As I Walked Out One Evening: Songs, Ballads, Lullabies, Limericks, and Other Light Verse
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Book Overview
W. H. Auden once defined light verse as the kind that is written by poets who are democratically in tune with their audience and whose language is straightforward and close to general speech. Given that definition, the 123 poems in this collection all qualify; they are as accessible as popular songs yet have the wisdom and profundity of the greatest poetry. As I Walked Out One Evening contains some of Auden's most memorable verse: "Now Through the Night's Caressing Grip," "Lullaby: Lay your Sleeping Head, My Love," "Under Which Lyre," and "Funeral Blues." Alongside them are less familiar poems, including seventeen that have never before appeared in book form. Here, among toasts, ballads, limericks, and even a foxtrot, are "Song: The Chimney Sweepers," a jaunty evocation of love, and the hilarious satire "Letter to Lord Byron." By turns lyrical, tender, sardonic, courtly, and risqu , As I Walked Out One Evening is Auden at his most irresistible and affecting.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0679761705
ISBN13:9780679761709
Release Date:August 1995
Publisher:Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Length:240 Pages
Weight:0.66 lbs.
Dimensions:0.7" x 5.2" x 8.0"
Related Subjects
PoetryCustomer Reviews
1 rating
Excellent Introduction
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 18 years ago
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.
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