In W. H. Auden at Work Levitan and Kulseth explore the poetry Auden wrote while he and Christopher Isherwood were on a journey to China in 1938. China was at war, and Auden's poetry reflects that. Auden explores cultural differences--for example in " In Time of War " (sonnet XXV) Auden wrote "children are really loved here, even by police"--making the reader feel the differences between London and Hong Kong. In many cases, Levitan and Culseth provide more than one version of a sonnet so that the reader can see Auden's editing. Auden was a technical master: each poem is tight of line and meter and pays attention to sound, rhythm, and pacing. Auden's care with poetics--this humility to the art form, this rarified form of language--should be taught in poetry classes.

Reading Auden shows the poet waking up inside language, then working it over and over until he has it right. Inexperienced poets may think that poetry just comes to one. In fact, poetry takes many drafts, at least it did for Auden. Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty.