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W.H. Auden: A Man of his Words Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after And the poetry he invented was easy to understand; He knew human folly like the back of his hand, And was greatly interested in armies and fleets; When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter, And when he cried the little children died in the streets. W.H. Auden - Epitaph on a Tyrant Wystan Hugh Auden, an English-born American writer, was one of the most important poets of the 20th century. His works were not only influential at the time of writing, but also touch on such complex social and personal issues as to be relevant to any time period. While taking elements of other contemporary poets, Auden’s poetry, portraying a deep understanding of the human psyche and of the world at large, exemplifies a distinct style which Auden himself cultivated. W.H. Auden was born in York, the son of a physician. At first interested in science, he soon turned to poetry. In 1925 he entered Christ Church College, University of Oxford, where he became the center of a group of young leftist writers who generally expressed a socialist viewpoint, while continuing the artistic revolution of such earlier writers as T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, and