31. auden
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W. H. Auden (1907-1973)
“Some books are undeservedly forgotten;none are undeservedly remembered”
Wystan Hugh Auden.
• Born in 1907 at York of middle-class
High Church Anglican parents.
• At Oxford became the leader of the
so-called «Oxford poets», a group of
left-winged intellectuals.
• Deeply committed with social and
political issues.
2. Life
W. H. Auden
W. H. Auden.
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2. Life
W. H. Auden
• In 1939 moved to New York and
settled in a house in Brooklyn.
• In 1940 began teaching in New
York, and published Another
Time.
W. H. Auden.
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• From then on his social poetry
was to be anti-ideological, anti-
political.
• Returned to Anglicanism, the
religion of his youth.
• Developed a growing concern
with poetics and difficult verse
forms.
2. Life
W. H. Auden
W. H. Auden.
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• In 1946 became a citizen of the
USA.
• In 1956 he was elected
Professor of Poetry at Oxford.
• Died in 1973.
2. Life
W. H. Auden
W. H. Auden.
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• Influenced by Freud and psychoanalysis.
• Psychological models in relation to the customs of an entire
society.
• Another influence was that of Karl Marx.
• Took for granted the engagement of the individual with history.
W. H. Auden
3. England vs. America
Auden’s English period
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W. H. Auden
3. England vs. America
• Withdrawal from political commitment.
• Disillusionment with political events in Spain and the Soviet Union.
• Did not want to be the leader of the intellectual left but simply a verbal artist.
• Came to believe that improvement must begin within the self, not within society.
Auden’s American period
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W. H. Auden
4. Development of theme
Theme of quest = at first regards secular political interests
Theme of quest = later regards ethical concerns
Sorrow, the relationship between man and nature, alienation, love, death, transgression and renewal.
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Mixture of modes and forms
Fictional, didactic, comic,
contemplative, fantastic.
Free verse, metre, rhyme, popular forms such as
ballads or songs.
W. H. Auden
5. Style
Mode Form
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• The role of poetry was to tell
stories from which each person
may draw his own
conclusions according to their
own immediate needs.
• The poet’s task was to act as
a public voice, to support the
causes for freedom against
tyranny.
W. H. Auden
6. The figure of the poet
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W. H. Auden.