(1945) was the most substantial collection of the poet’s verse published in his lifetime. It established Auden’s standing as a major modern poet, especially among his growing American readership (there was no equivalent British edition). This volume of 466 pages contained Auden’s selection from his early volumes of 1930-44, including pieces excerpted from his dramatic works and travel-books, along with some previously uncollected poems of the early 1940s. The book’s first half is devoted to shorter poems and songs, with longer poems appearing at the back. Some of Auden’s most important works of the 1930s are left out, as with “Letter to Lord Byron” (1937) and
The Orators(1932), the latter dismissed in Auden’s Preface as a “fair notion…
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Citation: Baldick, Chris. "The Collected Poetry". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 August 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=38744, accessed 23 November 2024.]
