Lmst

If you are in Vienna this forthcoming Tuesday, join us at #ViennaCityLibrary #Wienbibliothek for some (German-language) glimpse into the editors' workshop:

Those who will not reason
Perish in the act:
Those who will not act
Perish for that reason.

W. H. Auden (1907-1973) Anglo-American poet [Wystan Hugh Auden]
“Shorts,” No. 7 (c. 1930), Collected Poems, Part 2 “1927-1932” (1976 ed.) [ed. Mendelson]

More about this quote: wist.info/auden-w-h/26031/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #whauden #auden #action #danger #deed #hesitation #hesitancy #inaction #indecision #irrationality #paralysis #passive #reason #reflex #thoughtlessness #unreason #whimsy

"So as we gravely bade adieu I felt quite snubbed — and so would you. And yet I shook him by the hand, Impressed that he could understand The works of those two tops I mention, So far beyond my comprehension —" #Auden #Isherwood

Delighted to make available & study the previously unknown (& unexpected) correspondence by poet #WHAuden to his Austrian lover & confidant, shedding new light on #Auden's life in #Austria & on Austrian #queerhistory. 🔍

🌐 https://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/news/sensational-discovery-unknown-letters-by-poet-w-h-auden-found-in-lower-austria-1
🌐 https://youtu.be/Ebidu0iWfxk?si=2vi_Ee2IDamKJ1a6

@fwf @ACDHCH_OeAW @oeaw

#AustrianAuden

My poem ‘Eric’s Trip’ published in THE YELLING CONTINUES

As I’m sure you, whoever you are, already know, Sonic Youth are my official standard answer to ‘What’s your favourite band?’, a question I think we should ask more as adults because it’s much more fun and informative than ‘What do you do for work?’, which is all adults ever ask each other.

A little while back I read a poetry collection, the author of which I’ve completely forgotten, where there were several ekphrastic poems – poems inspired by a work of art – about songs by Bob Marley. Naturally, I thought, I could do that, but for Sonic Youth, so I went back to my favourite SY song, ‘Eric’s Trip’, from Daydream Nation (the Greatest Album Of All Time). Funny thing about ‘Eric’s Trip’ is that it’s already ekphrastic, which makes my poem doubly so. The song was inspired by The Trip, a film by Andy Warhol in which Eric Emerson, musician, dancer, actor and general Warhol hanger-on, takes acid and talks for a long time. A really long time. He really does go on. I actually transcribed the whole thing in order to write the poem and it took ages.

Anyway, my poem being an ekphrastic ekphrastic poem actually fits into a long tradition. Probably the most famous ekphrastic poem is WH Auden’s ‘Musée des Beaux Arts’, which was inspired by Pieter Brughel’s Landscape with Fall of Icarus, which was itself inspired by the myth of Icarus, most famously told by Ovid in the Metamorphoses. Here’s the painting:

Apparently this painting also inspired William Carlos Williams to write a poem of the same name.

Somewhere in the world, someone must’ve written a triply ekphrastic poem. I look forward to reading it. You can read my merely doubly ekphrastic poem on Procrastinating Writers United. Fans of SY will note that I piled in references to their other songs and even a particularly cool guitar of theirs, as well as to some other works by Warhol. Enjoy!

#art #auden #ekphrasticPoems #literature #music #myPoems #pieterBrueghel #poem #poems #poetry #sonicYouth #wcWilliams #williamCarlosWilliams #words #writing

An oil painting of a land and seascape. In the foreground, a ploughman is bent to his task. A shepherd stands nearby, looking left. To the bottom right, away from the focual point of the painting, we see only the feet of Icarus as he disappears into the wabes/

On 5 Sep 2025, literary scholar & theater director #ReinhardUrbach (*1939) died.

🌐 https://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20250908_OTS0126/wir-trauern-um-reinhard-urbach

On 28 Sep 1973, #Urbach accompanied #WHAuden (*1907) to the poet's last reading - before #Auden died in his hotel room in #Vienna that same night.

🌐 https://www.online.landessammlungen-noe.at/objects/1206740/hella-bronold-sekretarin-der-ogl-an-auden

@ACDHCH_OeAW @oeaw @fwf

#AustrianAuden #AustrianSocietyForLiterature #ÖsterreichischeGesellschaftFürLiteratur

“The winds must come from somewhere when they blow,
There must be reasons why the leaves decay;
Time will say nothing but I told you so.

Perhaps the roses really want to grow,
The vision seriously intends to stay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.

Suppose all the lions get up and go,
And all the brooks and soldiers run away;
Will Time say nothing but I told you so?
If I could tell you I would let you know.”

#Auden #Poetry #books @bookstodon

Bei einem intelligenten #Menschen ist #Routine ein #Zeichen von #Ehrgeiz.
(W. H. #Auden)
#psychotHHerapie #Zitat #Zitate #WHAuden #Intelligenz

https://www.jangoeritz.de/zitate

[16:45] In Rusland nemen ze de poëzie serieus; daar schieten ze de dichters dood

‘Poetry makes nothing happen’, luidt een beroemde regel van Auden. In onze, overigens onder druk staande, democratieën is dat onmiskenbaar een feit.

https://dvhn.nl/meningen/columns/Censuur-46019015.html

#Auden

“Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.”

— W. H. #Auden #poetry

Michael Murphy, Neoclassicism, Late Modernism, and W. H. Auden's 'New Year Letter'

I was prepared, as well as a human unit could be, for the worst this January. Living in Paris rather cushions me from the American shocks, but since I was born and bred a redneck, another Calibanish creole from the states, the shocks nevertheless tingle. See more here: https://limitedinc.blogspot.com/2025/01/audens-new-years-poem-part-one.html #auden #poetry

“Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered.”

— W.H. #Auden

Bei einem intelligenten #Menschen ist #Routine ein #Zeichen von #Ehrgeiz.
(W. H. #Auden)
#psychotHHerapie #Zitat #Zitate #WHAuden #Intelligenz

https://www.jangoeritz.de/zitate

“But once in a while the odd thing happens,
Once in a while the dream comes true,
And the whole pattern of life is altered,
Once in a while the moon turns blue.”

W.H. #Auden #Poetry #Audenisbae
@bookstodon