As I Walked Out One Evening Songs, Ballads, Lullabies, Limericks, and Other Light Verse

by Auden, W. H.

• ISBN13: 9780679761709
• ISBN10: 0679761705
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-08-08
• Publisher: Vintage

Summary

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 Eveningcontains 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 risque,As I Walked Out One Eveningis Auden at his most irresistible and affecting.

Author Biography

W. H. Auden (1907-1973) was one of the wittiest and most worldly of English poetry's great twentieth century masters. His work ranges from the political to the religious, from the urbane to the romantic. He is also, with his exhilarating lyrical power and understanding of love and longing in all their sacred and profane guises, an exemplary champion of human wisdom in its encounter with the mysteries of experience. More than any other poet, Auden used his poetry as an instrument to study the massive forces, dramas, and upheavals of the twentieth century, and his work displays an astonishing range of voice and breadth of concern.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
It's No Use Raising a Shout	3	(2)
What's in Your Mind, My Dove, My Coney	5	(1)
Prothalamion	6	(2)
Alma Mater	8	(2)
The Airman's Alphabet	10	(3)
The Three Companions	13	(1)
Shorts	14	(4)
Song: You were a great Cunarder, I	18	(1)
Ballad: O what is that sound which so thrills the ear	19	(2)
The Witnesses	21	(6)
Song: Seen when night was silent	27	(1)
Who's Who	28	(1)
Now Through Night's Caressing Grip	29	(1)
In the Square	30	(2)
Madrigal	32	(1)
Night Mail	33	(3)
Song: Let the florid music praise	36	(1)
Foxtrot from a Play	37	(2)
Underneath the Abject Willow	39	(1)
Fish in the Unruffled Lakes	40	(1)
Song: The chimney sweepers	41	(1)
At Last the Secret Is Out	42	(1)
Funeral Blues	43	(1)
Jam Tart	44	(1)
Death's Echo	45	(2)
Letter to Lord Byron	47	(39)
Lullaby: Lay your sleeping head, my love	86	(2)
Danse Macabre	88	(3)
Blues: Ladies and gentlemen, sitting here	91	(1)
Give Up Love	92	(2)
Nonsense Song	94	(1)
Johnny	95	(1)
Miss Gee	96	(4)
Victor	100	(5)
James Honeyman	105	(5)
Roman Wall Blues	110	(1)
As I Walked Out One Evening	111	(2)
O Tell Me the Truth About Love	113	(2)
Gare du Midi	115	(1)
Epitaph on a Tyrant	116	(1)
The Unknown Citizen	117	(1)
Refugee Blues	118	(2)
Ode	120	(2)
Calypso	122	(1)
Heavy Date	123	(5)
Song: Warm are the still and lucky miles	128	(1)
``Gold in the North'' Came the Blizzard to Say	129	(1)
The Glamour Boys and Girls Have Grievances Too	130	(2)
Carry Her Over the Water	132	(1)
Eyes Look into the Well	133	(1)
Lady Weeping at the Crossroads	134	(2)
Notes	136	(5)
The Way	141	(1)
Song for St Cecilia's Day	142	(3)
Many Happy Returns	145	(4)
Shepherd's Carol	149	(2)
Song of the Old Soldier	151	(1)
Song of the Master and Boatswain	152	(1)
Adrian and Francisco's Song	153	(1)
Miranda's Song	154	(1)
Three Songs from The Age of Anxiety	155	(2)
Under Which Lyre	157	(6)
Nursery Rhyme	163	(1)
Barcarolle	164	(1)
Music Ho	165	(1)
The Love Feast	166	(1)
Song: Deftly, admiral, cast your fly	167	(1)
Limericks	168	(2)
Hunting Season	170	(1)
The Willow-Wren and the Stare	171	(2)
The Proof	173	(1)
``The Truest Poetry Is the Most Feigning''	174	(3)
Nocturne	177	(1)
Metalogue to The Magic Flute	178	(4)
A Toast	182	(2)
Some Thirty Inches from My Nose	184	(1)
On the Circuit	185	(3)
Song of the Ogres	188	(1)
Song of the Devil	189	(2)
The Geography of the House	191	(3)
Moralities	194	(7)
A New Year Greeting	201	(2)
Doggerel by a Senior Citizen	203	(4)
Notes	207	(8)
Index of Titles and First Lines	215