Letters from Iceland
Letters from Iceland is a collaborative travel book by W. H. Auden and Louis MacNeice, based on a trip the two poets took through Iceland in 1936. Rather than a straight travelogue, it mixes prose, letters, lists, photographs, and poems, including Auden's long Letter to Lord Byron, written in playful verse. The book records their impressions of the scenery and people while ranging across politics, friendship, literature, and the mood of Europe on the edge of war. Its loose, experimental form lets the writers shift between comedy and seriousness with ease. Published in 1937, it is a well-known example of 1930s literary collaboration and remains valued both as travel writing and as a showcase for two major poets working together.
What you might want to know about Letters from Iceland
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A genre-mixing travel book in prose and verse about a 1936 journey through Iceland by two poets.
It is a collaborative travel book by W. H. Auden and Louis MacNeice about a 1936 trip through Iceland, mixing prose, letters, lists, and poetry.
Yes. It includes verse by both poets, most famously Auden's long, playful Letter to Lord Byron.
Letters from Iceland was written by W.H. Auden.
Letters from Iceland is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
