什麼是奧登

Auden, W(ystan) H(ugh)

英裔美籍詩人和文人。曾在牛津大學就讀，對戴伊－路易斯（C. Day-Lewis）、麥克尼斯（Louis MacNeice）和斯賓德（Stephen Spender）等有強烈的影響。在一生的各種作品中，大多涉及公衆所關心的學術和道德問題，以及幻想和夢的內心世界。1930年代他指出資本主義的罪惡，同時也反對集權主義者，成爲左派英雄。他和伊塞伍德（Christopher Isherwood）合寫了三部詩劇。奧登後來的作品反映了他的生活（成爲美國公民）、宗教和學術觀點的變化（皈依基督教並對左派的覺醒），偶爾也反映出他的同性戀傾向。他的詩歌包括長詩《憂慮的時代》（The Age of Anxiety, 1947，獲普立茲獎）、詩集《另一個時代》（1940）和《對克萊歐的敬意》（1960）。奧登一生與卡爾曼（C. Kallman）合作，撰寫歌劇腳本，尤其以爲史特拉汶斯基創作的《浪子的歷程》（1951）着稱。其他的作品包括記錄片的解說詞、散文和評論。在艾略特死後，奧登被認爲是最傑出的英語詩人。

1907～1973年

Auden, W(ystan) H(ugh)

British-U.S. poet and man of letters. He attended Oxford Univ., where he exerted a strong influence on C. Day-Lewis, Louis MacNeice, and Stephen Spender. Throughout his life his varied works would deal with intellectual and moral issues of public concern as well as the inner world of fantasy and dream. In the 1930s he became a hero of the left, pointing up the evils of capitalism while also warning against those of totalitarianism. He collaborated with Christopher Isherwood on three verse dramas. Later writing reflects changes in his life (he became a U.S. citizen) and in his religious and intellectual perspective (he embraced Christianity and became disillusioned with the left), and occasionally his homosexuality. His poetic works include the long poem The Age of Anxiety (1947, Pulitzer Prize) and the collections Another Time (1940) and Homage to Clio (1960). With his longtime companion Chester Kallman, he wrote opera librettos, notably The Rake's Progress (1951) for I. Stravinsky. His other writings include commentaries for documentary films, essays, and reviews. After the death of T. S. Eliot, he was widely considered the foremost poet writing in English.