The book features selected essays by the largest Anglo-American poet, Whisten Hugh Auden (1907-1973). Most of them are taken from the book "Dyer's Hand" (1963), which has become a classic of the genre. The poet discusses the relationship of theme and form; how an idea defines poetics and vice versa; how much the poetic vision of the world determines the fate of the poet and his books - and how powerless it is before the course of life; about those who are the best confirmation of this.