W.H. Auden is best-known for his long poem The Age of Anxiety, which won him the 1948 Pulitzer Prize and The Shield of Achilles, a National Book of Poetry Award in 1956. A prolific writer, he was also a noted playwright, librettist, and editor.
His work has exerted a major influence on succeeding generations of poets worldwide.
Early Life of W.H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden was born in York on February 21, 1907. He went to Oxford University, where he established a reputation as a leading young poet. His first poetry collection was published when he was 23 and was an immediate success. In his youthful career, he was a strong advocate of socialism and Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis.
Auden was aware from an early age that he was a homosexual, but at 29, he still married Erika Mann, the daughter of the German novelist Thomas Mann, to help her escape from Nazi Germany.
Poetry Influences
As a young man he was influenced by the poetry of Thomas Hardy and Robert Frost, William Blake and Emily Dickinson, among others. He also formed lifelong friendships with Christopher Isherwood and Stephen Spender.
Auden travelled widely after his graduation. He lived in Germany and volunteered as an ambulance driver during the Spanish Civil War. He also visited China and Iceland. It was during this period that he collaborated with the writer and former school friend Isherwood on a number of plays, and with the poet Louis MacNeice on Letters from Iceland.
Mid-Years: US Migration and Christian Beliefs
In 1939 Auden migrated to the US and later became an American citizen. While living in New York, he met Chester Kallman, who remained Auden's partner for the rest of his life and inspired some of his best love poetry. Auden became a committed Anglican Christian. His beliefs in Christianity and modern Protestant theology became the central focus in much of his work of the 1940s.
Last Years
W.H. Auden died at the age of 66, on September 28, 1973. He continued to write throughout the following decades. Believing that the poetry of his day was tiring and somewhat unimaginative, Auden set out to make it relevant to the 20th century.
Works by W.H. Auden
- Poems, 1930
- The Orators, 1932
- The Dance of Death, 1933, Play
- The Dog Beneath the Skin, 1935, Play
- The Ascent of F6, 1936, Play
- Letters from Iceland, 1937
- On the Frontier, 1938, Play
- Journey to a War, 1939
- Collected Poetry of W.H. Auden, 1945
- The Age of Anxiety, 1947
- The Shield of Achilles, 1955
Sources:
Biographical Dictionary, edited by Una McGovern, Chambers, 2002
Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring, Larousse, 1994
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