The Dyer's Hand and Other Essays

This collection of essays dealing with every type of literature -- poetry, plays, operas, comedies, tragedies -- and (almost) every essay is superb. In practically every essay Auden says things that make you slap your thigh and say, "dammit, so THAT'S why I feel like that about this play [or poem, or critic, or character in a play, etc.]". The main reason is that Auden has a superb understanding of the all-important, yet subtle, differences between different concepts, characters, types of literature, and so on. To give some examples, in one essay Auden defines perfectly the difference between PRETENDING to be in love, WISHING to be in love, THINKING one is in love, and actually being in love. In another, the difference between a comedy which makes us accept our imperfection, and a satire that makes us wish to change them. In yet another, the difference between two Shakespearian outsiders -- the Jewish Shylock and the Moore, Othello, and how their different type of "outsiderness" (Shylock, the lender, is despised but also despises the Italians, while Othello thinks his military prowess made him acceptable, which is not so); the difference between the "I" and the "self"; between a "bore" and "a boring" person -- and show why they matter. In addition to making fine distinction, Auden is also extremely perceptive in other ways. E.g., Auden hits right on the head the problem with most literary theory written by poets: namely, that it amounts to "read me, don't read the other fellow". He notes there are numerous ways to write good poetry, and his own expertise is by no means the only way. But all this, he explains, doesn't refute the claim that poetry is a craft, and a difficult one, with words, a craft that must be learned before one can be a poet, giving in detail the curriculum of his imaginary "school for poets". He says of D. H. Laurence that he is an extremely interesting poet -- not because he disagreed with Auden's views of poetry and still wrote good poetry (Auden notes that it's easy to then say, "he forgot his theories and wrote MY way that time"), but because he wrote poetry that is best precisely *when* it violates Auden's own recommendations. This is not only perceptive, but a brave, thing to write about a fellow poet. In almost every essay you will find deeply perceptive and fine-honed observations. One need not agree with all of them, or be interested in the subject of all of them (e.g., it is doubtful many readers would be interested in Auden's advice about how to translate Opera libretti, as good as it is in showing Auden's obvious deep love of music and understanding of same). But Auden's brilliance shines through in all of them, putting (again, almost) all other literary criticism to shame. He shows us here a little of what made him a great poet.

A wonderful but uneven collection of Auden's prosaic yet poetic musings on art, philosophy, and religion. The first couple sections are the best - a collection of Auden's snarky aphorisms about poetry, art, and reading ("Readers are like the young boys who scribble mustaches on the faces of girls in magazine advertisements"). The essay "The Virgin and the Dynamo" is an understated but forceful attack on philosophical materialism and determinsim, while "The Poet and the City" examines the relation of the individual versus the faceless mob. The "Postscript on Christianity and Art" is also quite good. The rest are more specific essays on various poets and playwrights - read them for your lit crit class but not on your own.

From the first to last page of "The Dyer's Hand", the characteristic that stands out most to me is W. H. Auden's mastery of language in expressing his ideas. With clarity and precision, he advances penetrating psychological interpretations of some of the most famous works of world literature. Goethe's Faust, Don Quixote, Othello, King Lear, The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice, Henry IV, and Henry V are some of the more notable works about which Auden had many interesting things to say. His analysis of these works is interwoven, so that the insights he has revealed in discussing Don Quixote and his squire, Sancho Panza may also be applied to King Lear and his Fool, as well as to Faust and Mephistopheles. One of his most interesting theses, to me, was his development of the idea that these pairs could be viewed as complementary elements, ego and self, which together make up a total personality. For example, Don Quixote represented ego while Sancho Panza represented self. But Auden does not merely assign labels to these mythic characters; he shows how his concepts can help explain the ways in which the stories progress, and their outcomes. For instance, as Lear becomes totally mad, the Fool disappears from the drama, as ego completely eclipses self. Besides the considerable number of pages devoted to those major works of literature there is a study of the Sherlock Holmes-type detective story; why the detective story must follow a certain formula to be effective for its devotees; why the character of the detective must be such as it is; how the reader derives his "escape" from this escapist literature. Dickens' Mr. Pickwick and Shakespeare's Iago and Falstaff receive a good deal of analysis; Iago as an extreme case of the sinister undercurrent in practical jokers; Falstaff and Mr. Pickwick as types of mythic innocents. There are critiques and opinions given on several authors and poets, among which are: Lord Byron, Robert Frost, Marianne Moore, D.H. Lawrence, Nathanael West, and Franz Kafka. These are by no means cursory studies, but proceed from well-constructed backgrounds to develop meaningful and substantial statements about the work of these writers. I found the chapter on Kafka to be especially interesting, as Auden made use of the knowledge of a work by an earlier author, about a castle and its inhabitants, which he suggests gives us clues as to Kafka's real feelings about the situation of K. There are elements of philosophy, classical culture and history, psychology, and morality woven into these discussions. All save a very small portion, which dealt with writing opera libretti, I found very stimulating. W. H. Auden was a writer of immense learning, which he put to excellent use in formulating clear and plausible opinions on a wide variety of subjects. I think he occasionally exhibited a slight haughtiness due to his awareness of himself at the top of the intellectual totem pole, so to speak. But this book is well worth having on ha

This book of essays is a wonderful and surprising work, by the clear-minded and perceptive poet W.H. Auden. It is not a formal methodical work, like one would expect from a critic, but rather a poetic creation that provokes thought rather than defining thoughts. Auden's way of relating all sorts of things to each other, from opera to art to Shakespeare to everyday life, makes for a very mind-refreshing read. For anyone who has an interest in literature, art, or philosophy, this is a great choice.

Casual in a sense, not twist your brain all up in the ugly way that a lot of "theorists" seem to like to. It's straight talk about poetry. Great length too.