The 1930s were the era of Auden and his circle - the Auden Gang, the Pylon Poets, or (Gawd 'elp us) MacSpaunday. It began with Auden's Poems and ended with Another Time. By 1940 Auden was 'married' and living in the USA. The UK, the England which he loved so profoundly and criticised so briskly in his early work, was at war. The old gang - Day Lewis, MacNeice and Spender - had gone their separate ways. Not that they had ever really been together. The one and only thing they had in common was Auden, and he had been gone - to Germany, China, Iceland and now America - since the middle of the decade.
Another Time is the book in which Auden achieves full maturity. His technique is refined and elegant, his thoughts serious and profound. Here we have the magnificent 'Musee des Beaux Arts', the memorial poems for W B Yeats and Sigmund Freud, and the wondrous 'September 1, 1939'. There are other gems and some dross. Over all, though, it is a landmark in Auden's development and the development of English poetry as a whole in the Twentieth Century.
What I enjoy about Auden is the indirect approach, the way he draws us in to his way of thinking. The texts are polished but the meanings are rich, diverse and require long reflection. I've had this book beside my armchair for something like a year. Certain poems (mainly the ones cites above) have been read many times until I feel I have finally found and unlocked the puzzles. Another Time not only changed my mind about Auden, it made me a better person.
The hardback edition, for Faber's 90th anniversary, is a thing of beauty in itself.
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