''On This Island'' is a book of poems by

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

, first published under the title ''Look, Stranger!'' in the UK in 1936, then published under Auden's preferred title, ''On this Island'', in the US in 1937. It is also the title of one of the poems in the collection. The book contains thirty-one poems. The opening "Prologue" ("O Love the interest itself in thoughtless heaven") is followed by short and long poems including "Hearing of harvests", "O what is that sound", "Out on the lawn", "Brothers who when the sirens roar", "Love had him fast", "A shilling life", "Our hunting fathers", and others, ending with an "Epilogue" ("Certainly our city"). Originally, Auden had given it the preliminary title ''Thirty-One Poems''. Auden's UK publisher,

Faber & Faber Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...

asked him to supply a better title since neither of them liked it. However, since he was traveling in

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

and was inaccessible, the publisher titled the book ''Look, Stranger!'' Auden disliked the title and asked his American publisher,

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

to title the book ''On This Island''. The book is dedicated to

Erika Mann Erika Julia Hedwig Mann (9 November 1905 – 27 August 1969) was a German actress and writer, daughter of the novelist Thomas Mann. Erika lived a bohemian lifestyle in Berlin and became a critic of National Socialism. After Hitler came to power ...

. A song cycle of the same name by

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...

sets five of Auden's poems.

References

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

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 ...

, ''Early Auden'' (1981).

External links

The W. H. Auden Society
{{W. H. Auden 1936 poetry books Books by W. H. Auden Poetry by W. H. Auden Faber & Faber books