Secondary Worlds is a book of four essays by W. H. Auden

W. H. Auden

Wystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...

, first published in 1968.

The four essays in the book are based on the four T. S. Eliot

T. S. Eliot

Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...

 Memorial Lectures that Auden delivered at the University of Kent

University of Kent

The University of Kent, previously the University of Kent at Canterbury, is a public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom...

 in Canterbury in 1967. The titles of the four lectures are: "The Martyr as Dramatic Hero", "The World of the Saga", "The World of Opera", and "Words and the Word".

The title of the book is taken from J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...

's essay "On Fairy Stories".

The book is dedicated to Valerie Eliot

Valerie Eliot

Valerie Eliot née Esmé Valerie Fletcher is the surviving widow and second wife of the Nobel prize-winning poet, T. S. Eliot...

.