Langdon Hammer's Yale lecture on Modern Poetry (ENGL 310) covers the early poetry of W.H. Auden. Hammer opens with Auden's relationship to the reader in 'From the Very First Coming Down,' examining how economy, truth, and morality shape his poetics. He then turns to the political Auden through 'Spain' and 'September 1, 1939,' including Auden's later habit of revising or disowning controversial lines. The lecture closes with Auden's engagement with traditional forms, his vision of love, and his characteristic perspectivism in 'This Lunar Beauty,' 'Lullaby,' and 'As I Walked Out One Evening.' Recorded in Spring 2007 as part of the Open Yale Courses series, the talk moves poem by poem, reading passages closely and situating each within Auden's biography and the political pressures of the 1930s.