W.H. Auden´s house today ...
... has retained its basic architecture through several changes of owners after Chester Kalman had first inherited it. Auden´s "Smithy" has been maintained in its original form (pictures top centre and left centre), the larger part of the adjacent attic has been turned into a small Auden museum whose concept gives visitors a warm feeling of care, empathy and professionalism. Auden´s study even today conveys a sense of presence, life in the country, and the 50ies´ vintage.
Where a letter to Inland Revenue touched on poetry theory -
One of the exhibits in the rear is a copy of a typed letter Auden sent to the Austrian IR authorities dealing with a tax claim they had presented with regard to the prize money (Feltrinelli / Venice) he had invested in his property here. In it, he slightly ironically discusses the inception of a poem in terms of tax-related geography. - However, this is just one piece in a number of memorabilia on a scale appropriate for this space.