately accessible" works (precluding the indisputably "light" but homoerotic "Uncle Henry"). Even the cover is to feature a picture of the younger Auden looking properly dizzy. This much can be said for the book: it is an inexpensive alternative to the Complete Works, the only other place many of the libretti can be found. Recommended only for introductory collections.?Steven R. Ellis, Pennsylvania State Univ. Libs.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Description

A collection of W.H. Auden's light verse, assembled by his literary executor.

Product Details

• Paperback: 164 pages
• Publisher: Faber and Faber (October 21, 1996)
• ISBN-10: 0571178987
• ISBN-13: 978-0571178988
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,564,029 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Introduction, December 15, 2006

By	Prithvi Karthikeyan - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: As I Walked Out One Evening: Songs, Ballads, Lullabies, Limericks, and Other Light Verse (Paperback)

This slim volumne is exemplary of how quantity is not an appropriate indicator of poetic genius. I would consider this book 'Auden- Lite'and a very apt first volume of Auden's poetry. The volume has several of Auden's famous poems like 'Funeral Blues' of the Four Weddings and a Funeral fame and 'Lullaby'. While it doesn't do complete justice to Auden's spritual side it has plenty of doggerel verse including 'Jam Tart' and some very amusing short poems. Auden's versatility is very impressive and there is an almost Edwardian charm coupled with a strikingly modern sensibility that make this anthology very enjoyable.