Wystan Hugh Auden (21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) IPA: /ˈwɪstən hjuː ˈɔːdən/;^[1], who signed his works W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet, regarded by many as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.^[2] His work is noted for its stylistic and technical achievements, its engagement with moral and political issues, and its variety of tone, form, and content.^[3][4] The central themes of his poetry are: personal love, politics and citizenship, religion and morals, and the relationship between unique human beings and the anonymous, impersonal world of nature. Image File history File linksMetadata AudenSelectedByFuller. ... is the 52nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... York shown within England Coordinates: , Sovereign state Constituent country Region Yorkshire and the Humber Ceremonial county North Yorkshire Admin HQ York City Centre Founded 71 City Status 71 Government  - Type Unitary Authority, City  - Governing body City of York Council  - Leadership: Leader & Executive  - Executive: Liberal Democrat  - MPs: Hugh Bayley (L) John... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... is the 272nd day of the year (273rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the song by James Blunt, see 1973 (song). ... For other uses, see Vienna (disambiguation). ... is the 52nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 272nd day of the year (273rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the song by James Blunt, see 1973 (song). ... Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ...

Auden grew up in Birmingham in a professional middle-class family and read English Literature at Oxford. His early poems, in the late 1920s and 1930s, alternated between obscure modern styles and accessible traditional ones, were written in an intense and dramatic tone, and established his reputation as a left-wing political poet and prophet. He became uncomfortable in this role in the later 1930s, and abandoned it after he moved to the United States in 1939. His poems in the 1940s explored religious and ethical themes in a less dramatic manner than his earlier works, but still combined new forms devised by Auden himself with traditional forms and styles. In the 1950s and 1960s many of his poems focused on the ways in which words revealed and concealed emotions, and he took a particular interest in writing opera librettos, a form ideally suited to direct expression of strong feelings. ^[5] This article is about the British city. ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford in England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ...

He was also a prolific writer of prose essays and reviews on literary, political, psychological, and religious subjects, and he worked at various times on documentary films, poetic plays, and other forms of performance. Throughout his career he was both controversial and influential. After his death, some of his poems, notably "Funeral Blues" ("Stop all the clocks") and "September 1, 1939", became widely known through films, broadcasts, and popular media.^[2] Funeral Blues is a poem first published in 1936 by W. H. Auden. ... The poem September 1, 1939 by W. H. Auden describes the historical context from Luther until now and the feelings of the poet as he sits On Fifty-second Street on the first day of World War II. See also Fifty-second Street External links Audens poem at gametec. ...

Life

Except where noted, this section is based on the standard biographies and critical studies by Humphrey Carpenter,^[6] Richard Davenport-Hines,^[7] and Edward Mendelson,^[8][9] a memoir by Thekla Clark,^[10] and the Auden entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.^[11]

Humphrey William Bouverie Carpenter (April 29, 1946 – January 4, 2005) was an English biographer, author and radio broadcaster. ... Richard Davenport-Hines is a British writer best known for his biography of the poet W. H. Auden. ... Edward Mendelson is a professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. ...

Childhood and education, 1907-1927

Childhood

Wystan Hugh Auden was born in York, England, where his father George Augustus Auden was a physician. Wystan was the third of three children, all sons; the oldest, George Bernard Auden, became a farmer; the second, John Bicknell Auden, became a geologist. His mother, Constance Rosalie Bicknell Auden, had trained as a missionary nurse. Auden's grandfathers were both Church of England clergymen; his household was Anglo-Catholic, following a "High" form of Anglicanism with doctrine and ritual resembling that of Roman Catholicism. Auden traced his love of music and language partly to the church services of his childhood.^[11] He believed he was of Icelandic descent, and his lifelong fascination with Icelandic legends and sagas is visible throughout his work.^[12] York shown within England Coordinates: , Sovereign state Constituent country Region Yorkshire and the Humber Ceremonial county North Yorkshire Admin HQ York City Centre Founded 71 City Status 71 Government  - Type Unitary Authority, City  - Governing body City of York Council  - Leadership: Leader & Executive  - Executive: Liberal Democrat  - MPs: Hugh Bayley (L) John... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... George Augustus Auden (1872-1957), English physician, professor of public health, school medical officer, and writer on archaeological subjects. ... John Bicknell Auden (14 December 1903 - 1991, English geologist and official with the World Health Organization. ... The Church of England logo since 1998 The Church of England is the officially established Christian church[1] in England, and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. ... ... High Church relates to ecclesiology and liturgy in Christian theology and practice. ... Anglicanism commonly refers to the beliefs and practices of the Anglican Communion, the churches that are in full communion with the see of Canterbury. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ...

In 1908 his family moved to Harborne, Birmingham, where his father had been appointed the School Medical Officer and Lecturer (later Professor) of Public Health; Auden's lifelong psychoanalytic interests began in his father's library. From the age of eight he attended boarding schools, returning home for holidays.^[6] Harborne is an area 3 miles southwest from Birmingham city centre, England. ... This article is about the British city. ...

From the ages six to twelve, "I spent a great many of my waking hours in the fabrication of a private secondary sacred world, the basic elements of which were (a) a limestone landscape mainly derived from the Pennine Moors in the North of England, and (b) an industry - lead mining".^[13] His visits to the Pennine landscape and its declining lead-mining industry figure in many of his poems; the remote decaying mining village of Rookhope was for him a "sacred landscape",^[14] evoked in a late poem, "Amor Loci". Rookhope is a village in County Durham, in England. ...

Until he was fifteen he expected to become a mining engineer, but his "passion for words" had already begun. He wrote later: "words so excite me that a pornographic story, for example, excites me sexually more than a living person can do".^[15]

Education

Auden's first school was St. Edmund's School (Hindhead), Surrey, where he met Christopher Isherwood, later famous as a novelist. At thirteen he went to Gresham's School in Norfolk, where, in 1922, his friend Robert Medley first suggested that he might write poetry. In the same year he "discover[ed] that he has lost his faith" (through a gradual realization that he had lost interest in religion, not through any decisive change of views).^[16] His first poems appeared in the school magazine in 1923.^[17] St. ... This article is about the English county. ... Christopher Isherwood (left) and W.H. Auden (right), photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1939 Christopher Isherwood (prior to 1946 Christopher William Bradshaw-Isherwood) (August 26, 1904 – January 4, 1986), Anglo-American novelist, was born in the ancestral seat of his family, Wybersley Hall, High Lane, in the north west of... Gresham’s School is an independent coeducational boarding school at Holt in North Norfolk, England, founded in the year 1555, a member of the HMC. // Big School, 1903, architect Sir John Simpson Greshams School was established at Holt by Sir John Gresham in 1555, during the reign of Queen... Norfolk (IPA: //) is a low-lying county in East Anglia in the east of southern England. ... Robert Medley CBE, RA, (born London 1905 at Port Said, Egypt, died 1994), was an English artist and Royal Academician. ...

In 1925 he went to Christ Church, Oxford, with a scholarship in biology, but he switched to English by his second year. Friends he met at Oxford included Cecil Day Lewis, Louis MacNeice, and Stephen Spender; these four were commonly though misleadingly identified in the 1930s as the "Auden Group" for their shared (but not identical) left-wing views. He left Oxford in 1928 with a third-class degree.^[6][11] and of the Christ Church College name Christ Church Latin name Ædes Christi Named after Jesus Christ Established 1546 Sister college Trinity College, Cambridge Dean The Very Revd Christopher Andrew Lewis JCR president Laura Ellis Undergraduates 426 GCR president Tim Benjamin Graduates 154 Location of Christ Church within central Oxford... Cecil Day-Lewis (or Day Lewis) (27th April 1904-22nd May 1972) was a British poet. ... Frederick Louis MacNeice (September 12, 1907 – September 3, 1963) was a British and Irish poet and playwright. ... Sir Stephen Harold Spender CBE, (February 28, 1909, London – July 16, 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist who concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle in his work. ... The Auden Group is the name given to a group of writers active in the 1930s that included W. H. Auden, Louis MacNeice, Cecil Day-Lewis, Stephen Spender, Christopher Isherwood, and sometimes Edward Upward and Rex Warner. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

He was reintroduced to Christopher Isherwood in 1925; for the next few years Isherwood was his literary mentor to whom he sent poems for comments and criticism. Auden probably fell in love with Isherwood (who was unaware of the intensity of Auden's feelings) and in the 1930s they maintained a sexual friendship in intervals between their relations with others. In 1935-39 they collaborated on three plays and a travel book.^[18] Christopher Isherwood (left) and W.H. Auden (right), photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1939 Christopher Isherwood (prior to 1946 Christopher William Bradshaw-Isherwood) (August 26, 1904 – January 4, 1986), Anglo-American novelist, was born in the ancestral seat of his family, Wybersley Hall, High Lane, in the north west of...

From his Oxford years onward, his friends uniformly described him as funny, extravagant, sympathetic, generous, and, partly by his own choice, lonely. In groups he was often dogmatic and overbearing in a comic way; in more private settings he was diffident and shy except when certain of his welcome. He was punctual in his habits, and obsessive about meeting deadlines, while choosing to live amidst physical disorder.^[7]

Britain and Europe, 1928-1938

In the autumn of 1928 Auden left Britain for nine months in Weimar Berlin, partly to rebel against English repressiveness in a city where homosexuality was widely tolerated. In Berlin, he said, he first experienced the political and economic unrest that became one of his central subjects.^[11] Anthem Das Lied der Deutschen Germany during the Weimar period, with the Free State of Prussia (in blue) as the largest state Capital Berlin Language(s) German Government Republic President  - 1918-1925 Friedrich Ebert  - 1925-1933 Paul von Hindenburg Chancellor  - 1919 Philipp Scheidemann(first)  - 1933 Kurt von Schleicher (last) Legislature... This article is about the capital of Germany. ...

On returning to Britain in 1929, he worked briefly as a tutor. In 1930 his first published book, Poems (1930), was accepted by T. S. Eliot for Faber and Faber; the firm also published all his later books. In 1930 he began five years as a schoolmaster in boys' schools: two years at the Larchfield Academy, in Helensburgh, Scotland, then three years at the The Downs School, near Malvern, Worcestershire, where he was a much-loved teacher. At the Downs, in June 1933, he experienced what he later described as a "Vision of Agape," when, while sitting with three fellow-teachers at the school, he suddenly found that he loved them for themselves, that their existence had infinite value for him; this experience, he said, later influenced his decision to return to the Anglican Church in 1940.^[19] Thomas Stearns Eliot, OM (September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965), was a poet, dramatist and literary critic. ... Faber and Faber is a celebrated publishing house in the UK, notable in particular for publishing the poetry of T. S. Eliot. ... Larchfield Academy (often called Larchfield School) was a preparatory school for boys in Helensburgh, Scotland. ... Helensburghs Rhu Road, looking west towards Rhu, Rosneath and the Gare Loch. ... The Downs School is an independent coeducational school, founded in 1900. ... Malvern is the name of a town in Worcestershire, England. ... Agapē (IPA: or IPA: ) (Gk. ...

During these years, Auden's erotic interests focused, as he later said, on an idealized "Alter Ego"^[20] rather than on individual persons. His relations (and his unsuccessful courtships) tended to be unequal either in age or intelligence; his sexual relations were transient, although some evolved into long friendships. He contrasted these relations with what he regarded as the "marriage" (his word) of equals that he began with Chester Kallman in 1939 (see below), based on the unique individuality of both partners.^[8] Chester Kallman (7 January 1921 – 18 January 1975) was an American poet, librettist, and translator, best known for his collaborations with Igor Stravinsky Kallman was born in Brooklyn. ...

From the G.P.O. Film Unit's Night Mail; scene possibly directed by Auden

From 1935 until he left Britain early in 1939, Auden worked as freelance reviewer, essayist, and lecturer, first with the G.P.O. Film Unit, a documentary film-making branch of the post office, headed by John Grierson. He collaborated there with Benjamin Britten, with whom he also worked on plays, song cycles, and a libretto. Auden's plays in the 1930s were performed by the Group Theatre, in productions that he supervised to varying degrees.^[11] Image File history File links NightMailCrewe. ... Image File history File links NightMailCrewe. ... This article needs cleanup. ... The GPO Film Unit was a subdivision of the UK General Post Office. ... John Grierson (April 26, 1898 - February 19, 1972) is often considered the father of British and Canadian documentary film. ... Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH (November 22, 1913 Lowestoft, Suffolk - December 4, 1976 Aldeburgh, Suffolk) was a British composer, conductor, and pianist. ... The Group Theatre (London, no connection with the New York company with the same name) was an experimental theatre company founded in 1932 by Rupert Doone and Robert Medley. ...

His work now reflected his belief that any good artist must be "more than a bit of a reporting journalist".^[21] In 1936 he spent three months in Iceland, where he gathered material for a travel book Letters from Iceland (1937), written in collaboration with Louis MacNeice. In 1937 he went to Spain intending to drive an ambulance for the Republic in the Spanish Civil War, but was put to work broadcasting propaganda, a job he left in order to visit the front. His seven-week visit to Spain affected him deeply, and his social views grew more complex as he found political realities to be more ambiguous and troubling than he had imagined. Again attempting to combine reportage and art, he and Isherwood spent six months in 1938 visiting the Sino-Japanese War, working on their book Journey to a War (1939). On their way back to England they stayed briefly in New York and decided to move to the United States. Auden spent the autumn of 1938 partly in England, partly in Brussels.^[6] Letters from Iceland is a travel book in prose and verse by W. H. Auden and Louis MacNeice, published in 1937. ... Frederick Louis MacNeice (September 12, 1907 – September 3, 1963) was a British and Irish poet and playwright. ... Not to be confused with the Spanish Civil War of 1820-1823. ... Combatants China United States1 Soviet Union2 Japan Manchukuo3 Mengjiang3 Wang Jingwei Government 3 Commanders Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Cheng, Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, Li Zongren, Xue Yue, Bai Chongxi, Peng Dehuai, Joseph Stilwell, Albert Wedemeyer, Claire Chennault, Aleksandr Vasilevsky Hirohito, Fumimaro Konoe, Hideki Tojo, Kotohito Kanin, Matsui Iwane, Hajime... Journey to a War is a travel book in prose and verse by W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, published in 1939. ... For other places with the same name, see Brussels (disambiguation). ...

Many of his poems during the 1930s and afterward were inspired by unconsummated love, and in the 1950s he summarized his emotional life in a famous couplet: "If equal affection cannot be / Let the more loving one be me" ("The More Loving One"). He had a gift for friendship and, starting in the late 1930s, a strong wish for the stability of marriage; in a letter to his friend James Stern he called marriage "the only subject".^[22] Throughout his life, he performed charitable acts, sometimes in public, as in his marriage of convenience to Erika Mann in 1935 that gave her a British passport with which to escape the Nazis, but, especially in later years, usually in private, and he was embarrassed if they were publicly revealed (as when his gift to his friend Dorothy Day for the Catholic Worker movement was reported on the front page of the New York Times in 1956).^[23] James Stern (26 December 1904 – 22 November 1993) Anglo-Irish novelist and short story writer. ... Erika Mann Erika Julia Hedwig Mann (November 9, 1905 – August 27, 1969) was the eldest daughter of novelist Thomas Mann and Katia Mann. ... This image has an uncertain copyright status and is pending deletion. ... The Catholic Worker is a newspaper published by the Catholic Worker Movement community in New York City. ...

United States and Europe, 1939-1973

Auden and Isherwood sailed to New York in January 1939, entering on temporary visas. Their departure from Britain was later seen by many there as a betrayal and Auden's reputation suffered. In April 1939 Isherwood moved to California, and he and Auden saw each other only intermittently in later years. Around this time, Auden met an eighteen-year old poet Chester Kallman, who became his lover for the next two years (Auden described their relation as a "marriage" that began with a cross-country "honeymoon" journey).^[24] He and Kallman remained companions for the rest of Auden's life, sharing houses and apartments from 1953 until Auden's death. Auden dedicated both editions of his collected poetry (1945/50 and 1966) to Isherwood and Kallman. Chester Kallman (7 January 1921 – 18 January 1975) was an American poet, librettist, and translator, best known for his collaborations with Igor Stravinsky Kallman was born in Brooklyn. ... Year 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In 1940-41, Auden lived in a house in Brooklyn Heights which he shared with Carson McCullers, Benjamin Britten, and others, and which became a famous center of artistic life.^[25] In 1940, he joined the Episcopal Church, returning to the Anglican Communion he had abandoned at thirteen. His reconversion was influenced partly by what he called the "sainthood" of Charles Williams,^[26] whom he had met in 1937, partly by reading Søren Kierkegaard and Reinhold Niebuhr; his existential, this-worldly Christianity became a central element in his life.^[27] Expensive real estate: Brooklyn Heights in the snow taken from the Promenade, 2003 Brooklyn Heights is a neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn; originally designated through popular reference as Brooklyn Village, it has, since 1834, become a prevalent area of the Brooklyn borough. ... Carson McCullers, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1959 Carson McCullers (February 19, 1917 – September 29, 1967) was an American writer. ... Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH (November 22, 1913 Lowestoft, Suffolk - December 4, 1976 Aldeburgh, Suffolk) was a British composer, conductor, and pianist. ... This article is about the Episcopal Church in the United States. ... The term Anglican describes those people and churches following the religious traditions of the Church of England, especially following the Reformation. ... Charles Walter Stansby Williams (September 20, 1886 – May 15, 1945), was a British writer and poet, and a member of the loose literary circle called the Inklings. ... Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (IPA: , but usually Anglicized as ;  ) 5 May 1813 – 11 November 1855) was a prolific 19th century Danish philosopher and theologian. ... Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr (June 21, 1892 – June 1, 1971) was a Protestant theologian best known for his study of the task of relating the Christian faith to the reality of modern politics and diplomacy. ... Existentialism is a philosophical movement emphasizing individualism, individual freedom, and subjectivity. ...

In 1941-42 he taught English at the University of Michigan. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1942, but did not use it, choosing instead to teach at Swarthmore College in 1942-45. In the summer of 1945, after the end of World War II in Europe, he was in Germany with the U. S. Strategic Bombing Survey, studying the effects of Allied bombing on German morale, an experience that affected his postwar work as his visit to Spain had affected him earlier. On his return, he settled in Manhattan, working as a freelance writer and as a visiting professor at Bennington, Smith, and other American colleges. In 1946 he became a naturalized citizen of the US.^[6][11] The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (U of M, UM or simply Michigan) is a coeducational public research university in the state of Michigan, and one of the foremost universities in the United States. ... Guggenheim Fellowships are awarded annually by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts. ... Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,450 students. ... Strategic bombing survey (Europe) was a US Army report issued September 30, 1945. ... For other uses, see Manhattan (disambiguation). ... Bennington College is a liberal arts college located in Bennington, Vermont. ... Smith College is a private, independent womens liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. ... Naturalization is the process whereby a person becomes a national of a nation, or a citizen of a country, other than the one of his birth. ...

His theology in his later years evolved from a highly inward and psychologically oriented Protestantism in the early 1940s to a more Roman Catholic-oriented interest in the significance of the body and in collective ritual in the later 1940s and 1950s, and finally to the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer which rejected "childish" conceptions of God for an adult religion that focused on the significance of human suffering.^[27] Protestantism encompasses the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated with the doctrines of the Reformation. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer [] (February 4, 1906 – April 9, 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, participant in the German Resistance movement against Nazism, and a founding member of the Confessing Church. ...

Auden began summering in Europe in 1948, first in Ischia, Italy, where he rented a house, then, starting 1958, in Kirchstetten, Austria where he bought a farmhouse, and, he said, shed tears of joy at owning a home for the first time.^[6] The island of Ischia near Naples, Italy. ... Village in Lower Austria, home during part of their lives to the Austrian poet Josef Weinheber and the Anglo-American poet W. H. Auden. ...

In 1951, shortly before the two British spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean fled to the USSR, Burgess attempted to phone Auden to arrange a vacation visit to Ischia that he had earlier discussed with Auden; Auden never returned the call and had no further contact with either spy, but a media frenzy ensued in which his name was mistakenly associated with their escape. The frenzy was repeated when the MI5 documents on the incident were released in 2007.^[28][29] Wanted poster of Burgess (right) with Donald_Duart_Maclean. ... Sir Donald Maclean (January 9, 1864 – June 15, 1932), was a Liberal politician in the United Kingdom. ... MI5 Logo. ...

In 1956-61, Auden was Professor of Poetry at Oxford University where he was required to give three lectures each year. This fairly light workload allowed him to spend most of his time in New York and his summer home. He now earned his income mostly by readings and lecture tours, and by writing for The New Yorker and other magazines.^[11] The chair of Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford is an unusual, high-profile academic appointment, now normally held for five years. ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford in England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... For other uses, see New Yorker. ...

During his last years, his conversation became repetitive, to the disappointment of friends who had known him earlier as a witty and wide-ranging conversationalist.^[6] In 1972, he moved his winter home from New York to Oxford, where his old college, Christ Church, offered him a cottage, but he continued to summer in Austria. He died in Vienna in 1973 and was buried in Kirchstetten.^[6] For other uses, see Vienna (disambiguation). ... Village in Lower Austria, home during part of their lives to the Austrian poet Josef Weinheber and the Anglo-American poet W. H. Auden. ...

Work

Except where noted, this section is based on the standard critical studies by John Fuller^[5] and Edward Mendelson,^[8][9] and the essays in The Cambridge Companion to W. H. Auden.^[2]

For other people named John Fuller, see Fuller (disambiguation). ... Edward Mendelson is a professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. ...

Overview

Auden published about four hundred poems, including seven long poems (two of them book-length). His poetry was encyclopedic in scope and method, ranging in style from obscure twentieth-century modernism to the lucid traditional forms such as ballads and limericks, from doggerel through haiku and villanelles to a "Christmas Oratorio" and a baroque eclogue in Anglo-Saxon meters. The tone and content of his poems ranged from pop-song clichés to complex philosophical meditations, from the corns on his toes to atoms and stars, from contemporary crises to the evolution of society.^[5] For other uses, see Baroque (disambiguation). ...

He also wrote more than four hundred essays and reviews about literature, history, politics, music, religion, and many other subjects. He collaborated on plays with Christopher Isherwood and on opera libretti with Chester Kallman, worked with a group of artists and filmmakers on documentary films in the 1930s and with the New York Pro Musica early music group in the 1950s and 1960s. About collaboration he wrote in 1964: "collaboration has brought me greater erotic joy . . . than any sexual relations I have had".^[30] Christopher Isherwood (left) and W.H. Auden (right), photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1939 Christopher Isherwood (prior to 1946 Christopher William Bradshaw-Isherwood) (August 26, 1904 – January 4, 1986), Anglo-American novelist, was born in the ancestral seat of his family, Wybersley Hall, High Lane, in the north west of... Chester Kallman (7 January 1921 – 18 January 1975) was an American poet, librettist, and translator, best known for his collaborations with Igor Stravinsky Kallman was born in Brooklyn. ... New York Pro Musica was a vocal and instrumental ensemble that specialized in early music, from 1200 to 1700. ...

Auden controversially rewrote or discarded some of his most famous poems when he prepared his later collected editions. He wrote that he rejected poems that he found "boring" or "dishonest" in the sense that they expressed views that he had never held but had used only because he felt they would be rhetorically effective.^[31] His rejected poems include "Spain" and "September 1, 1939". His literary executor, Edward Mendelson, argues in his introduction to Auden's Selected Poems that Auden's practice reflected his sense of the persuasive power of poetry and his reluctance to misuse it.^[32] (Selected Poems includes some poems that Auden rejected and early texts of poems that he revised.) The poem September 1, 1939 by W. H. Auden describes the historical context from Luther until now and the feelings of the poet as he sits On Fifty-second Street on the first day of World War II. See also Fifty-second Street External links Audens poem at gametec. ... A literary executor is a person with decision-making power in respect of the literary estate of an author who has died. ... Edward Mendelson is a professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. ...

Early work, 1922-1939

Cover of the privately-printed Poems (1928)

Image File history File links Poems1928. ... Image File history File links Poems1928. ... Bold text Poems is a collection of the early poetry of W. H. Auden. ...

Through 1930

Auden began writing poems at thirteen, mostly in the styles of 19th-century romantic poets, especially Wordsworth, and later poets with rural interests, especially Thomas Hardy. At eighteen he discovered T. S. Eliot and adopted an extreme version of Eliot's style. He found his own voice at twenty, when he wrote the first poem later included in his collected work, "From the very first coming down". This and other poems of the late 1920s tended to be in a clipped, elusive style that alluded to, but did not directly state, their themes of loneliness and loss. Twenty of these poems appeared in his first book Poems (1928), a pamphlet hand-printed by Stephen Spender.^[33] Wordsworth, an underground hip hop MC from Brooklyn. ... “Thomas Hardy” redirects here. ... Thomas Stearns Eliot, OM (September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965), was a poet, dramatist and literary critic. ... Bold text Poems is a collection of the early poetry of W. H. Auden. ... Sir Stephen Harold Spender CBE, (February 28, 1909, London – July 16, 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist who concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle in his work. ...

In 1928 he wrote his first dramatic work, Paid on Both Sides, subtitled "A Charade," which combined style and content from the Icelandic sagas with jokes from English school life. This mixture of tragedy and farce, with a dream play-within-the-play, introduced the mixed styles and content of much of his later work. This drama and thirty short poems appeared in his first published book Poems (1930, 2nd edition with seven poems replaced, 1933); the poems in the book were mostly lyrical and gnomic mediations on hoped-for or unconsummated love and on themes of personal, social, and seasonal renewal; among these poems were "It was Easter as I walked," "Doom is dark," "Sir, no man's enemy," and "This lunar beauty."^[8] Paid on Both Sides: A Charade was the first dramatic work written by W. H. Auden. ... The Norse sagas or Viking sagas (Icelandic: Íslendingasögur), are stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, about migration to Iceland, and of feuds between Icelandic families. ... Bold text Poems is a collection of the early poetry of W. H. Auden. ...

A recurrent theme in these early poems is the effect of "family ghosts", Auden's term for the powerful, unseen psychological effects of preceding generations on any individual life (and the title of a poem). A parallel theme, present throughout his work, is the contrast between biological evolution (unchosen and involuntary) and the psychological evolution of cultures and individuals (voluntary and deliberate even in its subconscious aspects).^[8]

1931 through 1935

Auden's next large-scale work was The Orators: An English Study (1932; revised editions, 1934, 1966), in verse and prose, largely about hero-worship in personal and political life. In his shorter poems, his style became more open and accessible, and the exuberant "Six Odes" in The Orators reflect his new interest in Robert Burns. During the next few years, many of his poems took their form and style from traditional ballads and popular songs, and also from expansive classical forms like the Odes of Horace, which he seems to have discovered through the German poet Hölderlin. Around this time his main influences were Dante, William Langland, and Alexander Pope.^[34] The Orators: An English Study is a long poem in prose and verse written by W. H. Auden, first published in 1932. ... Horace, as imagined by Anton von Werner Quintus Horatius Flaccus, (December 8, 65 BC - November 27, 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus. ... Friedrich Hölderlin Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (March 20, 1770 – June 6, 1843) was a major German lyric poet. ... DANTE is also a digital audio network. ... Langlands Dreamer: from an illuminated initial in a Piers Plowman manuscript held at Corpus Christi College, Oxford William Langland is the conjectured author of the 14th-century English dream-vision Piers Plowman. ... For other uses, see Alexander Pope (disambiguation). ...

Programme of a Group Theatre production of The Dance of Death, with unsigned synopsis by Auden

During these years, much of his work expressed left-wing views, and he became widely known as a political poet, although his work was more politically ambivalent than many reviewers recognized. He generally wrote about revolutionary change in terms of a "change of heart", a transformation of a society from a closed-off psychology of fear to an open psychology of love. His verse drama The Dance of Death (1933) was a political extravaganza in the style of a theatrical revue, which Auden later called "a nihilistic leg-pull".^[35] His next play The Dog Beneath the Skin (1935), written in collaboration with Isherwood, was similarly a quasi-Marxist updating of Gilbert and Sullivan in which the general idea of social transformation was more prominent than any specific political action or structure.^[8][5] Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (602x813, 120 KB) Own work; image of theatre programme; non-copyrightable book cover. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (602x813, 120 KB) Own work; image of theatre programme; non-copyrightable book cover. ... the dance of death ... the dance of death ... The Dog Beneath the Skin, or Where is Francis? A Play in Three Acts, by W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, was the first Auden-Isherwood collaboration and an important contribution to English poetic drama in the 1930s. ... W. S. Gilbert Arthur Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian era partnership of librettist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900). ...

The Ascent of F6 (1937), another play written with Isherwood, was partly an anti-imperialist satire, partly (in the character of the self-destroying climber Michael Ransom) an examination of Auden's own motives in taking on a public role as a political poet. This play included the first version of "Funeral Blues" ("Stop all the clocks"), written as a satiric eulogy for a politician; Auden later rewrote the poem as a "Cabaret Song" about lost love (written to be sung by the soprano Hedli Anderson for whom he wrote many lyrics in the 1930s). In 1935, he worked briefly on documentary films with the G.P.O. Film Unit, writing his famous verse commentary for Night Mail and lyrics for other films that were among his attempts in the 1930s to create a widely-accessible, socially-conscious art.^[8][5] The Ascent of F6: A Tragedy in Two Acts, by W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, was the second play in the Auden-Isherwood collaboration, first published in 1936. ... Funeral Blues is a poem first published in 1936 by W. H. Auden. ... Antoinette Millicent Hedley Anderson (1907 - 1990) was an English singer and actor. ... The GPO Film Unit was a subdivision of the UK General Post Office. ... This article needs cleanup. ...

1936 through 1939

These tendencies in style and content culminate in his collection Look, Stranger! (1936; his British publisher chose the title; Auden retitled the 1937 US edition On This Island). This book included political odes, love poems, comic songs, meditative lyrics, and a variety of intellectually intense but emotionally accessible verse. Among the poems included in the book, connected by themes of personal, social, and evolutionary change and of the possibilities and problems of personal love, were "Hearing of harvests", "Out on the lawn I lie in bed", "O what is that sound", "Look, stranger, on this island now", and "Our hunting fathers."^[8][5] On This Island is a book of poems by W. H. Auden, first published under the title Look, Stranger! in the UK in 1936, then published under Audens preferred title, On this Island, in the US in 1937. ...

Manuscript of "Musée des Beaux Arts", 1938 (Library of Congress)

Auden was now arguing that an artist should be a kind of journalist, and he put this view into practice in Letters from Iceland (1937) a travel book in prose and verse written with Louis MacNeice, which included his long social, literary, and autobiographical commentary "Letter to Lord Byron". In 1937, after observing the Spanish Civil War he wrote a politically-engaged pamphlet poem Spain (1937); he later discarded it from his collected works. Journey to a War (1939) a travel book in prose and verse, was written with Isherwood after their visit to the Sino-Japanese War. Auden's last collaboration with Isherwood was their third play, On the Frontier, an anti-war satire written in Broadway and West End styles.^[8][11] Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (640x819, 79 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): W. H. Auden Musée des Beaux Arts ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (640x819, 79 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): W. H. Auden Musée des Beaux Arts ... Musée des Beaux Arts (French for Museum of Fine Arts) is the title of a poem by W. H. Auden. ... Letters from Iceland is a travel book in prose and verse by W. H. Auden and Louis MacNeice, published in 1937. ... Frederick Louis MacNeice (September 12, 1907 – September 3, 1963) was a British and Irish poet and playwright. ... Not to be confused with the Spanish Civil War of 1820-1823. ... Journey to a War is a travel book in prose and verse by W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, published in 1939. ... Combatants China United States1 Soviet Union2 Japan Manchukuo3 Mengjiang3 Wang Jingwei Government 3 Commanders Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Cheng, Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, Li Zongren, Xue Yue, Bai Chongxi, Peng Dehuai, Joseph Stilwell, Albert Wedemeyer, Claire Chennault, Aleksandr Vasilevsky Hirohito, Fumimaro Konoe, Hideki Tojo, Kotohito Kanin, Matsui Iwane, Hajime... On the Frontier: A Melodrama in Two Acts, by W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, was the third and last play in the Auden-Isherwood collaboration, first published in 1938. ... For other uses of Broadway, see Broadway. ... West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre in London, England, or sometimes more specifically for shows staged in the large theatres of Londons Theatreland. Along with New Yorks Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre...

Auden's themes in his shorter poems now included the fragility and transience of personal love ("Danse Macabre", "The Dream", "Lay your sleeping head"), a theme he treated with ironic wit in his "Four Cabaret Songs for Miss Hedli Anderson" (which included "O Tell Me the Truth About Love" and the revised version of "Funeral Blues"), and also the corrupting effect of public and official culture on individual lives ("Casino", "School Children", "Dover"). In 1938 he wrote a series of dark, ironic ballads about individual failure ("Miss Gee", "James Honeyman", "Victor"). All these appeared in his next book of verse, Another Time (1940), together with other famous poems such as "Dover", "As He Is", and "Musée des Beaux Arts" (all written before he moved to America in 1939), and "In Memory of W. B. Yeats", "The Unknown Citizen", "Law Like Love", "September 1, 1939", and "In Memory of Sigmund Freud" (written in America). The elegies for Yeats and Freud are partly statements of Auden's anti-heroic theme, in which great deeds are performed, not by unique geniuses whom others cannot hope to imitate, but by otherwise ordinary individuals who were "silly like us" (Yeats) or of whom it could be said "he wasn't clever at all" (Freud), and who became teachers of others, not awe-inspiring heroes.^[8] Antoinette Millicent Hedley Anderson (1907 - 1990) was an English singer and actor. ... Funeral Blues is a poem first published in 1936 by W. H. Auden. ... Another Time is a book of poems by W. H. Auden, published in 1940. ... Musée des Beaux Arts (French for Museum of Fine Arts) is the title of a poem by W. H. Auden. ... The Unknown Citizen is a poem by W. H. Auden. ... The poem September 1, 1939 by W. H. Auden describes the historical context from Luther until now and the feelings of the poet as he sits On Fifty-second Street on the first day of World War II. See also Fifty-second Street External links Audens poem at gametec. ...

Middle period, 1940-1957

1940 through 1946

In 1940 Auden wrote a long philosophical poem "New Year Letter", which appeared with miscellaneous notes and other poems in The Double Man (1941). At the time of his return to the Anglican Communion he began writing abstract verse on theological themes, such as "Canzone" and "Kairos and Logos". Around 1942, as he became more comfortable with religious themes, his verse became more open and relaxed, and he increasingly used the syllabic verse he learned from the poetry of Marianne Moore.^[9] The Double Man is a book of poems by W. H. Auden, published in 1941. ... Syllabic verse is a poetic form having a fixed number of syllables per line or stanza regardless of the number of stresses that are present. ... Marianne Moore photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1948 Marianne Moore (December 11, 1887 - February 5, 1972) was a Modernist American poet and writer. ...

His recurring themes in this period included the artist's temptation to use other persons as material for his art rather than valuing them for themselves ("Prospero to Ariel") and the corresponding moral obligation to make and keep commitments while recognizing the temptation to break them ("In Sickness and Health").^[5][9]

Title page of The Age of Anxiety (1947); Auden specified the typography for this book.

From 1942 through 1947 he worked mostly on three long poems in dramatic form, each differing from the others in form and content: "For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio", "The Sea and the Mirror: A Commentary on Shakespeare's The Tempest" (both published in For the Time Being, 1944), and The Age of Anxiety: A Baroque Eclogue (published separately 1947). The first two, with Auden's other new poems from 1940-44, were included in his first collected edition, The Collected Poetry of W. H. Auden (1945), with most of his earlier poems, many in revised versions.^[5] Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1016x1408, 77 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): W. H. Auden ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1016x1408, 77 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): W. H. Auden ... The Age of Anxiety: A Baroque Eclogue is an eighty page poem in six parts by the British writer W.H. Auden. ... For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio, is a long poem by W. H. Auden, written 1941-42, and first published in 1944. ... The Sea and the Mirror: A Commentary on Shakespeares The Tempest, is a long poem by W. H. Auden, written 1942-44, and first published in 1944. ... The Age of Anxiety: A Baroque Eclogue is an eighty page poem in six parts by the British writer W.H. Auden. ...

1947 through 1957

After completing The Age of Anxiety in 1946 he focused again on shorter poems, notably "A Walk After Dark," "The Love Feast", and "The Fall of Rome." Many of these evoked the Italian village where he summered in 1948-57, and his next book, Nones (1951), had a Mediterranean atmosphere new to his work. A new theme was the "sacred importance" of the human body^[36] in its ordinary aspect (breathing, sleeping, eating) and the continuity with nature that the body made possible (in contrast to the division between humanity and nature that he had emphasized in the 1930s); his poems on these themes included "In Praise of Limestone" and "Memorial for the City".^[5][9] In 1949 Auden and Kallman wrote the libretto for Igor Stravinsky's opera The Rake's Progress, and later collaborated on two libretti for operas by Hans Werner Henze.^[6] In the Strada Nomentana, Richard Wilson. ... Igor Stravinsky. ... The Rakes Progress is an English opera in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. ... Hans Werner Henze (born July 1, 1926 in Gütersloh, Westphalia, Germany) is a composer well known for his left-wing political beliefs. ...

Auden's first separate prose book was The Enchafèd Flood: The Romantic Iconography of the Sea (1950), based on a series of lectures on the image of the sea in romantic literature. Between 1949 and 1954 he worked on a sequence of seven Good Friday poems, "Horae Canonicae", an encyclopedic survey of geological, biological, cultural, and personal history, focused on the irreversible act of murder; the poem was also a study in cyclical and linear ideas of time. While writing this, he also wrote a sequence of seven poems about man's relation to nature, "Bucolics". Both sequences appeared in his next book, The Shield of Achilles (1955), with other short poems, including the book's title poem, "Fleet Visit", and "Epitaph for the Unknown Soldier".^[5][9] The Enchafèd Flood: or, The Romantic Iconography of the Sea is a book of three lectures by W. H. Auden, first published in 1950. ... Good Friday is the Friday before Easter (Easter always falls on a Sunday). ... Horae Canonicae is a series of poems by W. H. Auden written between 1949 and 1955. ... The Shield of Achilles is a poem by W. H. Auden first published in 1953. ...

Extending the themes of "Horae Canonicae", in 1955–56 he wrote a group of poems about "history," a word he used to mean the set of unique events made by human choices, as opposed to "nature," the set of involuntary events created by natural processes, statistics, and anonymous forces such as crowds. These poems included "T the Great", "The Maker", and the title poem of his next collection Homage to Clio (1960).^[5][9] Homage to Clio is a book of poems by W. H. Auden, published in 1960. ...

Later work, 1958-1973

In the late 1950s Auden's style became less rhetorical while its range of styles increased. In 1958, having moved his summer home from Italy to Austria, he wrote "Good-bye to the Mezzogiorno"; other poems from this period include "Dichtung und Wahrheit: An Unwritten Poem", a prose poem about the relation between love and personal and poetic language, and the contrasting "Dame Kind", about the anonymous impersonal reproductive instinct. These and other poems, including his 1955-66 poems about history, appeared in Homage to Clio (1960).^[5][9] Homage to Clio is a book of poems by W. H. Auden, published in 1960. ...

His prose book The Dyer's Hand (1962) gathered many of the lectures he gave in Oxford as Professor of Poetry in 1956-61, together with revised versions of essays and notes written since the mid-1940s. The Dyers Hand and other essays is a prose book by W. H. Auden, published in 1962. ...

While translating the haiku and other verse in Dag Hammarskjöld's Markings, Auden began using haiku for many of his poems. A sequence of fifteen poems about his house in Austria, "Thanksgiving for a Habitat", appeared in About the House (1965), with other poems that included his reflections on his lecture tours, "On the Circuit". In the late 1960s he wrote some of his most vigorous poems, including "River Profile" and two poems that looked back over his life, "Prologue at Sixty" and "Forty Years On". All these appeared in City Without Walls (1969). His lifelong passion for Icelandic legend culminated in his verse translation of The Elder Edda (1969).^[5][9] Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld ( ) (July 29, 1905 – September 18, 1961) was a Swedish diplomat and the second Secretary-General of the United Nations. ... About the House is a book of poems by W. H. Auden, published in 1965. ... City Without Walls and other poems is a book by W. H. Auden, published in 1969. ... The Poetic Edda or Elder Edda is a term applied to two things. ...

A Certain World: A Commonplace Book (1970) was a kind of self-portrait made up of favorite quotations with commentary, arranged in alphabetical order by subject. His last prose book was a selection of essays and reviews, Forewords and Afterwords (1973). A Certain World: A Commonplace Book, by W. H. Auden, is a book containing quotations selected by Auden with his commentary, arranged in an alphabetical sequence of topics from Accedie to Writing. It was published in 1970. ...

His last books of verse, Epistle to a Godson (1972) and the unfinished Thank You, Fog (1974) include reflective poems about language ("Natural Linguistics") and about his own aging ("A New Year Greeting", "Talking to Myself", "A Lullaby" ["The din of work is subdued"]). His last completed poem, in haiku form, was "Archeology", about ritual and timelessness, two recurring themes in his later years.^[9] Epistle to a Godson and other poems is a book of poems by W. H. Auden, published in 1972. ... Thank You, Fog: last poems by W. H. Auden is a posthumous book of poems by W. H. Auden, published in 1974. ...

Reputation and influence

Auden’s stature in modern literature is much disputed, with opinions ranging from that of Hugh MacDiarmid, who called him "a complete wash-out", to the obituarist in the Times (London), who wrote: "W. H. Auden, for long the enfant terrible of English poetry . . . emerges as its undisputed master".^[37] Hugh MacDiarmid was the pen name of Christopher Murray Grieve (August 11, 1892, Langholm - September 9, 1978), perhaps the most important Scottish poet of the 20th century. ...

In his enfant terrible stage in the 1930s he was both praised and dismissed as a progressive and accessible voice, in contrast to the politically nostalgic and poetically obscure voice of T. S. Eliot. His departure for America in 1939 was hotly debated in Britain (once even in Parliament), with some critics treating it as a betrayal, and the role of influential young poet passed to Dylan Thomas, although defenders such as Geoffrey Grigson, in an introduction to a 1949 anthology of modern poetry, wrote that Auden "arches over all". His stature was suggested by book titles such as Auden and After by Francis Scarfe (1942) and The Auden Generation by Samuel Hynes (1972).^[2] Thomas Stearns Eliot, OM (September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965), was a poet, dramatist and literary critic. ... Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet. ... Geoffrey Grigson (2nd March 1905 - 1985) was an English writer. ... Francis Scarfe (1911 - 1986) was an English poet, critic and novelist, who became an academic, translator and head of the British Institute in Paris. ...

In the US, starting in the late 1930s, the detached, ironic tone of Auden’s regular stanzas set the style for a whole generation of poets; John Ashbery recalled that in the 1940s Auden "was the modern poet". His manner was so pervasive in American poetry that the ecstatic style of the Beat Generation was partly a reaction against his influence. In the 1950s and 1960s, some British writers (notably Philip Larkin) lamented that Auden’s work had declined from its earlier promise.^[38] John Ashbery John Ashbery (born July 28, 1927) is an American poet. ... Beats redirects here. ... Philip Arthur Larkin, CH, CBE, FRSL, (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist and jazz critic. ...

By the time of Auden’s death in 1973 he had attained the status of a respected elder statesman. With some exceptions, British critics tended to treat his early work as his best, while American critics tended to favor his middle and later work. Unlike other modern poets, his reputation did not decline after his death, and Joseph Brodsky wrote that his was "the greatest mind of the twentieth century".^[4] Bookcover of Works and Days in Russian Joseph Brodsky (May 24, 1940 – January 28, 1996), born Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (Russian: ) was a Russian-born poet and essayist who won the Nobel Prize in Literature (1987) and was chosen Poet Laureate of the United States (1991-1992). ...

Auden’s popularity and familiarity suddenly increased after his "Funeral Blues" ("Stop all the clocks") was read aloud in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994); subsequently, a pamphlet edition of ten of his poems, Tell Me the Truth About Love, sold more than 275,000 copies. After September 11, 2001, his poem "September 1, 1939" was widely circulated.^[37] Public readings and broadcast tributes in the UK and US in 2007 marked his centenary year.^[39] Funeral Blues is a poem first published in 1936 by W. H. Auden. ... Four Weddings and a Funeral is a 1994 British romantic comedy film directed by Mike Newell. ... The poem September 1, 1939 by W. H. Auden describes the historical context from Luther until now and the feelings of the poet as he sits On Fifty-second Street on the first day of World War II. See also Fifty-second Street External links Audens poem at gametec. ...

Published works

See also: Category:Poetry of W. H. Auden and Category:Books by W. H. Auden

In the list below, works reprinted in the Complete Works of W. H. Auden are indicated by footnote references.

Books and selected pamphlets

• Poems (1928, privately printed; different contents from 1930 volume with the same title) (dedicated to Christopher Isherwood).
• Poems (1930; second edn., seven poems substituted, 1933; includes poems and Paid on Both Sides: A Charade^[40]) (dedicated to Christopher Isherwood).
• The Orators: An English Study (1932, verse and prose; slightly revised edn. 1934; revised edn. with new preface, 1966) (dedicated to Stephen Spender).
• The Dance of Death (1933, play)^[40] (dedicated to Robert Medley and Rupert Doone).
• Poems (New York, 1934; contains Poems [1933 edition], The Orators [1932 edition], and The Dance of Death).
• The Dog Beneath the Skin (1935, play, with Christopher Isherwood)^[40] (dedicated to Robert Moody).
• The Ascent of F6 (1936, play, with Christopher Isherwood)^[40] (dedicated to John Bicknell Auden).
• Look, Stranger! (1936, poems; US edn., On This Island, 1937) (dedicated to Erika Mann)
• Spain (1937, poem, pamphlet).
• Letters from Iceland (1937, verse and prose, with Louis MacNeice)^[41] (dedicated to George Augustus Auden).
• On the Frontier (1938, play, with Christopher Isherwood)^[40] (dedicated to Benjamin Britten).
• Journey to a War (1939, verse and prose, with Christopher Isherwood)^[41] (dedicated to E. M. Forster).
• Another Time (1940, poetry) (dedicated to Chester Kallman).
• The Double Man (1941, poems; UK edn., New Year Letter) (Dedicated to Elizabeth Mayer).
• For the Time Being (1944, two long poems: "The Sea and the Mirror: A Commentary on Shakespeare's The Tempest", dedicated to James and Tania Stern, and "For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio", in memoriam Constance Rosalie Auden [Auden's mother]).
• The Collected Poetry of W.H. Auden (1945; includes new poems) (dedicated to Christopher Isherwood and Chester Kallman).
• The Age of Anxiety: A Baroque Eclogue (1947, verse; won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry) (dedicated to John Betjeman).
• The Enchafèd Flood (1950, prose) (dedicated to Alan Ansen).
• Collected Shorter Poems, 1930-1944 (1950; similar to 1945 Collected Poetry) (dedicated to Christopher Isherwood and Chester Kallman).
• Nones (1951, poems) (dedicated to Reinhold and Ursula Niebuhr)
• The Shield of Achilles (1955, poems; won the 1956 National Book Award for Poetry) (dedicated to Lincoln and Fidelma Kirstein).
• Homage to Clio (1960, poems) (dedicated to E. R. and A. E. Dodds).
• The Dyer's Hand (1962, essays) (dedicated to Nevill Coghill).
• About the House (1965, poems) (dedicated to Edmund and Elena Wilson).
• Collected Shorter Poems 1927-1957 (1966) (dedicated to Christopher Isherwood and Chester Kallman).
• Secondary Worlds (1967, prose) (dedicated to Valerie Eliot).
• Collected Longer Poems (1969).
• City Without Walls and Other Poems (1969) (dedicated to Peter Heyworth).
• A Certain World: A Commonplace Book (1970, quotations with commentary) (dedicated to Geoffrey Gorer).
• Academic Graffiti (poems, 1971) (in memoriam Ogden Nash).
• Epistle to a Godson and Other Poems (1972) (dedicated to Orlan Fox).
• Forewords and Afterwords (1973, essays) (dedicated to Hannah Arendt).
• Thank You, Fog: Last Poems (1974) (dedicated to Michael and Marny Yates).

Bold text Poems is a collection of the early poetry of W. H. Auden. ... Christopher Isherwood (left) and W.H. Auden (right), photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1939 Christopher Isherwood (prior to 1946 Christopher William Bradshaw-Isherwood) (August 26, 1904 – January 4, 1986), Anglo-American novelist, was born in the ancestral seat of his family, Wybersley Hall, High Lane, in the north west of... Bold text Poems is a collection of the early poetry of W. H. Auden. ... Paid on Both Sides: A Charade was the first dramatic work written by W. H. Auden. ... Christopher Isherwood (left) and W.H. Auden (right), photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1939 Christopher Isherwood (prior to 1946 Christopher William Bradshaw-Isherwood) (August 26, 1904 – January 4, 1986), Anglo-American novelist, was born in the ancestral seat of his family, Wybersley Hall, High Lane, in the north west of... The Orators: An English Study is a long poem in prose and verse written by W. H. Auden, first published in 1932. ... Sir Stephen Harold Spender CBE, (February 28, 1909, London – July 16, 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist who concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle in his work. ... the dance of death ... Robert Medley CBE, RA, (born London 1905 at Port Said, Egypt, died 1994), was an English artist and Royal Academician. ... Rupert Doone (1903-1966), English dancer, choreographer, theatre director, and teacher. ... Bold text Poems is a collection of the early poetry of W. H. Auden. ... The Dog Beneath the Skin, or Where is Francis? A Play in Three Acts, by W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, was the first Auden-Isherwood collaboration and an important contribution to English poetic drama in the 1930s. ... Christopher Isherwood (left) and W.H. Auden (right), photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1939 Christopher Isherwood (prior to 1946 Christopher William Bradshaw-Isherwood) (August 26, 1904 – January 4, 1986), Anglo-American novelist, was born in the ancestral seat of his family, Wybersley Hall, High Lane, in the north west of... The Ascent of F6: A Tragedy in Two Acts, by W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, was the second play in the Auden-Isherwood collaboration, first published in 1936. ... Christopher Isherwood (left) and W.H. Auden (right), photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1939 Christopher Isherwood (prior to 1946 Christopher William Bradshaw-Isherwood) (August 26, 1904 – January 4, 1986), Anglo-American novelist, was born in the ancestral seat of his family, Wybersley Hall, High Lane, in the north west of... John Bicknell Auden (14 December 1903 - 1991, English geologist and official with the World Health Organization. ... On This Island is a book of poems by W. H. Auden, first published under the title Look, Stranger! in the UK in 1936, then published under Audens preferred title, On this Island, in the US in 1937. ... On This Island is a book of poems by W. H. Auden, first published under the title Look, Stranger! in the UK in 1936, then published under Audens preferred title, On this Island, in the US in 1937. ... Erika Mann Erika Julia Hedwig Mann (November 9, 1905 – August 27, 1969) was the eldest daughter of novelist Thomas Mann and Katia Mann. ... Letters from Iceland is a travel book in prose and verse by W. H. Auden and Louis MacNeice, published in 1937. ... Frederick Louis MacNeice (September 12, 1907 – September 3, 1963) was a British and Irish poet and playwright. ... George Augustus Auden (1872-1957), English physician, professor of public health, school medical officer, and writer on archaeological subjects. ... On the Frontier: A Melodrama in Two Acts, by W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, was the third and last play in the Auden-Isherwood collaboration, first published in 1938. ... Christopher Isherwood (left) and W.H. Auden (right), photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1939 Christopher Isherwood (prior to 1946 Christopher William Bradshaw-Isherwood) (August 26, 1904 – January 4, 1986), Anglo-American novelist, was born in the ancestral seat of his family, Wybersley Hall, High Lane, in the north west of... Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH (November 22, 1913 Lowestoft, Suffolk - December 4, 1976 Aldeburgh, Suffolk) was a British composer, conductor, and pianist. ... Journey to a War is a travel book in prose and verse by W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, published in 1939. ... Christopher Isherwood (left) and W.H. Auden (right), photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1939 Christopher Isherwood (prior to 1946 Christopher William Bradshaw-Isherwood) (August 26, 1904 – January 4, 1986), Anglo-American novelist, was born in the ancestral seat of his family, Wybersley Hall, High Lane, in the north west of... Edward Morgan Forster, OM (January 1, 1879 – June 7, 1970), was an English novelist, short story writer, and essayist. ... Another Time is a book of poems by W. H. Auden, published in 1940. ... Chester Kallman (7 January 1921 – 18 January 1975) was an American poet, librettist, and translator, best known for his collaborations with Igor Stravinsky Kallman was born in Brooklyn. ... The Double Man is a book of poems by W. H. Auden, published in 1941. ... Elizabeth Mayer (1884 - 1970), German-born American translator and editor, closely associated with W. H. Auden, Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears, and other writers and musicians. ... For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio, is a long poem by W. H. Auden, written 1941-42, and first published in 1944. ... The Sea and the Mirror: A Commentary on Shakespeares The Tempest, is a long poem by W. H. Auden, written 1942-44, and first published in 1944. ... James Stern (26 December 1904 – 22 November 1993) Anglo-Irish novelist and short story writer. ... For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio, is a long poem by W. H. Auden, written 1941-42, and first published in 1944. ... Christopher Isherwood (left) and W.H. Auden (right), photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1939 Christopher Isherwood (prior to 1946 Christopher William Bradshaw-Isherwood) (August 26, 1904 – January 4, 1986), Anglo-American novelist, was born in the ancestral seat of his family, Wybersley Hall, High Lane, in the north west of... Chester Kallman (7 January 1921 – 18 January 1975) was an American poet, librettist, and translator, best known for his collaborations with Igor Stravinsky Kallman was born in Brooklyn. ... The Age of Anxiety: A Baroque Eclogue is an eighty page poem in six parts by the British writer W.H. Auden. ... The Pulitzer Prize in Poetry has been presented since 1922 for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author. ... A collection of Betjemans poetry, published by John Murray in January 2006 Sir John Betjeman CBE (28 August 1906 – 19 May 1984) was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Whos Who as a poet and hack. He was born to a middle-class family... The Enchafèd Flood: or, The Romantic Iconography of the Sea is a book of three lectures by W. H. Auden, first published in 1950. ... Alan Ansen (1923 – 2006) was an American poet and playwright and associate of Beat Generation writers. ... Christopher Isherwood (left) and W.H. Auden (right), photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1939 Christopher Isherwood (prior to 1946 Christopher William Bradshaw-Isherwood) (August 26, 1904 – January 4, 1986), Anglo-American novelist, was born in the ancestral seat of his family, Wybersley Hall, High Lane, in the north west of... Chester Kallman (7 January 1921 – 18 January 1975) was an American poet, librettist, and translator, best known for his collaborations with Igor Stravinsky Kallman was born in Brooklyn. ... Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr (June 21, 1892 – June 1, 1971) was a Protestant theologian best known for his study of the task of relating the Christian faith to the reality of modern politics and diplomacy. ... The Shield of Achilles is a poem by W. H. Auden first published in 1953. ... The National Book Award for Poetry has been given since 1950 and is part of the National Book Awards, which are given annually for outstanding literary works by American citizens. ... Photograph of Lincoln Kirstein taken by George Platt Lynes. ... Homage to Clio is a book of poems by W. H. Auden, published in 1960. ... E.R.Dodds was a 20th century British classical scholar. ... The Dyers Hand and other essays is a prose book by W. H. Auden, published in 1962. ... Nevill Coghill (1899-1980) was a British literary scholar, known especially for his modern English version of Geoffrey Chaucers Canterbury Tales. ... About the House is a book of poems by W. H. Auden, published in 1965. ... Edmund Wilson (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer, noted chiefly for his literary criticism. ... Christopher Isherwood (left) and W.H. Auden (right), photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1939 Christopher Isherwood (prior to 1946 Christopher William Bradshaw-Isherwood) (August 26, 1904 – January 4, 1986), Anglo-American novelist, was born in the ancestral seat of his family, Wybersley Hall, High Lane, in the north west of... Chester Kallman (7 January 1921 – 18 January 1975) was an American poet, librettist, and translator, best known for his collaborations with Igor Stravinsky Kallman was born in Brooklyn. ... Secondary Worlds is a book of four essays by W. H. Auden, first published in 1968. ... Valerie Eliot née Esmé Valerie Fletcher is the surviving widow and second wife of the Nobel-prize winning poet Thomas Stearns Eliot. ... City Without Walls and other poems is a book by W. H. Auden, published in 1969. ... Peter Lawrence Frederick Heyworth (21 June 1921 - 2 October 1991) American-born English music critic and biographer. ... A Certain World: A Commonplace Book, by W. H. Auden, is a book containing quotations selected by Auden with his commentary, arranged in an alphabetical sequence of topics from Accedie to Writing. It was published in 1970. ... Geoffrey Gorer, English anthropologist and author (1905-1985), noted for his application of psychoanalytic techniques to anthropology. ... Dust-jacket of the first edition. ... Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971) was an American poet best known for writing pithy and funny light verse. ... Epistle to a Godson and other poems is a book of poems by W. H. Auden, published in 1972. ... Forewords and Afterwords is a prose book by W. H. Auden published in 1973. ... Hannah Arendt (October 14, 1906 – December 4, 1975) was a German Jewish political theorist. ... Thank You, Fog: last poems by W. H. Auden is a posthumous book of poems by W. H. Auden, published in 1974. ... Michael Yates (20 July 1919 – 28 November 2001) was a British theatre, opera, and television designer. ...

Posthumous books

Note: These are works that Auden did not intend to publish

• "The Prolific and the Devourer" (1939, prose; unfinished book; published 1981, in book form 1993).^[42]
• Lectures on Shakespeare (1946-47, reconstructed and ed. by Arthur Kirsch, 2001).

Anthologies edited by Auden

• The Poet's Tongue (2-vol and 1-vol edns., with John Garrett, 1935; introduction reprinted^[41]).
• The Oxford Book of Light Verse (1938; introduction reprinted^[41]) (dedicated to E. R. Dodds).
• The Portable Greek Reader (1948; introduction reprinted^[42]).
• Poets of the English Language (5 vols., with Norman Holmes Pearson, 1950; introduction reprinted^[42]).
• The Faber Book of Modern American Verse (1956).
• The Viking Book of Aphorisms (with Louis Kronenberger, 1964).
• Nineteenth-Century British Minor Poets (1966).

E.R.Dodds was a 20th century British classical scholar. ... Louis Kronenberger (December 9, 1904 - April 30, 1980) was an American critic and author. ...

Film scripts and opera libretti

• Night Mail (1936, documentary film narrative, not published separately except as a program note).^[40]
• Paul Bunyan (1941, libretto for operetta by Benjamin Britten; not published until 1976).^[43]
• The Rake's Progress (1951, with Chester Kallman, libretto for an opera by Igor Stravinsky).^[43]
• Elegy for Young Lovers (1961, with Chester Kallman, libretto for an opera by Hans Werner Henze).^[43]
• The Bassarids (1961, with Chester Kallman, libretto for an opera by Hans Werner Henze based on The Bacchae of Euripides).^[43]
• Love's Labour's Lost (1973, with Chester Kallman, libretto for an opera by Nicolas Nabokov, based on Shakespeare's play).^[43]

This article needs cleanup. ... Paul Bunyan was a choral operetta composed by Benjamin Britten with lyrics by W. H. Auden. ... Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH (November 22, 1913 Lowestoft, Suffolk - December 4, 1976 Aldeburgh, Suffolk) was a British composer, conductor, and pianist. ... The Rakes Progress is an English opera in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. ... Chester Kallman (7 January 1921 – 18 January 1975) was an American poet, librettist, and translator, best known for his collaborations with Igor Stravinsky Kallman was born in Brooklyn. ... Igor Stravinsky. ... Elegy for Young Lovers (in German, Elegie für junge Liebende) is an opera in three acts by Hans Werner Henze to an English libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman. ... Chester Kallman (7 January 1921 – 18 January 1975) was an American poet, librettist, and translator, best known for his collaborations with Igor Stravinsky Kallman was born in Brooklyn. ... Hans Werner Henze (born July 1, 1926 in Gütersloh, Westphalia, Germany) is a composer well known for his left-wing political beliefs. ... The Bassarids (in German, Die Bassariden) is an opera in one act and an intermezzo by Hans Werner Henze to an English libretto by W H Auden and Chester Kallman after Euripidess The Bacchae. ... Chester Kallman (7 January 1921 – 18 January 1975) was an American poet, librettist, and translator, best known for his collaborations with Igor Stravinsky Kallman was born in Brooklyn. ... Hans Werner Henze (born July 1, 1926 in Gütersloh, Westphalia, Germany) is a composer well known for his left-wing political beliefs. ... The Bacchae (also known as The Bacchantes) is a tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides. ... A statue of Euripides. ... Chester Kallman (7 January 1921 – 18 January 1975) was an American poet, librettist, and translator, best known for his collaborations with Igor Stravinsky Kallman was born in Brooklyn. ... Nicolas Nabokov (April 17, 1903 [O.S. April 4] – 6 April 1978), American composer, writer, and cultural figure, was born in Russia. ... For the film, see Loves Labours Lost (2000 film). ...

Edited selections of individual authors

• A Selection from the Poems of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1944).
• Selected Prose and Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe (1950).
• The Living Thoughts of Kierkegaard (1952).
• A Choice of De La Mare's Verse (1963).
• Louis MacNeice, Selected Poems (1964).
• George Gordon, Lord Byron, Selected Poetry and Prose (1966).
• G. K. Chesterton: A Selection from His Non-Fictional Prose (1970).

Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (August 6, 1809 - October 6, 1892) is generally regarded as one of the greatest English poets. ... Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American poet, short story writer, playwright, editor, literary critic, essayist and one of the leaders of the American Romantic Movement. ... Søren Kierkegaard Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (May 5, 1813 - November 11, 1855), a 19th century Danish philosopher, has achieved general recognition as the first existentialist philosopher, though some new research shows this may be a more difficult connection than previously thought. ... Walter John de la Mare, OM CH (April 25, 1873 – June 22, 1956), was an English poet, short story writer, and novelist, probably best remembered for his works for children and The Listeners. He was born in Kent (at 83 Maryon Road, Charlton[1] - now part of the London Borough... Frederick Louis MacNeice (September 12, 1907 – September 3, 1963) was a British and Irish poet and playwright. ... Lord Byron, English poet Lord Byron (1803), as painted by Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, (January 22, 1788 – April 19, 1824) was the most widely read English language poet of his day. ... Gilbert Keith Chesterton (May 29, 1874–June 14, 1936) was an influential English writer of the early 20th century. ...

Translations

• The Magic Flute (1956, with Chester Kallman, English version of Emanuel Schikaneder's original German libretto to the Mozart opera Die Zauberflöte) (dedicated to Anne and Irving Weiss).^[43]
• Don Giovanni (1961, with Chester Kallman, English translation of Lorenzo da Ponte's original Italian libretto to the Mozart opera).
• Goethe, J. W. von. Italian Journey, tr. by W. H. Auden and Elizabeth Mayer (1963).
• The Elder Edda: A Selection, tr. by W. H. Auden and Paul B. Taylor (1969).

Die Zauberflöte, K. 620, (en: The Magic Flute) is an opera in two acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. ... Chester Kallman (7 January 1921 – 18 January 1975) was an American poet, librettist, and translator, best known for his collaborations with Igor Stravinsky Kallman was born in Brooklyn. ... Emanuel Schikaneder (Straubing, September 9, 1751 – September 21, 1812, Vienna), born Johann Joseph Schikaneder, was a German impresario, dramatist, actor, and singer. ... “Mozart” redirects here. ... Don Giovanni (K.527; complete title: Il dissoluto punito, ossia il Don Giovanni, literally The Rake Punishd, or Don Giovanni) is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. ... Chester Kallman (7 January 1921 – 18 January 1975) was an American poet, librettist, and translator, best known for his collaborations with Igor Stravinsky Kallman was born in Brooklyn. ... Lorenzo da Ponte Lorenzo Da Ponte (March 10, 1749–August 17, 1838) was an Italian librettist born in Ceneda (now Vittorio Veneto). ... “Mozart” redirects here. ... Elizabeth Mayer (1884 - 1970), German-born American translator and editor, closely associated with W. H. Auden, Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears, and other writers and musicians. ... The Poetic Edda or Elder Edda is a term applied to two things. ...

Editions published after Auden's death

• Collected Poems (1976, new edns. 1991, 2007, ed. by Edward Mendelson; Auden's final revisions).
• The English Auden: Poems, Essays, and Dramatic Writings, 1927-1939 (1977, ed. by Edward Mendelson).
• Selected Poems (1979, expanded edn. 2007, ed. by Edward Mendelson; includes earlier versions and discarded poems).
• Plays and Other Dramatic Writings, 1927-1938 (1989, first vol. of The Complete Works of W. H. Auden, ed. by Edward Mendelson).^[40]
• Libretti and Other Dramatic Writings, 1939-1973 (1993, second vol. of The Complete Works of W. H. Auden, ed. by Edward Mendelson).^[43]
• Tell Me the Truth About Love: Ten Poems (1994, later UK edns. have 15 poems).
• Juvenilia: Poems 1922-1928 (1994, ed. by Katherine Bucknell; expanded edn. 2003).
• As I Walked Out One Evening: Songs, Ballads, Lullabies, Limericks, and Other Light Verse (1995, ed. by Edward Mendelson).
• Prose and Travel Books in Prose and Verse: Volume I, 1926-1938 (1997, third vol. of The Complete Works of W. H. Auden, ed. by Edward Mendelson).^[41]
• W.H. Auden: Poems selected by John Fuller, (2000).
• Prose, Volume II: 1939-1948 (2002, fourth vol. of The Complete Works of W. H. Auden, ed. by Edward Mendelson).^[42]
• The Sea and the Mirror: A Commentary on Shakespeare's "The Tempest" (2003, ed. by Arthur Kirsch).

Edward Mendelson is a professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. ... Edward Mendelson is a professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. ... Edward Mendelson is a professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. ... Edward Mendelson is a professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. ... Edward Mendelson is a professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. ... Katherine Bucknell, American-born English scholar and novelist. ... Edward Mendelson is a professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. ... Edward Mendelson is a professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. ... For other people named John Fuller, see Fuller (disambiguation). ... Edward Mendelson is a professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. ...

Notes

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other people named John Fuller, see Fuller (disambiguation). ... Humphrey William Bouverie Carpenter (April 29, 1946 – January 4, 2005) was an English biographer, author and radio broadcaster. ... Richard Davenport-Hines is a British writer best known for his biography of the poet W. H. Auden. ... Edward Mendelson is a professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. ... Edward Mendelson is a professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Richard Davenport-Hines is a British writer best known for his biography of the poet W. H. Auden. ... Edward Mendelson is a professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. ... Edward Mendelson is a professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. ... James Albert Pike (February 14, 1913 - September 1969) was an American Episcopal bishop, prolific writer, and one of the first mainline religious figures to appear regularly on television. ... Richard Davenport-Hines is a British writer best known for his biography of the poet W. H. Auden. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

Printed sources

See also the listings on the criticism page at the W. H. Auden Society web site. In the list below, unless noted, publication data and ISBN refer to the first editions; many titles are also available in later reprints.

Bibliography

• Bloomfield, B. C., and Edward Mendelson (1972). W. H. Auden: A Bibliography 1924-1969. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia. ISBN 0-8139-0395-5. See post-1969 supplements in Auden Studies series listed below.

Edward Mendelson is a professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. ...

General biographical and critical studies

• Carpenter, Humphrey (1981). W. H. Auden: A Biography. London: George Allen & Unwin. ISBN 0-049-28044-9.
• Clark, Thekla, Wystan and Chester: A Personal Memoir of W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-17591-0.
• Davenport-Hines, Richard (1996). Auden. London: Heinemann. ISBN 0-434-17507-2.
• Farnan, Dorothy J. (1984). Auden in Love. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-50418-5.
• Fuller, John (1998). W. H. Auden: A Commentary. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-19268-8.
• Mendelson, Edward (1981). Early Auden. New York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-28712-1.
• Mendelson, Edward (1999). Later Auden. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0-374-18408-9.
• Smith, Stan, ed. (2005). The Cambridge Companion to W. H. Auden. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-82962-3.
• Spears, Monroe K. (1963). The Poetry of W. H. Auden: The Disenchanted Island. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Spender, Stephen, ed. (1975). W. H. Auden: A Tribute. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-76884-0.
• Wright, George T. (1969; rev. ed. 1981). W. H. Auden. Boston: Twayne. ISBN 0-8057-7346-0.

Humphrey William Bouverie Carpenter (April 29, 1946 – January 4, 2005) was an English biographer, author and radio broadcaster. ... Richard Davenport-Hines is a British writer best known for his biography of the poet W. H. Auden. ... For other people named John Fuller, see Fuller (disambiguation). ... Edward Mendelson is a professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. ... Edward Mendelson is a professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. ... Sir Stephen Harold Spender CBE, (February 28, 1909, London – July 16, 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist who concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle in his work. ...

Special topics

• Haffenden, John, ed. (1983). W. H. Auden: The Critical Heritage. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. ISBN 0-710-09350-0. Selected reviews of Auden's books and plays.
• Kirsch, Arthur (2005). Auden and Christianity. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10814-1.
• Mitchell, Donald (1981), Britten and Auden in the Thirties: the year 1936. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-11715-5.
• Myers, Alan, and Robert Forsythe (1999), W. H. Auden: Pennine Poet . Nenthead: North Pennines Heritage Trust. ISBN 0-9513535-78. Pamphlet with map and gazetteer.

Professor John Haffenden was educated at Trinity College, Dublin (BA, MA) and Oxford University (D.Phil), Haffenden is an academic at the University of Sheffield, where his renowned research on William Empson developed. ...

Auden Studies series

• Auden, W. H.; ed. by Katherine Bucknell and Nicholas Jenkins (1990) "The Map of All My Youth": early works, friends and influences (Auden Studies 1). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-812964-5.
• Auden, W. H.; ed. by Katherine Bucknell and Nicholas Jenkins (1994). "The Language of Learning and the Language of Love": uncollected writings, new interpretations (Auden Studies 2). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-812257-8.
• Auden, W. H.; ed. by Katherine Bucknell and Nicholas Jenkins (1995). "In Solitude, For Company": W. H. Auden after 1940: unpublished prose and recent criticism (Auden Studies 3). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-818294-5.

Katherine Bucknell, American-born English scholar and novelist. ... Katherine Bucknell, American-born English scholar and novelist. ... Katherine Bucknell, American-born English scholar and novelist. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

W. H. Auden

See also the descriptive list on the links page at the W. H. Auden Society web site. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Wikiquote is one of a family of wiki-based projects run by the Wikimedia Foundation, running on MediaWiki software. ...

• The W. H. Auden Society: news, links, books, notes, etc.. Retrieved on 2007-01-21.
• Events scheduled for the Auden Centenary, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-01-21.
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Auden, Wystan Hugh (1907-1973) (Subscription access only). Retrieved on 2007-01-21.
• Back issues of The W. H. Auden Society Newsletter. Retrieved on 2007-01-21.
• W. H. Auden at Swarthmore. Retrieved on 2007-01-20.
• Fourteen poems by Auden (Academy of American Poets site). Retrieved on 2007-01-20.
• Auden reads "On Reading a Child's Guide to Modern Physics". Retrieved on 2007-01-21.
• Myers, Alan. Auden in the North. Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
• Recorded interviews with the BBC. Retrieved on 2007-01-21.
• Paris Review interview with Auden. Retrieved on 2007-01-21.
• Gopnik, Adam. "The Double Man: Why Auden is an indispensable poet of our time", The New Yorker, 23 Sept. 2002. Retrieved on 2007-01-21.
• Fenton, James. "A voice of his own", The Guardian, 3 Feb. 2007. Retrieved on 2007-02-03.
• Bucknell, Katherine. "In praise of a guilty genius", The Observer, 4 Feb. 2007. Retrieved on 2007-02-06.
• Web English Teacher. Lesson plans for Auden's poetry. Retrieved on 2007-02-28.
• Slate.com. Auden at 100. Retrieved on 2007-03-03.
• Mendelson, Edward. Clouseau Investigates Auden (on the release of MI5 files). Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
• Wikiquote page of quotations from W. H. Auden (with notes on misattributions).