On W.H. Auden's Inheritance And Separation From The Romantic Tradition In Poetry

W. H. Auden is one of the greatest English poets in the twentieth century. His emigration to America on the eve of World War II and subsequent changes in poetry contribute much to the disputes over his verse and life. Up until now he has been an inexhaustible topic for western critics while little research on him has been done in China. Therefore this thesis is determined to trace the development of Auden's poetry, particularly his ambiguous attitude to Romanticism. To study the tradition he intended to reject might be an illuminating way to perceive his changes in poetry.His experience in Spanish Civil War and the rising Fascism prompted him to reconsider a poet's power and Romanticism. Later he revised and expulsed most of his leftist poems written in the nineteen thirties. He warned the"poet-prophet"identification and its kinship with Fascist nationalists. His long poem, The Sea and the Mirror, reveals his reflection on the dangers of the hubris of the Romantic poets. In the last two decades of his life, Auden looked back to Horace and attempted to revive civic poetry or occasional poetry. Meanwhile there were Arcadian visions in his poetry too. Even though both Auden and Wordsworth were seeking the solution to realize the commonwealth in the modern world, they choose different approaches—Wordsworth tends to believe the transcendental experience of the intellectual elite, Auden stresses common people's responsibility for the present and their devotion for their vocations, and attempts to connect personal act with historical events through occasional poetry. In this regard, Auden's choice is more positive and realistic than Wordsworth's.In conclusion, the thesis maintains that even though Auden's later poetry is less superb in lyrics than his 1930s poetry, it makes sustainable contributions to literature due to its profoundness in perceiving human existence in the modern world and the poet's bravery to practice what he believes in literature and life.