W. H. AUDEN

I visited King's Books and Tacoma Book Center this afternoon, foraging the stacks, writing down possible gift ideas for Christmas. I didn't intend to purchase anything.

Then, the book pictured above made its way into my hands at Tacoma Book Center. I thumbed through W. H. Auden: A Tribute edited by Stephen Spender. I initially picked it up because I was looking to see if any of the books by or about Auden included his 1939 poem "Herman Melville" or any of his criticism of Melville's works.

I read this line from "A brother's viewpoint," a tribute by his older brother Dr. John Auden:

"As a brother of Wystan, older by just over three years, but lacking the craggy landscape of his face, and far removed from the catholic compass and depth of his intellect, to write of our youth brings back ancient friendships and jealousies."

Right then and there, I knew that this book was now mine.

Who writes like that nowadays? Nobody. And those lines are par for the course. These collected tributes from family, friends, artists, and literary luminaries were written in 1974 and 1975, shortly after W. H. Auden's death in 1973. They sing. They fawn. They speak truth. They are literature in their own right.