''The Dyer's Hand and Other Essays'' is a collection of essays and lectures 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 1962 in the US by
Random House
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
and in the UK the following year by
Faber & Faber.
The book contains a selection of essays, reviews, and collections of aphorisms and notes written by Auden from the early 1950s to 1962. Many items were not previously published, but others appear in revised forms. Many of the essays are revised versions of Auden's lectures as Professor of Poetry at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
from 1956 to 1961, including his inaugural lecture, "Making, Knowing and Judging".
The book is dedicated to Auden's tutor at Oxford,
Nevill Coghill.
[W. H. Auden, ''The Dyers Hand And Other Essays'' (1948)]
Dedication page
Contents
1. Prologue
* "Reading"
* "Writing"
2. The Dyer's Hand
* "Making, Knowing and Judging"
* "The Virgin and the Dynamo"
* "The Poet and the City"
3. The Well of Narcissus
* "Hic et Ille"
* "Balaam and His Ass"
* "The Guilty Vicarage"
* "The I Without a Self"
4. The Shakespearian City
* "The Globe"
* "The Prince's Dog"
* "Interlude: The Wish Game"
* "Brothers & Others"
* "Interlude: West's Disease"
* "The Joker in the Pack"
* "Postscript: Infernal Science"
5. Two Bestiaries
* "D. H. Lawrence"
* "Marianne Moore"
6. Americana
* "The American Scene"
* "Postcript: Rome v. Monticello"
* "Red Ribbon on a White Horse"
* "Postscript: The Almighty Dollar"
* "Robert Frost"
* "American Poetry"
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyer's Hand. The
1962 books
Dyer's Hand
Random House books
Books of aphorisms