W.H. Auden might be lionized today, but like most writers he never made a great living. Verse tends not to pay the bills.

But teaching about verse can. Or giving talks. Even writing about writing.

This Auden knew:

It is a sad fact about our culture that a poet can earn much more money writing or talking about his art than he can by practicing it.

Sad fact or not, there are worse ways to pay the bills.