Auden's 100th

[callmemadam]

Newspapers, radio and television seem full of articles and programmes about how not enough fuss is being made about the Auden centenary. Wystan Hugh Auden was born one hundred years ago today and if anyone disagrees with me that he is one of our greatest poets, they can just go on disagreeing, that's all. I enjoyed Sunday evening's South Bank Show on the subject, which included a delightful interview with Alan Bennett. You don't often see him roaring with laughter. Bennett described Musée des Beaux Arts as 'a perfect poem' and it's hard to disagree. I haven't really got a favourite Auden poem, rather a host of favourite Auden lines which hang around in my head.

Here's a list for readers to add to.
People who like Auden: Alexander McCall Smith
Edit hartleyhare

People who don't like Auden: Simon Gray

Comments

[hartleyhare.livejournal.com]

I love 'Musee des Beaux Arts' - it's one of the poems I know off by heart, and I have both the poem and 'The Fall of Icarus' on my classroom wall. Lots of Auden in my head, and I like Simon Armitage's poem 'Let me put it this way', which seems to be a bit of a riff on 'Lay your sleeping head, my love'.

Missed the SBS on Sunday, so missed Bennett. Meh.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

I recorded the SBS to watch later. Bennett was interesting. He said he enjoyed reading Larkin and Betjeman more than he enjoyed Auden but that Auden had more 'clout'. When pressed by Melvyn Bragg as to why he though this, he replied that it was because a lot of Auden was difficult to understand and required more effort than he was prepared to put in. He then compared his poetry to The Book of Common Prayer (1662) against the new revised versions. Containing mysteries.

I'm sure I have Simon Armitage somewhere: must look that one up.