奥登(1907～1973年)

Auden, W(ystan) H(ugh)

英裔美籍诗人和文人。曾在牛津大学就读，对戴伊－路易斯（C. Day-Lewis）、麦克尼斯（Louis MacNeice）和斯宾德（Stephen Spender）等有强烈的影响。在一生的各种作品中，大多涉及公众所关心的学术和道德问题，以及幻想和梦的内心世界。1930年代他指出资本主义的罪恶，同时也反对集权主义者，成为左派英雄。他和伊塞伍德（Christopher Isherwood）合写了三部诗剧。奥登後来的作品反映了他的生活（成为美国公民）、宗教和学术观点的变化（皈依基督教并对左派的觉醒），偶尔也反映出他的同性恋倾向。他的诗歌包括长诗《忧虑的时代》（The Age of Anxiety, 1947，获普立兹奖）、诗集《另一个时代》（1940）和《对克莱欧的敬意》（1960）。奥登一生与卡尔曼（C. Kallman）合作，撰写歌剧脚本，尤其以为史特拉汶斯基创作的《浪子的历程》（1951）着称。其他的作品包括记录片的解说词、散文和评论。在艾略特死後，奥登被认为是最杰出的英语诗人。

English version：

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.