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Poetry presupposes that insight is important and I don't think this value has survived the internet. It's generational. Summing up something complex in a pithy statement cuts off discussion, and with it, the narcissistic supply that people call empathy these days.

Auden was a fey sentimentalist, and of poets whose work is relevant today, the other ones mentioned in the article (Larkin, Frost, and I'd add, Blake) should be the first stop.

I have little comprehension of what you've just said, but for any other philistines like me, who like their poetry like they like their coffee - regular, and in black and white - your first stop with Auden should be aboard this: https://youtu.be/zmciuKsBOi0

You can also hear Auden himself recite "As I Walked Out One Evening"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q__Z185H8I&t=2s

Arresting. Thank you for that.

I think the better remembered and quotable poem by W.H.Auden is https://poets.org/poem/i-walked-out-one-evening.

> You shall love your crooked neighbour / With your crooked heart.

Not that this sentiment is original with Auden.

The "basin" verse gave me chills the first time I heard/read it.

I wish they would post the full text of the poem... https://poets.org/poem/september-1-1939

edit: Added full text instead of text.

The Auden Poem Auden Hated