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
art media political
What the mass media offers is not popular art, but entertainment which is intended to be consumed like food, forgotten, and replaced by a new dish.
love order mind
The image of myself which I try to create in my own mind in order that I may love myself is very different from the image which I try to create in the minds of others in order that they may love me.
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.
gentleman acting actors
The theater has never been any good since the actors became gentlemen.
helping-others love-each-other
Love each other or perish
history answers study
History is, strictly speaking, the study of questions; the study of answers belongs to anthropology and sociology.
art sleep men
There must always be two kinds of art: escape-art, for man needs escape as he needs food and deep sleep, and parable-art, that art which shall teach man to unlearn hatred and learn love.
dancing grace should
I know nothing, except what everyone knows - if there when Grace dances, I should dance.
dog joy wags
In times of joy, all of us wished we possessed a tail we could wag.
love educational philosophy
We must love one another or die
believe poetry sound
A poet must never make a statement simply because it is sounds poetically exciting; he must also believe it to be true.
thinking self people
It is axiomatic that we should all think of ourselves as being more sensitive than other people because, when we are insensitive in our dealings with others, we cannot be aware of it at the time; conscious insensitivity is a self-contradiction.
philosophical listening asking
See without looking, hear without listening, breathe without asking.
trying want aging
If we really want to live, we'd better start at once to try.