Auden at the Folger

What can beat an evening of listening to poetry by Auden while sitting in a theatre designed like The Globe? Tonight, some of us were lucky to listen to Dana Gioia, Eavan Boland, William Logan and others read their favorite Auden poems.

Reading — or hearing, rather — “September 1, 1939” in light of recent world events was a completely new experience from when I first read this poem years ago. My experience with the poem now reminds me of all that I know because of my age and all I still have to learn because of my age.

The following lines from “September 1, 1939” stood out to me in a way they had not before:

“Those to whom evil is done/Do evil in return”

and

“We must love one another or die.”

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I will not be at AWP this year. I’ll miss seeing you all. I was looking forward to meeting some poet-moms this year, but it’ll have to wait until NYC.
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If you are faculty, please recommend 32 Poems to your school’s acquisitions librarian.