Auden

Wystan Hugh Auden, known as W. H. Auden, was a British-born poet who later became an American citizen and one of the major figures of 20th‑century poetry. His verse moved across formal complexity and accessible clarity, tackling moral and social questions, religious doubt, and human vulnerability.

Born February 21, 1907, in York, England, Auden studied at Oxford and began publishing in the 1930s. He emerged within a generation of poets influenced by modernism and social realism, and his early work often juxtaposed wit with urgently political concerns. He lived and wrote across Europe before moving to the United States at the start of World War II, a shift that deepened his engagement with transatlantic literary life.

Among his best-known poems are The Orators (1932), The Unknown Citizen (1939), The Age of Anxiety (1948), and September 1, 1939, as well as long poems such as The Shield of Achilles (1955). Auden also wrote For the Time Being, a Christmas Oratorio, and collaborated with composer Benjamin Britten on the opera Paul Bunyan. His work often blended classical allusion with contemporary concerns and a careful, controlled voice.

In 1939 Auden settled in the United States and became a naturalized citizen in 1946, teaching at several universities and participating in American literary life while retaining ties to Britain. His later poetry reflected on memory, myth, and the moral dimensions of public life, and his essays and criticisms helped shape literary appreciation in the mid‑century era.

Auden died September 29, 1973, in Vienna, Austria. He left a profound and wide-ranging legacy, influencing generations of poets and critics through a body of work noted for technical mastery, humane concern, and a willingness to confront difficult truths about society and conscience.