The Orators

For the 1762 play, see Samuel Foote.

First edition

The Orators: An English Study is a long poem in prose and verse written by W. H. Auden, first published in 1932. It is regarded as a major contribution to modernist poetry in English.

The Orators is divided into three main sections, framed by "Prologue" and "Epilogue" (each a short poem). Part I is "The Initiates" and comprises four speeches in dramatic prose. Part II is "Journal of an Airman", in prose with interpolated verses, in the form of a diary of an airman (or of someone who fantasizes himself to be an airman). Part III is "Six Odes", all in verse.

After the first edition in 1932, Auden slightly revised the book for a second edition in 1934. For a third edition in 1966 he added a brief foreword, omitted one of the Odes, and made minor cuts and changes throughout the book.

References

John Fuller. W. H. Auden: A Commentary (1999)
Edward Mendelson. Early Auden (1981)

External links

The W. H. Auden Society

W. H. Auden

Books of poetry	Poems (1930) The Orators (1932) On This Island (1936) Another Time (1940) The Double Man (1941) For the Time Being (1944) The Age of Anxiety (1947) Nones (1951) The Shield of Achilles (1955) Homage to Clio (1960) About the House (1966) City Without Walls (1969) Academic Graffiti (1971) Epistle to a Godson (1972) Thank You, Fog (1974)

Books containing prose and verse	Letters from Iceland (1937, with Louis MacNeice) Journey to a War (1939, with Christopher Isherwood)

Prose works and other books	The Enchafèd Flood (1950) The Dyer's Hand (1962) Secondary Worlds (1968) A Certain World (1970) Forewords and Afterwords (1973)

Individual poems	"The Orators" (1932) "Funeral Blues" (1936) "Spain" (1937) "Musée des Beaux Arts" (1938) "Refugee Blues" (1939) "September 1, 1939" (1939) "The Unknown Citizen" (1939) "Hymn to St. Cecilia" (1940) "For the Time Being" (1944) "The Sea and the Mirror" (1944) "The Age of Anxiety" (1947) "In Praise of Limestone" (1948) "The Platonic Blow" "Horae Canonicae" (1949–55) "Bucolics" (1952–53) "The Shield of Achilles" (1955)

Plays	Paid on Both Sides (1928) The Dance of Death (1933) The Dog Beneath the Skin (1935) The Ascent of F6 (1936) On the Frontier (1938) The Play of Daniel (1958)

Libretti	Paul Bunyan (1941) The Rake's Progress (1951) Elegy for Young Lovers (1961) The Bassarids (1966) Love's Labour's Lost (1973)

Screenwriting	Night Mail (1936)

Family	George Augustus Auden (father) John Bicknell Auden (brother) Chester Kallman (companion)

Related	W. H. Auden bibliography

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