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Birds of Inwood - Visit Teri's new blog about birds!
A visual journey exploring the birds of Inwood and Northern Manhattan

Feature: W. H. Auden, Great Walking Poet

Coming across Auden's place in Brooklyn Heights reminded me that I knew little of his poems. I did remember As I Walked Out One Evening:
As I walked out one evening,
Walking down Bristol Street,
The crowds upon the pavement
Were fields of harvest wheat.


When I looked up some more Auden poems, I saw more references to walking. This, from Two Songs for Hedli Anderson,
O the valley in the summer where I and my John
Beside the deep river would walk on and on
While the flowers at our feet and the birds up above
Argued so sweetly on reciprocal love,
And I leaned on his shoulder; 'O Johnny, let's play':
But he frowned like thunder and he went away.


Or this, from Musée des Beaux Arts,
About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters; how well, they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;


W. H. Auden, now an officially endorsed poet of Walking Off the Big Apple!

If you find another poet with many references to walking, please send in your nominations or leave a comment. The officially endorsed poet should be one we all studied in high school or college.

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