W. H. Auden, Poems

Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London)

Ed. by Chris Baldick, Goldsmiths College, University of London
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Newman University), Louise McDonald (Newman University)

Dates

First circulation or publication Sep 1930

Places

England (Country of Origin; Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)

Resources

Poems (1930; revised 1933) is the unimaginatively plain title of W. H. Auden’s first published collection of poetry. Its contents, however, are anything but plain or unimaginative, this book announcing the arrival of an intriguingly original new talent on the English poetic scene. Nothing in Poems had appeared before the poetry-reading public in magazines or anthologies prior to January 1930, with the result that Auden did not acquire gradual recognition but seemed to arrive fully-formed as a sudden revelation, although readers struggled to make full sense of the poems. He was only 23 years old when it appeared, but his first book exerted a shaping influence on a new generation of writers in the 1930s.

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2088 words

Citation: Baldick, Chris. "Poems". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 February 2019 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=38920, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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