Wystan Hugh Auden
HAPPY BIRTHDAY – W.H. Auden, born 21 February 1907
“Poetry might be defined as the clear expression of mixed feelings”
Wystan Hugh Auden was born in York, England, but later in his life became an American citizen. He was controversial and also very influential, but his poems enjoyed greater renown after his death than they did while he was alive.
The film ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ created sudden high sales of his poem Funeral Blues after it was movingly read during the funeral in the film. You can watch and listen to John Hannah in a clip from the movie read the poem:
Auden was also a fine essayist and reviewer and he wrote plays and film scripts. He was gay and the theme of unsuccessful love is common in his writings. He wrote about 400 poems, and over 400 essays, so his career was a prolific one.
W.H. Auden died on 29 September 1973 at age 66.
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Susannah Fullerton: Poem of the Month, January 2018 – Stop All the Clocks
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