Auden, W.H.
Auden, W.H. ( Wystan Hugh) (1907–73) Anglo-American poet, b. England, one of the major poets of the 20th century. Auden's first volume of poetry, Poems (1930), established him as the leading voice in a group of left-wing writers, which included Stephen Spender, Louis MacNeice, Cecil Day-Lewis, and Christopher Isherwood. Auden and Isherwood collaborated on a series of plays, such as The Ascent of F6 (1936). Auden joined the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War and wrote Spain (1937). In 1939 he emigrated to New York, becoming a US citizen in 1946. His volume The Age of Anxiety (1947) won a Pulitzer Prize. From 1956 to 1961, he was professor of poetry at Oxford University. Auden's poetry adopts many tones, often utilizing colloquial and everyday language. His later poetry is more serious and epistolary, reflecting his conversion to Anglicanism. Auden's Collected Poems was published in 1976.
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Auden, W.H.