Thank You, Fog: last poems by W. H. Auden is a posthumous book of poems 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...

, published in 1974.

The book contains poems written mostly in 1972 and 1973; after Auden's death in September 1973 it was prepared for publication by his literary executor

Literary executor

A literary executor is a person with decision-making power in respect of a literary estate. According to Wills, Administration and Taxation: a practical guide "A will may appoint different executors to deal with different parts of the estate...

 Edward Mendelson

Edward Mendelson

Edward Mendelson is a professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. He is the literary executor of the Estate of W. H. Auden and the author or editor of several books about Auden's work, including Early Auden and Later...

, who also included an "antimasque" titled "The Entertainment of the Senses", written in 1973 by Auden and Chester Kallman

Chester Kallman

Chester Simon Kallman was an American poet, librettist, and translator, best known for his collaborations with W. H. Auden and Igor Stravinsky.-Life:...

 as an interpolation in a planned production of James Shirley

James Shirley

James Shirley was an English dramatist.He belonged to the great period of English dramatic literature, but, in Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of this period, not so much for any transcendent genius in himself, as that he was the last of a great race, all of whom spoke nearly...

's masque Cupid and Death (1653); the antimasque was commissioned by the composer John Gardner

John Gardner (composer)

John Linton Gardner, CBE is an English composer of classical music.-Biography:Gardner was born in Manchester, England and brought up in Ilfracombe, North Devon. His father Alfred Linton Gardner was a local GP and amateur composer who was killed in action in the last months of the First World War....

.

The shorter poems in the book, in addition to the title poem, include "Aubade", "Unpredictable but Providential", "Address to the Beasts", "Archaeology", "No, Plato, No", "Nocturne", "A Thanksgiving", and "Lullaby" ("The din of work is subdued"; titled in other editions with a title found in Auden's typescripts, "A Lullaby", which distinguishes it from a different earlier poem titled "Lullaby"). The book also includes two of the lyrics that Auden wrote for the musical comedy Man of La Mancha

Man of La Mancha

Man of La Mancha is a musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion and music by Mitch Leigh. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay I, Don Quixote, which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervantes's seventeenth century masterpiece Don Quixote...

, which were rejected by the original librettist of that play.