W. H. Auden
W. H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Audenwas an English poet, who later became an American citizen. He is best known for love poems such as "Funeral Blues," poems on political and social themes such as "September 1, 1939" and "The Shield of Achilles," poems on cultural and psychological themes such as The Age of Anxiety, and poems on religious themes such as "For the Time Being" and "Horae Canonicae." He was born in York, grew up in and near Birmingham in a professional middle-class...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth21 February 1907
W. H. Auden quotes about
choices hunger
Hunger allows no choice.
history answers study
History is, strictly speaking, the study of questions; the study of answers belongs to anthropology and sociology.
travel artist difficult
Of all possible subjects, travel is the most difficult for an artist, as it is the easiest for a journalist.
eye hands bored
The ear tends to be lazy, craves the familiar and is shocked by the unexpected; the eye, on the other hand, tends to be impatient, craves the novel and is bored by repetition.
death men gmos
The words of a dead man are modified in the guts of the living.
death war men
To save your world you asked this man to die; would this man, could he see you now, ask why?
life believe writing
No poet or novelist wishes he were the only one who ever lived, but most of them wish they were the only one alive, and quite a number fondly believe their wish has been granted.
mistake science drawing
When I am in the company of scientists, I feel like a shabby curate who has strayed by mistake into a drawing room full of dukes.
dream your-dreams
Learn from your dreams what you lack.
water soul earth
Water is the soul of the Earth.
trying essentials becoming
I used to try and concentrate the poem so much that there wasn't a word that wasn't essential. This leads to becoming boring and constipated.
poetic poet makers
A poet is a professional maker of verbal objects.
gentleman acting actors
The theater has never been any good since the actors became gentlemen.
children hero history
Political history is far too criminal to be a fit subject of study for the young. Children should acquire their heroes and villians from fiction.