Conditions Governing Reproductions and Use

Copyright restrictions may apply to this collection. The rights of unpublished materials by W. H. Auden belong to the Estate of W. H. Auden. Please review the Auden Society website for more information on rights permissions. You may also contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials.

Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction . Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication . Please contact Special Collections and University Archives ( specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], W. H. Auden Letter, Ms1973-001, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Source of Acquisition

This collection was purchased by the Virginia Tech Library in 1972 and transferred to Special Collections in February 1974.

Processing Information

The processing, arrangement, and description of the W. H. Auden Letter was completed in 1973. Additional description was completed in February 2011 and in May 2020.

Biographical Note

W. H. Auden (1907-1973) was an British-American poet. Auden is seen by some as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. His poetry became widely known after his death, because of the adaptations to the screen of some of his works, such as "Funeral Blues " and "Four Weddings and a Funeral ".

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of a letter written by W. H. Auden on January 9, 1938, from Brussels, Belgium, to "Geoffrey." Auden requests a copy of a sonnet "The Economic Man," which he submitted to  New Verse , possibly in May 1936. Auden states that he needs the sonnet to complete another sonnet sequence he was writing at the time.

Related Material

Numerous other repositories maintain papers of W. H. Auden. The British National Archives maintains a list of some of these collections online .

Separated Material

Books by W. H. Auden were separated to the Rare Book Collection and the Newman Library collection.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Authors, English -- 20th century
• British literature
• Correspondence

Rights Statement for Archival Description

The guide to the W. H. Auden Letter by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 ( https://creativecommons.org/share-your- work/public-domain/cc0/ ).