Saturday 10 November 2018
Train to Auden
W H Auden is buried in the churchyard in Kirchstetten near Sankt Poelten. I went to see his grave the other day. It's a simple affair with a plaque on a wrought iron cross below the IHS logo in the center, which reads "W H Auden 21.2.1907 : 28.9.1973 Poet : And : Man Of : Letters".
There was a late bumble bee examining the three yellow flowers and the twig of greenery and there half a dozen small stones people had left at the foot of the cross. I left there a seventh. For a moment the incessant rumble of traffic on an autobahn in the valley below seemed far away.
Along the 'Poetsteig' , a path in the wooded hill behind the poet's house, I found the following poems by Auden written in stone:
A Thanksgiving (May 1973)
Funeral Blues from 4 Weddings and a Funeral
Josef Weinheber*
*Austrian Poet (9.3.1892 - 8.4.1945) whose poems are also featured on the 'Poetsteig'.
The Auden Museum was closed, his summer residence it was, but I will try and visit again at some future date.
A good way to spend a November afternoon. I returned home the way I came which was by train.
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Oh yes, Auden and his summer house near Vienna. Never satisfied with staying in one place for too long was Auden. What a strange man he was. Clever of course. Goes without saying.
ReplyDeleteIn Vienna Auden lived in a flat between the Vienna State Opera which he liked to frequent and the main shopping street. The summer residence would be delightful in summer but not on winter as it's a long hike up there from the village station in snow, ice and fog and then along a forest track to the front gate. There's not much else to see apart from poets houses, the church, and the railway station. He must have had someone deliver the wine and other essentials I suppose.
DeleteAnd he had his friend with him.
DeleteThe promiscuous one .
Delete