This book may be about a personal reaction to the work of W. H. Auden, but it nonetheless owes a great deal to the efforts of those scholars who have, over the years, created a significant body of critical literature dealing with Auden’s poetry and other writing. I have benefited greatly from the insights of those critics. Anyone writing about Auden, though, must owe a particular debt of gratitude to Professor Edward Mendelson, Auden’s literary executor and the author of two magnificent accounts of his work, Early Auden and Later Auden. Professor Mendelson generously read the manuscript of this book and noted several points that needed correction; responsibility for any remaining errors is, of course, entirely mine. I also enjoyed many conversations with Professor Mendelson over the years, including a number of such conversations in Scotland during the much-appreciated visits that he and his wife, Cheryl, made to us. I am most grateful to him for the light he sheds on even the most obscure of Auden’s lines; no poet, I think, could ever wish for a better guardian and exponent of his work than Professor Mendelson. I am also grateful to Professor Alan Jacobs for writing his wonderful book, What Became of Wystan? That book helped me greatly in understanding a number of aspects of the poet’s development.