W.H. Auden, Poet Philosopher

W. H. Auden (1907-19730 was an Anglo-American writer who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1948. He was born and raised in the industrial town of York, England. His parents were medical professionals who encouraged his interest in science. He attended Oxford University on a scholarship. He began writing poetry while at Oxford. He became associated with other poets, called "the Auden Group," that included Stephen Spender, C. Day Lewis, and Louis MacNeice. He became a U.S. citizen in 1946.

In his writing, Auden explores human nature, politics, love, death, religion, and philosophy. He is concerned about people losing their identities in the face of technological advances and totalitarianism.

Here is a sample of some of his thought.


“A poet must never make a statement simply because it sounds poetically exciting; he must also believe it to be true. This does not mean, of course, that one can only appreciate a poet whose beliefs happen to coincide with one’s own. It does mean, whoever, that one must be convinced that the poet really believes what he says, however odd the belief may seem to oneself.”

“The social and political history of Europe would be what it has been if Dante, Shakespeare, Michelangelo, Mozart, et al., had never lived. A poet, qua poet, has only one political duty, namely, in his own writing to set an example of the correct use of his mother tongue which is always being corrupted. When words lose their meaning, physical force takes over. By all means, let a poet, if he wants to, write what is now called an “engagé” poem, so long as he realizes that it is mainly himself who will benefit from it. It will enhance his literary reputation among those who feel the same as he does.”

"To all human experience, with the possible exception of physical pain, the maxim Credo ut intelligam [“I believe so that I may understand”] applies. It is impossible for a man to separate a fact of experience from his interpretation of it, an interpretation which, except in the case of the insane, is not peculiar to himself but has been learned from others.

It is true, as Pascal says, that “to believe, to doubt, and to deny well are to the man what the race is to the horse,” but only in that order. We must believe before we can doubt, and doubt before we can deny. And … we all do begin by believing what we are told."

Related reading: W. H. Auden on Doubt, Truth and Enchantment