(October 1936) was W. H. Auden’s second collection of shorter poems. Its American edition (
On This Island, February 1937) appeared with minor corrections under the title preferred by Auden to the one imposed -- from the opening phrase of its fifth poem -- by his London publisher, Faber & Faber, during his absence in Iceland. Following his earlier
Poems(1930; revd. 1933) and the unclassifiable verse-prose medley
The Orators(1932),
Look, Stranger!confirmed Auden’s eminence as the outstanding English poet of his generation, winning him the King’s Gold Medal for Poetry. Barbara Everett in her critical study
Auden(1964) described
Look, Stranger!as “probably the most accomplished single volume that Auden has so far produced” (Everett, 38). A. T. Tolley in his book
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Citation: Baldick, Chris. "Look, Stranger!". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 October 2016 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35821, accessed 04 December 2024.]