W.H. Auden in New York: A Lecture by David Lehman
Monday, April 06, 2009 6:30 p.m.
Alvin Johnson/J. M. Kaplan Hall, 66 West 12th Street, room 510

The great British poet W. H. Auden arrived in the U.S. in January 1939, a move that still disturbs some of the compatriots he is said to have abandoned. At the time, he was considered the leading poet of his generation in England-and he was not yet 32. He settled in New York City and became an American citizen in 1946. He wrote some of his most famous, most enduring, and most controversial works during his first years in the U.S. They include “September 1, 1939,” the ninety-nine line poem he wrote in “a dive on 52nd Street” on the day the Germans marched into Poland and World War II officially began. Auden renounced and drastically revised this ambitious work at various times. It also acquired new meaning in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

David Lehman, Poetry coordinator for the New School graduate writing program discusses this singular poem and reviews its publication history. He addresses questions including: Why did Auden leave England? Why did he renounce “September 1, 1939″? What makes it a great poem despite its flaws? How did New York affect the poet? Why should we read Auden today?
Sponsored by the Writing Program.