Auden

American  

[awd-n] / ˈɔd n /

noun

1. W(ystan) H(ugh) 1907–73, English poet in the U.S.

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Auden British  

/ ˈɔːdən /

noun

1. W ( ystan ) H ( ugh ). 1907–73, US poet, dramatist, critic, and librettist, born in Britain; noted for his lyric and satirical poems and for plays written in collaboration with Christopher Isherwood

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Example Sentences

W. H. Auden once wrote of a miserable Roman soldier guarding a cold, rain-soaked wall in northern Europe, mentioning "lice in my tunic and a cold in my nose."

From Science Daily • Dec. 21, 2025

Heaney grieves the violence, memorializing its complexity and horror in a poem that can stand with Yeats and Auden.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 21, 2025

Auden or a passage from Don DeLillo to underscore an idea about politics.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 2, 2024

McWhirter worried that if Auden were selected this could "bring disgrace upon the appointment" and this would reflect on the Queen herself.

From BBC • Jul. 18, 2023

I’m enclosing a poem by Auden on the death of Yeats cut out from an old London Mercury from last year.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan