AUDEN AND CHRISTIANITY

Kirsch contributes greatly to our understanding of 20th-century poet W.H. Auden by giving careful consideration to the ways theology and faith informed his work. One of the best elements is the book's close analysis of many of Auden's major poems, including short ones like "Musée des Beaux Arts" and "New Year Letter," as well as longer works such as "For the Time Being" and "Horae Canonicae." The reader is treated to long snippets of Auden's poetry, along with Kirsch's helpful analysis of the poet's evolving theological vision. Kirsch teases out themes and some ironies in Auden's more religious poetry, such as his insistence on the importance of the body in worship when he, as a homosexual man, remained ambivalent about whether his own body was sinful. (Oct. 11)