Common wisdom has it that when Auden left England for New York in January 1939, he had already written his best poems. He left behind (most critics believe) all the idealisms of the 1930s and all serious concerns to become an unserious poet, a writer of ingenious, agreeable, minor lyrics. Lucy McDiarmid argues that such readers, spoiled by the simp
Reviews
"Lucy McDiarmid is the most original and important Auden critic to appear in many years. Auden's Apologies for Poetry offers brilliant new readings of the major later works, from New Year Letter to 'The Cave of Making.' This book should mark the beginning of a new understanding of those works and a markedly higher valuing of them. It will compel a fundamental reassessment of the Auden canon."-Samuel Hynes, Princeton University
