originally published 1/1/1992

From the pilot volume of the MARS HILL TAPES (1992), Ken Myers talks with W. H. Auden’s biographer and literary executor, Edward Mendelson, about political and social themes in Auden’s poetry. Over time, Auden moved away from modernist perspectives on history, reflected in the art and literature of his day, that emphasized crisis conditions and extreme states of being (psychological and social). Instead he sought to portray the life of ordinary people in cities and to show how their lives were connected to — and even implicated in — larger historical events and movements. He expressed these concerns through formal verse, eschewing a modern, “reduced” style of poetry.

7 minutes

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