Wystan Hugh Auden

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This essay will discuss the poet Wystan Hugh Auden, his childhood, religion, his poetry, and what inspired him and influenced his poetry. Our poet was born in the north of England in February of 1907, to a physician father, George Agustus Auden, and Constance Rosalie Bicknell, a deeply believing Christian. Auden experienced doubts in his Christianity and these will be discussed in terms of whether or not they had any effects on his poetry, and if so, in what ways. When one searches for information on W.H. Auden, on the internet for example, it is quickly revealed that he was homosexually oriented. This fact will also be a part of the discussion on his poetry. After doing research on Auden’s inspirations for his poetry, faith and sexual orientation, one might ask how Auden treated homosexuality in his poems.

Wystan Hugh Auden was raised in a Christian home as mentioned above, his parents both being children of clergymen. His mother being a deeply believing Christian, she would make sure that her family would practice their religion, and in doing so “she saw to it that family prayers were held daily” and every Sunday she took Wystan and his two older brothers to services in Solihull parish church. At the Sunday services, dressed in a red cassock and white linen cotta, Wystan, would act as a “boat boy”. He was satisfied with his first encounter of faith, taking actual part in the sermon, instead of sitting on a church bench and having to listen to it. When Auden was around the age of thirteen he started to question his Christian beliefs, and his gradual loss of faith coincided with him becoming more aware of his sexual feelings and at the age of fifteen he had already started to grow sexually attracted to one of his fellow pup...

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.... 14 Nov. 2013. .
Whitehead, John. A commentary on the poetry of W.H.Auden, C.Day Lewis, Louis Macneice, and Stephen Spender. , Lampeter, Dyfed, Wales: The Edwin Mellen Press 1992. 620, 621, 871-73.
Woods, Gregory. "Gregory Woods." : Auden's Platonic Blow. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. .
"W. H. Auden." : The Poetry Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. .
"W. H. Auden." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. .
"How Dirty Is That Auden Poem That Was Too Dirty for the 'Times Book Review'?." Vulture. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. .

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