W. H. Auden

Wystan Hugh Auden (1907–1973), ɗaya daga cikin mahimman mawaƙa na Ingilishi na ƙarni na 20, ya ƙirƙiri ayyukan da suka shafi siyasa, tunani, da ruhaniya na zamansa. Sananne don ƙwarewar fasaha, zurfin hikima, da sauye-sauyen falsafa, waƙoƙin Auden suna nuna soyayya, ɗabi'a, damuwa na rayuwa, da yanayin ɗan adam. Tun daga waƙoƙin siyasa na 1930s zuwa tunani na ƙarshen rayuwarsa, ayyukansa suna nuna rikice-rikicen zamani. Wannan maƙala tana bincika rayuwarsa, manyan ayyukansa, sauye-sauyen salo, da gada, yana ba da cikakken bayani game da wanda ya kasance ginshiƙin adabin Ingilishi.

An haifi Auden a York, Ingila, a 1907, ɗan likita da mahaifiyar Anglican mai ibada. Sha'awarsa ta farko ga kimiyya da injina, tare da tatsuniyoyin Norse da liturgiyar Anglican, sun ƙirƙiri duniyarsa. Ya yi karatu a Gresham's School da Christ Church, Oxford, inda ya fara sha'awar waƙa, yana tasiri daga T. S. Eliot da tunanin Freud. A Oxford, ya yi abota tare da Stephen Spender, Cecil Day-Lewis, da Christopher Isherwood, waɗanda aka kira "Ƙungiyar Auden", waɗanda suka yi wa al'amuran zamani ta hanyar adabi.

A cikin 1930s, Auden ya zama babban muryar "Mawaƙan 1930s," waɗanda suka haɗa fasaha da siyasa. Waƙoƙinsa na farko, "Poems" (1930) da "The Orators" (1932), sun nuna rugujewar masana'antu da rashin lafiyar al'umma. Ayyuka kamar "Spain 1937" (game da yakin basasar Spain) da "September 1, 1939" (game da farkon WWII) sun nuna damuwar zamaninsa, ko da yake Auden ya gyara wasu waƙoƙin siyasa bayan haka.

A 1939, Auden ya ƙaura zuwa Amurka, inda ya canza tunaninsa. Ya zama ɗan ƙasa a 1946, ya ƙi siyasa ya mai da hankali ga addini. Ya koma Anglican, yana tasiri daga Kierkegaard, ya haɗa waƙoƙinsa da zunubi, alheri, da soyayya. Ayyuka kamar "For the Time Being" (1944) da "The Age of Anxiety" (1947, wanda ya sami Pulitzer) sun nuna baƙin ciki na yaki da neman ruhaniya. ​Karɓuwa da Gada Wasu masu suka suna juyar da ayyukansa bayan 1930s, amma wasu sun yaba da canjinsa zuwa zurfin tunani. Auden ya rinjayi mawaƙa kamar Brodsky da Heaney. Rubuce-rubucensa ("The Dyer’s Hand", 1962) sun sauya koyarwar waƙa.

• Carpenter, Humphrey (1981). W. H. Auden: A Biography. London: George Allen & Unwin. ISBN 0-04-928044-9.