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Auden is one of the poets who my father read to me; who introduced me the idea(s)of poetry. And so I'm biased. But there is a rare mind at work here, and we need to be aware of the savage and sometimes dispassionate personal irony that Auden wields, and the context of the times in which he is writing. (The remains of) a generation that had been lied to twice is always going to produce - as it produced great art/thought/criticism of all persuasions - poets of peculiar political clarity. And it should be so still. To use the dead white male canon, Auden/Orwell/Hemingway/Brenan saw action in Spain. The singular horrors of that war would distill political thought, surely. Caleb >It's unrealistic to expect a poet to respond to negative criticism with a high minded objectivity and so on. Why should they? Criticizing poems by people who post here is a bad idea. Always leads to awfulness. >Auden's "The Shield of Achilles" is an effective political poem. Fewer hard feelings and so on if (because one wants criticism) the poems of the dead are discussed. ============================================================================== The information contained in this email and any attachment is confidential and may contain legally privileged or copyright material. It is intended only for the use of the addressee(s). If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you are not permitted to disseminate, distribute or copy this email or any attachments. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete this email from your system. The ABC does not represent or warrant that this transmission is secure or virus free. Before opening any attachment you should check for viruses. The ABC's liability is limited to resupplying any email and attachments ==============================================================================