The son of a successful Doctor, Wystan Hugh Auden was born in York, England on 21 February 1907. He received a public education, first at St Edmund's Hindhood and then at Gresham's School, Holt in Norfolk. In 1925 he entered Christ Church, Oxford University. It was during his time at Oxford that he formed an association with a group of young literary intellectuals including Stephen Spender, Christopher Isherwood, C. Day Lewis and Louis MacNeice. This group of young writers represented a changing face in literature and particularly in poetry, but it was Auden who has gone on to be noted among the greatest English poets of the C20th.
Strongly influenced by Freudian Psychoanalysis, his studies in anthropology, and by left-wing political ideologies, Auden was strongly anti-Romantic and rejected existing literary conventions and the need to fit his poetry to any particular style. Rather, he forged a reputation as a virtuoso exhibiting an enormous range of technique and form in his works, variously employing sonnets, ballads and numerous strict, metered patterns of his own devising. His use of the vernacular, mixed syntax and his own special vocabulary mark his earlier work, although they are curbed somewhat in his later pieces. His first book Poems (1930), a modernist collection of short, untitled poems presenting the author's varied and often cryptic views was an instant success. Throughout the 1930's Auden continued to write prolifically and was strongly influenced by such writers as T. S. Eliot. Like Eliot, his work during this period centred on a deep awareness of human suffering and the social upheaval leading up to World War II. He approached his subject matter with compassion, empathy, insight and a talent for devastating understatement, as in such works as The Orators (1936) and Look, Stranger! (1936).
In 1935 Auden married Erika Mann, daughter of German novelist Thomas Mann. Far from any romantic implications, the marriage was made as a favour, to provide Erika with a passport and a means of escape from Nazi Germany. In 1937, Auden left England and travelled to Spain where he briefly became involved in the Spanish Republican movement before continuing his travels to Iceland and China. In 1939 Auden moved to the United States where he met, and moved in with poet Chester Kallman. His sexual orientation and the couples' lifelong relationship is itself representative of the Auden's fascination with the crossing of physical and societal boundaries which features throughout his work.
Auden had difficulty maintaining the detachment necessary for truly modernist poetry and instead set about, in his middle years, to present poetry that he hoped would not only reflect upon, but also effect change in the social conditions he witnessed. As he matured however, he became disillusioned with the power of poetry to make any tangible difference and this led him to reject, and even suppress some of his earlier works.
Auden's later poems display an element of the metaphysical that is somewhat at odds with his earlier sentiments. This change results largely from his growing exploration of religion and his examination of the historical and theological aspects of Christian belief such as can be found in, For The Time Being (1944), The Age of Anxiety (1948) - a lengthy dramatic poem set in a New York bar, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and in his highly regarded collection of poetry, Nones (1951). Despite this shift in subject matter, the author's sharp whit and colourful technique continued as hall marks of his work as evidenced in About The House (1965).
In addition to poetry, Auden's career saw him receive countless awards, as well as the production of numerous essays , literary criticisms and travel writings. He even formed successful collaborations on opera librettos for such eminent composers as Benjamin Brittain and Igor Stravinsky. From 1939 to 1953 Auden taught at various schools and universities, and in 1956 he returned to Britain to serve as Professor of Poetry at Oxford until 1961. In 1972 he moved to a residence and teaching position at Christ Church College. Auden died of a heart attack in a hotel room in Vienna on September 29, 1973, only hours after giving a reading of his poetry.
Stanza From Twelve Songs
IX Funeral Blues