It's a wealth of intelligence, knowledge and insight that Mendelson ... brings to this study... With his array of interpretative tools, he solves for the first time the notorious obscurities of Auden's earliest work.
Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, New York Times Remarkable ... Presents the poet's life and art so vividly as to illuminate the major works and bring out neglected ... Read moreones.
Grace Schulman, Nation Rich and suggestive in its generalizations, resourceful in its scholarship, and precise in its readings of Auden's work.
Paul Fussell, New Republic Mendelson's brilliant anatomy of Auden's career as a poet and magus in America is an intellectual and artistic tour de force.
Economist [An] astonishing critical study... An absorbing life of the poet's mind ... Exciting and provocative.
Walter Clemons, Newsweek [Mendelson's] close readings are always meticulous and insightful, and he draws detailed connections between what Auden read and what he wrote... [S]hould be kept on the shelf right next to the Collected Poems.
Adam Kirsch, New York Observer Could well change the map of modern poetry... A model of condensation, [it] proceeds through the huge, often neglected body of work with grace and wit.
Tom D'Evelyn, Boston Book Review Show Less