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 mean breaking-silence
Art is our chief means of breaking bread with the dead.
leadership joy great-leader
No person can be a great leader unless he takes genuine joy in the successes of those under him.
faith easy difficult
To choose what is difficult all one's days, as if it were easy, that is faith
mistake science drawing
When I am in the company of scientists, I feel like a shabby curate who has strayed by mistake into a drawing room full of dukes.
trying essentials becoming
I used to try and concentrate the poem so much that there wasn't a word that wasn't essential. This leads to becoming boring and constipated.
love stars ocean
I'll love you till the ocean Is folded and hung up to dry And the seven stars go squawking Like geese about the sky.
dream your-dreams
Learn from your dreams what you lack.
angel way fairytale
The way to read a fairy tale is to throw yourself in.
marriage interesting romance
Like everything which is not the involuntary result of fleeting emotion but the creation of time and will, any marriage, happy or unhappy, is infinitely more interesting than any romance, however passionate.
confusion confusing funny-basketball
Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about.
water soul earth
Water is the soul of the Earth.
book beer quality
Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered.
love inspirational life
Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.
stars passion return
How should we like it were stars to burn With a passion for us we could not return? If equal affection cannot be, Let the more loving one be me.