shopping cart
Powell's 2010 Puddly Awards
Call us:  800-878-7323 HELP
McAfee SECURE helps keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams.
Interviews | December 1, 2009

Megan: IMG A Meaty Tale: The Powells.com Interview with Julie Powell



juliepowellJulie Powell charmed readers with Julie and Julia, in which she chronicled her quest to cook, in one year, every recipe out of Julia Child's... Continue »
  1. $17.49 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

Ships free on qualified orders.
Add to Cart
$45.25
New Trade Paper
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
available for shipping or prepaid pickup only
Available for In-store Pickup
in 7 to 12 days
Qty Store Section
25 Remote Warehouse Literary Criticism- General

This title in other formats:

W.H. Auden: A Commentary

by John Fuller

W.H. Auden: A Commentary Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

This is an indispensable reference guide to the works of one of the most important poets of the twentieth century. W. H. Auden's writing is notoriously complex--full of puzzling allusions and shaped by influences as diverse as Old English poetry and Auden's own theory of psychosomatic illness. To help readers understand Auden's work, the poet and scholar John Fuller examines all of Auden's published poems, plays, and libretti, leaving out only some juvenilia. In unprecedented detail, he reviews the works' publishing history, paraphrases difficult passages, and explains allusions. He points out interesting variants (including material abandoned in drafts), identifies sources, looks at verse forms, and offers critical interpretations. Along the way, he presents a wealth of facts about Auden's works and life that are available in no other publication.

The book is a major revision of Fuller's critically acclaimed Reader's Guide to Auden, published in 1970. It contains more than twice the material of that earlier volume. Fuller organizes the book on the basis of the individual collections that Auden himself originally published, with sections of "uncollected" work interwoven. Clear, meticulously researched, and carefully designed for ease of use, it is an essential guide for anyone interested in Auden's remarkable and sometimes elusive writing.

Review:

Fuller's book is a deeply impressive and valuable achievement that has no real equal in the critical literature on any modern poet. It explains thousands of allusions in all of Auden's plays and poems--and covers virtually all of Auden's published work, not only the poems that he collected. But it is not simply the work of a source-hunter. It is the work of a scholar and successful poet, who can write illuminatingly about verse form and poetic tone as well as about sources and influences. In almost every case, Fuller makes the poems he writes about more enjoyable to read, not merely more comprehensible. It is an astonishingly full guide to reading and research that will remain the main reference work on Auden for many decades.

Review:

Nobody who wants a richer understanding of this great but often willful poet can dispense with Fuller's assistance.

Review:

is a meticulous labor of love and scholarship.

Review:

Auden's criticism is exceptional in its depth and breadth. He thoughtfully comments on almost all the plays as well as the sonnets. . . . Readers will admire Kirsch's Auden. It is quite possible that they will like him, too.

About the Author

John Fuller is a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, where he teaches English. He is also a poet and novelist. His collection Stones and Fires won the 1996 Forward Prize and his Collected Poems also appeared recently.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Poems (1928)3
Paid on Both Sides18
Uncollected Poems 1925-3036
Poems (1930)52
Poems (1933)78
The Orators85
The Dance of Death123
The Dog Beneath the Skin126
Look, Stranger!145
Uncollected Poems 1930-36178
The Ascent of F6193
Letters from Iceland202
Alfred225
Hadrian's Wall227
Journey to a War230
On the Frontier245
Another Time249
Uncollected Poems 1937-39296
The Dark Valley305
Paul Bunyan308
The Double Man319
For the Time Being345
The Sea and the Mirror356
The Age of Anxiety369
Poems first published in the Collected Poetry (1945)388
Nones405
Uncollected Poems 1940-48431
The Rake's Progress436
Delia440
The Shield of Achilles443
Homage to Clio463
Elegy for Young Lovers481
About the House484
The Bassarids504
City Without Walls508
Academic Graffiti527
Epistle to a Godson529
Thank You, Fog544
Uncollected Poems 1949-73554
Index of Titles and First Lines558
General Index575

Product Details

ISBN:
9780691070490
Subtitle:
A Commentary
Author:
Fuller, John
Publisher:
Princeton University Press
Location:
Princeton
Subject:
General
Subject:
Poetry
Subject:
Auden, w. h. (wystan hugh), 1907-1973
Subject:
Criticism and intepretation
Subject:
Single Author - British & Irish
Subject:
British literature.
Subject:
History & Criticism *
Subject:
Criticism and interpretation
Subject:
Auden, W. H
Subject:
Auden, W. H - Criticism and interpretation
Copyright:
Edition Description:
Trade paper
Publication Date:
September 2000
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
College/higher education:
Language:
English
Pages:
613
Dimensions:
9 x 6 in 31 oz

Other books you might like

  1. $35.95 New Trade Paper add to wish list
  2. $5.75 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

    Later Auden

    Edward Mendelson

Related Aisles

  • back to top

Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.