W. H. Auden's transformative anthology, assembled when his own work was at its most provocative and searching, is a rethinking of the history of English-language poetry. Taking full account of popular traditions, Auden includes ballads, chanteys, ditties, nursery rhymes, street calls, bathroom graffiti, tombstone epitaphs, folk songs, vaudeville turns, and blues, not to mention limericks and clerihews. In lieu of the cloudy effusions and sentimental intimations of the post-Romantic lyric, Auden looked for a poetry that was clear, enjoyable, and absolutely modern. These are poems of wit, sarcasm, color, and plain brilliance, from Chaucer to Byron and beyond. This new edition restores previously censored poems.