''Thank You, Fog: Last Poems by W. H. Auden'' is a posthumous book of poems by

W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...

, published in 1974. The book contains poems written mostly in 1972 and 1973; after Auden's death in September 1973 it was prepared for publication by his

literary executor The literary estate of a deceased author consists mainly of the copyright and other intellectual property rights of published works, including film, translation rights, original manuscripts of published work, unpublished or partially completed wo ...

Edward Mendelson __NOTOC__ Edward Mendelson (born March 15, 1946) is a professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. He is the literary executor of the Estate of W. H. Auden and the auth ...

, who also included an "antimasque" titled "The Entertainment of the Senses", written in 1973 by Auden and

Chester Kallman Chester Simon Kallman (January 7, 1921 – January 18, 1975) was an American poet, librettist, and translator, best known for collaborating with W. H. Auden on opera librettos for Igor Stravinsky and other composers. Life Kallman was born in ...

as an interpolation in a planned production of

James Shirley James Shirley (or Sherley) (September 1596 – October 1666) was an English dramatist. He belonged to the great period of English dramatic literature, but, in Charles Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of this period, not so m ...

's masque ''Cupid and Death'' (1653); the antimasque was commissioned by the composer John Gardner. The shorter poems in the book, in addition to the title poem, include "Aubade", "Unpredictable but Providential", "Address to the Beasts", "Archaeology", "No, Plato, No", "Nocturne", "A Thanksgiving", and "Lullaby" ("The din of work is subdued"; titled in other editions with a title found in Auden's typescripts, "A Lullaby", which distinguishes it from a different earlier poem titled "Lullaby"). The book also includes two of the lyrics that Auden wrote for the musical comedy ''

Man of La Mancha ''Man of La Mancha'' is a 1965 musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh, and lyrics by Joe Darion. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay ''I, Don Quixote'', which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervantes ...

'', which were rejected by the original librettist of that play.

References

* John Fuller, ''W. H. Auden: A Commentary'' (1999) *

, ''Later Auden'' (1999)

External links

The W. H. Auden Society''Lullaby''
at the British Library {{W. H. Auden 1974 poetry books Books by W. H. Auden Poetry by W. H. Auden Books published posthumously