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W. H. Auden: Work
Auden wrote a considerable body of criticism and essays as well as co-authoring some drama with his friend Christopher Isherwood, but he is primarily known as a poet. Auden's work is characterised by exceptional variety, ranging from such rigorous traditional forms as the villanelle to original yet intricate forms, as well as the technical and verbal skills Auden displayed regardless of form. He was also partly responsible for re-introducing Anglo-Saxon accentual meter to English poetry.
Before he turned to Anglo-Catholicism, Auden was deeply involved in left-wing political controversies of his day and some of his greatest work reflects these concerns, such as
Spain, a poem on the Spanish Civil War and
September 1, 1939 on the outbreak of World War II. Other memorable works include his Christmas oratorio,
For the Time Being, The Unknown Citizen
, Musée des Beaux-Arts, and poems on the deaths of William Butler Yeats and Sigmund Freud. Auden's gay love poem
Funeral Blues was movingly read in the 1994 film Four Weddings and a Funeral. Before this Auden's work was famously used in the GPO Film Unit's documentary film Night Mail.
Auden was part of a group of like-minded writers including Edward Upward, Christopher Isherwood, and Stephen Spender. He also collaborated closely with musicians.
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