ABSTRACT
Auden enjoyed his spell as Professor of Poetry at Oxford, though he complained of the inadequate remuneration. It was on account of that that he was specially allowed to concentrate his three annual lectures into one term, reasonably enough – or else, as he said, he would have been out of pocket in travelling to give them. He had other complaints to make of the impoverished country, ruined by the war. In the United States he wouldn’t open his mouth for less than $ 3 oo, often a poetry reading – he was not a good reader of poetry, as Eliot was – brought in $1,000. Here he was offered £5 for a lecture.
