Abstract
"A poet all the way round" is what his critics and colleagues called W. H. Auden in 1937. In this century of extreme specialization he has demonstrated an artistic productivity and versatility far more characteristic of a previous age. He has written poetry of nearly every recognized form and type, from sonnet to ballad, verse letter to ode, from bucolics to lyrics, drama to satire. And beyond a large body of both light and serious verse, he has written imaginative prose sketches, scenarios for film and operetta, and countless critical essays.