Wystan Hugh Auden Wystan Hugh Auden was born on February 21, 1907, in provincial York, England. Over the next sixty-six years, he became one of the most prolific poets of the twentieth century. He was a versatile poet who felt that poetry was "a game of knowledge." He boarded at Gresham’s School in Norfolk and in 1925 went to Christ Church at Oxford. Although he initially studied biology, he quickly switched to English. From there he embarked on a literary career that covered almost fifty years
W.H. Auden wrote the poem, “Funeral Blues”. Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-1973) was born in York, England, and later became and American citizen. Auden was the founder for a generation of English poets, such as C. Day Lewis, and Stephen Spender. Auden’s earlier works were composed of a Marxist outlook with a knowledge of Freudian Psychology. Later works consisted of professing Christianity, and what he considered “increasing conservatism”. In 1946 Auden emigrated and became an American citizen. While in
Wystan Hugh Auden was born in York, North Yorkshire, as the son of George Augustus Auden, a distinguished physician, and Rosalie (Bicknell) Auden. Solihull in the West Midlands, where Auden was brought up, remained important to him as a poet. Auden was educated at St. Edmund's Hindhood and then at Gresham's School, Holt, Norfolk. In 1925 he entered Christ Church, Oxford. Auden's studies and writing progressed without much success: he took a disappointing third-class degree in English. And his first
W. H. Auden W. H. Auden was a great writer and a significant poet who used his skills to influence others. Auden was from England, though he moved to the United States to build his career. He wrote poems, plays, songs, odes, and more. He lived a wonderful life, while using his talent in writing. Auden made writing a career, which was used to influence, teach, and entertain people. His works has expanded from his heart and mind into those of his family, pupils, and other individuals. Wystan Hugh Auden
Written in 1939, “The Unknown Citizen” by W.H. Auden is a satiric epitaph for the individual man in a modern bureaucracy. The poem is addressed to “Js/07/m/378”, a social security like number, and an allusion to the national monuments for the unknown soldiers who died in battle. Similar to Aldous Huxley’s A Brave New World or George Orwell’s 1984, the poem reflects upon the diminishing role of individuality in the modern state. Given the context Auden wrote in, with the rise of fascism in Germany
“The Unknown Citizen” “The Unknown Citizen” by W.H. Auden, is a commentary on government and the materialism of modern man. The poem is written in the form of an obituary inscribed on a monument built by the government in commemoration of an average, upstanding, and decent community member. Throughout the passage, the speaker lists facts about the citizen’s life which he believes prove that the deceased was a valuable person. In actuality these facts represent nothing more than the socially accepted
The Unknown Citizen by W.H. Auden The poem that I am going to talk about is the Unknown Citizen by W.H Auden. I am going to talk about what I first glimpse in the poem but then after further study what you actually see. At the start of the poem under the title it has a serial
by W.H. Auden “The Unknown Citizen”, written by W.H. Auden during 1940, is a poem where the speaker, a representative of the state or government, directs a speech to the audience about a monument being erected for a citizen. Written in free verse, although using many couplets, this poem is a poem that describes the life of a certain person through his records and documents. This citizen is portrayed as a normal and average human being who is being honoured for being normal. Auden, however
Besides metaphors, Auden also uses historical allusion to show how society is stuck in an authoritarian and conformist mindset. September 1, 1939 is not just the day Auden sat feeling depressed in a bar, but the day Germany invaded Poland, ultimately sparking world war two. The U.S. was in shock and fear as they could only watch as Hitler and the nazi army invaded the Slavs in an attempt to expand Germany's territory. (History.com) Auden used this current event as a way to draw people to his poem
The Unknown Citizen by W.H. Auden The Poem “The Unknown Citizen” by W.H. Auden is a satire. Its narrator is the state. In this, the state pays tribute and describes a successful and positive product of its efficiency and effectiveness. In other words, it builds the character later described to the reader as “the perfect citizen.” The narrator speaks as if he is delivering a speech or common tribute using words and phrases that are familiar to the reader. Using such imagery
The Mood in Funeral Blues by W.H. Auden The poem, "Funeral Blues", by W.H. Auden tells about a person's grief and is successful in creating a very sad and depressing mood. This is achieved by the poet's use of language, word choice and sentence structure. The way in which the author describes his feeling - along with the use of rhythm and rhyme - was created in a very effective way which made it clear to the reader. In the first stanza the depressing mood is created straight away by
The poem “The Unknown Citizen” by W. H. Auden is a part of the collection, Another Time, published in 1940. “The Unknown Citizen” is an occasional poem in which it commemorates a fallen man whose identity is unknown. Nonetheless, instead identified by name, this citizen is recognized by his social identification “JS/07/M/378” (497). This combination of number and symbols which precedes the body of the poem can be compared as a modern social security number that is require nowadays. The irony is deeply
perceptions and how we use them to observe, or block out human suffering. While we are doing ordinary things like eating, or opening a window, bad things can be happening to others and it is as easy as looking up, to see what is actually going on. Auden illustrates societies’ indifference to human suffering through the form of his poem and by alluding to artwork that compares human perceptions and juxtaposes ordinary images with images of suffering and tragedy. The form of Musée des Beaux Arts plays
The poems “Disabled” by Wilfred Owens and “Refugee Blues” by WH Auden both address events that happened during war in Europe, collectively exploring the theme of discrimination, particularly the sense of exclusion and isolation initiated by War. In “Disabled” Owens examines the intricacies of a more interior, personal and psychological torment felt by a veteran from WWI, whereas in “Refugee Blues” Auden stresses the plight and desperation of a group of people and their exteriorly imposed repression
Both Wilfred Owen and W.H Auden effectively express their opinions on the sensitive topic of war, having experienced the direct impact of it first hand which is indisputably evident in their poems ‘Disabled’ and ‘Refugee Blues’ respectively. Both the poems focus on the intense depiction of the unglamorous consequences tied with war. ‘Disabled’ as per the title is about a young soldier disabled both physically and emotionally during combat. The poem is written in close focus third person and zooms
Out One Evening” by W.H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden was born in York, England on February 21, 1907. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford after his family moved to Birmingham during his early childhood. He later attended Oxford University where his gift as a poet was immediately realized. In 1930, at the age of twenty three, Auden's second collection of poetry aptly titled, Poems, was published, thus establishing him as a leading voice of a new generation (“W.H. Auden”). Auden's technical virtuosity
interest of mine. The poem Musee des Beux Arts by W.H Auden and Anne Sexton’s To a Friend Whose Come to Triumph are both based on the myth of Icarus both poet based their poetry on a painting by Pieter Brueghel on The Landscape of The Fall of Icarus. W.H Auden was enamored by Brueghel’s painting that he wrote about it. Anne Sexton’s poem was a poetical response to William Butler Yeats poem’s To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing Both Auden and Sexton’s poems are based on life. Audens’s Poem leans
should feel some pain like the pain Auden feels right now. The same is represented in the lines ‘Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead, Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead’, it’s the desire that everybody should know that Auden is in mourning and that nothing is going to change how he feels, should someone attempt to help him then he will simply send every message the same, I Mourn. The fourth verse is amplifying what a person meant to Auden. ‘He was my North, my South, my East
attempt, without success, to discover themselves. The themes and ideas that Auden's "The Age of Anxiety" conveys reflect his belief that man's quest for self-actualization is in vain. W. H. Auden was born in York, England, in 1907, the third and youngest son of Constance and George Auden (Magill 72). His poetry in the 1930's reflected the world of his era, a world of depression, Fascism, and war. His works adopt a prose of a "clinical diagrostician [sic] anatomizing society"
A Christian Reading of Hamlet In a famous article, "The Christian Tragic Hero," Poet W. H. Auden defines a Christian tragic hero according to the Judeo-Christian view that all people are moral agents and own responsibility for their actions. One of his examples is Macbeth, who listens to the witches and is tempted to commit a crime that he knows is wrong. Auden says that the audience's response to Macbeth's fall is, "What a pity it was this way when it might have been otherwise." This contrasts