“A Shadow Play: Joseph Brodsky’s Reading of W. H. Auden” aims toclarify Auden’s influence on Brodsky’s poetic works. Brodsky’s first reading ofAuden’s “In Memory of W. B. Yeats” ignited a turning point of his poeticcareer because Auden’s words “Time worships language” struck him like anepiphany and revelation. From that time on Brodsky assimilated Auden’spoems and adapted them into his poems.“Verses on the Death of T. S. Eliot,” “The Hawk’s Cry in Autumn,” and“Daedalus in Sicily” were written in imitation of Auden’s motif, poetic formsand metaphysical style. As time passed, however, Brodsky also developed ananxiety with regard to Auden’s influence, but that anxiety lasted for a shorttime in comparison with the dedication he showed to his precursorthroughout his literary career. Brodsky’s poems, then, might be read as ashadow play, in which his love of Auden could be echoed beneath thesuperb language invention