Wystan hugh auden biography of albert

What no Auden thread? Let me fix that.

W. H. Auden, American citizen, arguably the greatest American writer of all times, a man of enormous erudition and an amazing ease for writing great poetry. The usual Wikipedia search will give you the facts of his life. I only want to point out that like Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla before him he became a U.S. Citizen. And that he wrote poetry in many styles and forms, both long and short, ranging from couplet to libretto.

Auden was an extraordinary poet, IMHO the greatest poet of the XXth Century English language. His gift for a light, even flippant touch mixed with deep ideas and perfect phrasing has no peers. When you read other famous poets veiling their meaning or their lack of meaning behind surrealism, cryptic phrasing, pretentious allusions, you think of the enormous learning of Auden hidden behind his friendly verses:

Common people.

Each to his secret cult. Now each of us
Prays to an image of his image of himself:

'Let me get through this coming day
Without a dressing down from a superior
Being worsted in a repartee,
Or behaving like an ass in front of the girls;
Let something exciting happen,
Let me find a lucky coin on a sidewalk,
Let me hear a new funny story.'

Professionals:

You

•

•