Key Facts

• • Writer: W. H. Auden (1907–1973)
  • Original Title: In Praise of Limestone
  • Source: First published in Horizon magazine (July 1948); later included in Collected Shorter Poems 1927–1957 (1958)
  • Written Time: 1947–1948 (composed while Auden was living near Naples, Italy)
  • Published Date: 1948
  • Form: Meditative lyric poem (philosophical and descriptive reflection)
  • Genre: Modernist Poetry / Philosophical Landscape Poem
  • Tone: Reflective, ironic, affectionate, and philosophical
  • Point of View: First-person poetic narrator (occasionally shifting to “we”)

• Total Lines: 118 lines

• Total Parts: One continuous section (no formal divisions)
• Time Setting: Post–World War II period (late 1940s)
• Place Setting: Mediterranean limestone landscape — inspired by the hills of southern Italy (near Naples or Amalfi)