W. H. Auden
“Letter to Lord Byron” by W.H. Auden
There is one other author in my pack:
For some time I debated which to write to.
Which would be least likely to send my letter back?
But I decided I’d give a fright to
Jane Austen if I wrote when I had no right to,
and share in her contempt the dreadful fates
Of Crawford, Musgrave, and Mr. Yates.
You could not shock her more than she shocks me;
Besides her Joyce seems innocent as grass.
It makes me uncomfortable to see
An English spinster of the middle class
Describe the amorous effects of `brass’,
Reveal so frankly and with such sobriety
The economic basis of society.
(Extracts from “Letter to Lord Byron”, one of his long poems, first published in 1936.)
