W. H. Auden
W.
H.
Auden (1907–1973) was an Anglo-American poet whose work shaped twentieth-century verse.
Born in England, he became a U.S. citizen in 1946.
His poetry ranges from political engagement in the 1930s to later meditations on love, art, and Christian faith.
Famous lines include "We must love one another or die" and "poetry makes nothing happen." She's reading Auden for her modernism course.
Trusted wisdom-giving advisor
- inspirationSource of creative impulse
- authorityPower to enforce obedience
- catalystAgent enabling change
- pioneerEarly explorer or settler
guide · champion · precursor · generation · Day-Lewis · Britten · Oxford · transatlantic
Metered poetic passage
- stanzaPoem's line grouping
- sonnetFourteen-line metered poem
- elegyPoem lamenting the departed
- odeLaudatory verse form
ballad · lyric · quatrain · couplet · iambic · pentameter · imagery · alliteration
Period following loss
- griefIntense sorrow from loss
- lamentMournful expression of grief
- tributeOffering of respect
- remembranceAct of holding something in mind
memorial · consolation · loss · sorrow · Yeats · Freud · homage · valediction
Persistent apprehensive distress
- loveIntense fond attachment
- mortalityState of eventual death
- politicsGovernmental power struggles
- faithTrust without proof
isolation · modernity · history · time · suffering · conscience · doubt · citizenship
Innovative cultural pioneers
- experimentationSystematic testing of ideas
- fragmentationBreaking into smaller pieces
- dissonanceLack of harmony
- ironyMeaning opposite to words
collage · technique · innovation · intellectual · urbanism · psychology · Freud · Marx
mentor
Trusted wisdom-giving advisor
- inspirationSource of creative impulse
- authorityPower to enforce obedience
- catalystAgent enabling change
pioneer · guide · champion · precursor · generation · Day-Lewis · Britten · Oxford · transatlantic · anthology
verse
Metered poetic passage
ode · ballad · lyric · quatrain · couplet · iambic · pentameter · imagery · alliteration · metaphor
mourning
Period following loss
remembrance · memorial · consolation · loss · sorrow · Yeats · Freud · homage · valediction · eulogy
anxiety
Persistent apprehensive distress
faith · isolation · modernity · history · time · suffering · conscience · doubt · citizenship · landscape
avant-garde
Innovative cultural pioneers
- experimentationSystematic testing of ideas
- fragmentationBreaking into smaller pieces
- dissonanceLack of harmony
irony · collage · technique · innovation · intellectual · urbanism · psychology · Freud · Marx · clinical
- LibrettistsW.S. Gilbert, Oscar Hammerstein, Oscar Hammerstein II, Bertolt Brecht
- War PoetsWilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, war poetry
W. H. AudenSylvia Plath
Allen Ginsberg · Charles Bukowski · D. H. Lawrence · Jack Kerouac · Dylan Thomas