Auden and the Socialist School WwW. H. Auden , in full Wystan Hugh Auden, (ago7- 1973) was an English-born poet and man of letters thieved early fame in the 1930s as a hero of the left during the Great Depression. In 1939 Auden settled in the United States, becoming a US. citizen. By the early 1930s he had emerged as the pre-eminent figure in a group of young writers who could speak for the inter-war generation. Auden “believed his verse could serve social causes and left wing political action."Auden and the Socialist School 1. The first extends from 1927, when ~~ he was still an undergraduate, | through The Orators of 1932. Poems established Auden’s reputation in 1930, but also best reveals the imperfectly fused but fascinating combination of material from the Icelandic sagas, Old English etry, public-school stories, rl arx, Sigmund Freud and other psychologists, and schoolboy humour that enters into all these works. Though the social and_ political implications of the poetry attracted most attention, the psychological aspect is primary. The OratorsIn the early 1930s W.H. Auden was acclaimed by some as the foremost poet then writing in English, on the ground that his poetry was more relevant to contemporary social and political realities. By the time of Eliot’s death in 1965, however, Auden seemed indeed to deserve to be Eliot’s successor. Auden was, as a poet, far more copious and varied than Eliot and far more uneven. He tried to interpret the times, to diagnose the ills of society and deal with intellectual and moral problems of public concern. If the poems, taken individually, are often obscure—especially the earlier ones—they create, when taken together, a meaningful poetic cosmos with symbolic landscapes and mythical characters and situations.Auden and the Socialist School The second period (1933-38) ‘Auden became the hero of the left. Continuing the analysis of the evils of ~ capitalist society, he also warned of the rise of totalitarianism. In On This Island (1937; in Britain, Look, Stranger!,1936) his verse became more open in texture and accessible to a larger public. (On This Island Hevea sl e's ending pase ‘Whee th cw ll he ay al tal DeesAuden and the Socialist School Auden’s trip to Iceland with Louis MacNeice, resulted in Letters from Iceland (1937). His trip to China with Isherwood was the basis of Journey to a War (1939). But his brief visit to Spain briefly in 1937, which he documented in Spain (1937) marked the beginning both of his disillusion with the left and of his return to Christianity.Auden and the Socialist School _ The third period, 1939-46 ( Auden became an American citizen and underwent decisive changes in his religious and intellectual perspective. Another Time (1940) contains some of his best songs and topical verse, and The Double Man (containing “New Year Letter,” which provided the title of the British edition; 1941) embodies his position on the verge of commitment to Christianity. Pt W. H. Auden MF Another Ti fAuden and the Socialist School : THE SHIELD The fourth period (1948-1973) OF ACHILLES From 1948 to 1957 he spent his summer in. Italy's or Austria. In The Shield of Achilles (1955), Homage Clio (1960), About the House (96a), and City Without Walls (1969) are sequences of poems arranged according to an external pattern (canonical hours, types of landscape). In 1962 Auden published a volume of criticism, The Dyer’s Hand. He spent much time on editing and translating. In 1972 Auden transferred his winter residence from New York City to Oxford, where he was an honorary fellow at Christ Church College. Of the numerous honours conferred on Auden in this last period were the Bollingen Prize (1953), the National Book Award (1956), and the professorship of poetry at Oxford (1956-61).