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Aug 23, 2022·edited Aug 23, 2022Liked by Henry Oliver

Loved this piece. I shamefacedly admit that though I've heard of Auden, I've never actually read his works proper. Thanks for rekindling my interest!

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You know, I think you’ve persuaded me! I think Yeats is a bit guilty of being overwrought at times, and I am a walking case of only having read those works of Eliot’s for which he is most celebrated. Am tempted by those completed works of Auden you mention up top now!

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Excellent stuff. I love Auden, and I agree with you that Larkin is his only rival.

But I do think you ought to give more credit to Larkin: do you really think Larkin "saw so little" of life? His achievement might have been greater because he was so perceptive about the important things (love, death, disappointment) without ever having to leave his tiny flats. And is it really fair to say that he "wanted to get away from tradition"? Larkin clearly saw himself in company with Shakespeare, Wordsworth, and many others, including Auden.

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Vast is another way of saying diffuse. Read all of Eliot’s verse—it will take no longer than an evening. Then try all of Auden’s. Many gems, much brilliance. But vast amounts of dross. Turgid Freudian apologia, banal Schopenhauer-meets Shakespeare soliloquies…. The ratio of good to bad is maybe 1:2. Eliot (or Larkin for that matter—also a greater poet) didn’t take many cuts at the plate, but when he did he usually got a hit—and often drove it out of the park.

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But if you were only going to buy one book?

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