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"Auden now began to give readings of his poems at universities and colleges. He was one of the first poets to do so on a regular ... basis, and could fairly be said to have played his part in bringing into existence that traveling circuit which gave employment to so many poets, British and American, during the fifties and the sixties. He also made it known that he was available to lecture, provided that the fee was right. The lecture he gave at Harvard in 1947 on Don Quixote as part of a series commemorating the quatercentenary of the birth of Cervantes is still talked of, for he had consumed a few too many Martinis before lecturing, began by apologizing for his new set of dentures, and then launched upon Don Quixote by admitting that he'd never managed to read that novel through to the end, and doubting whether anyone in his audience had. When the noise of ruffling academic feathers had subsided, some years later Harvard offered Auden an impressive — sum for a series of lectures. "