Y Street

York Ave. Don Empson’s book tells us that there is no person connected to the name. This author makes a modest proposal to name it after his favorite poet, Wystan Hugh (W.H.) Auden (1907 – 1973) who was an Anglo-American poet,  born in York, England. The author likes his poetry, but also the fact that Auden chose to move to America from England and become an American citizen, as opposed to another poet named T.S. Eliot who did the opposite. Patriotism First! this author says; and is the reason he drinks bourbon. Auden drank martinis, but that was only for breakfast. Joseph Brodsky: A Literary Life, by Lev Loseff, relates an incident when Brodsky left Russia and had a layover in Austria at the same time that Auden was living there. Brodsky was invited to stay for a few days. He said that Auden's drinking routine was a little much even for a Russian. Martinis for breakfast and other libations throughout the day stopping only for an afternoon nap. Here’s a lovely poem by Auden: This Lunar Beauty This lunar beauty Has no history Is complete and early, If beauty later Bear any feature It had a lover And is another. This like a dream Keeps other time And daytime is The loss of this, For time is inches And the heart's changes Where ghost has haunted Lost and wanted. But this was never A ghost's endeavor Nor finished this, Was ghost at ease, And till it pass Love shall not near The sweetness here Nor sorrow take His endless look.

Yorkshire Ave. No particular reason for this street being named Yorkshire other than it is the name of a county in England. It is up to the reader to choose from the following: The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a book of children's stories by British author J. K. Rowling. It purports to be the storybook of the same name mentioned in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the last book of the Harry Potter series. The book was published for the general public in 2008. Beedle the Bard is described as hailing from Yorkshire, England. The Brontë family was a nineteenth-century literary family associated with Yorkshire, England. The sisters, Charlotte (born 1816), Emily (born 1818), and Anne (born 1820), are well known as poets and novelists. They originally published their poems and novels under the male pseudonyms Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, much like many contemporary female writers.

Young St. The street was named for the developer, John Young. His last name gives this author a chance to explain that he has tried to focus on literary connections that would appeal to the young of any age. He has not meant to dishonor the memory of real people who were honored with a street naming. He only wished to bring an awareness of literary connections  to the street name.

Postscript: Lawrence Ferlinghetti (born 1919), is an American poet, painter, liberal activist, and the co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers in San Francisco, California. Several years ago he came up with what he called a Modest Proposal to Change the Names of Streets in San Francisco. He was being slightly satirical as evidenced in the reference to the Anglo-Irish satirist, Jonathan Swift (1667 –1745) who made a “Modest Proposal” in 1729  to deal with the problem of children being a burden on their parents. You’ll have to read it yourself. This author modestly suggests that perhaps a literary possibility could be applied for all the streets of Saint Paul. Since “odonymy” is the practice of applying source names to streets, he proposes to be the official city “literary odonymist.” He hopes the reader finds an interest in the literary odonym of any number of the streets of Saint Paul. When the poet, W.H. Auden died, he had been living in Vienna, Austria. The street he lived on had been renamed Audenstrasse  in his honor. It is fitting, then,  to close this Proposal as Auden would say at the end of his poetry readings: Good words to you.