Wystan hugh auden (1907- 1973) was born in Yorkshire, England. His fellow villagers include the Bronte sisters in Jane Eyre, the explorer Captain Cook, and Robinson Crusoe, the character in the novel.
His ancestors came from Iceland, and his father was a famous doctor who seldom stayed at home. Auden doesn't write novels like Flaubert, who is also the son of a famous doctor. Auden was first a famous poet, and then a master of prose.
Eliot, a Nobel Prize in Literature winner who appreciates Auden's talent, published Auden's first poem in his poetry magazine. Eliot studied philosophy at Harvard University and later became a British citizen. Auden studied chemistry at Oxford University and later became an American citizen.
Eliot wrote poems and critical essays, and so did his little brother Auden, who was equally vivid.
Reading needs a compass.
Poetry is to write the richest images in the most economical words. Critical prose is an essential discussion of phenomena with opinions.
The best poets who write reviews, Auden and Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Joseph Brodsky, can all be included in my top three. Their comments are written like prose poems, which have a poetic caution and light.
Borges also writes poems and comments, but I won't put him on my shortlist. The reason is that we blind poets write comments and only point out the mountains and rivers with an outline. Unlike broschi and Auden, whom he called "the greatest minds" and "critics" in the 20th century, Borges would slowly spread his thoughts in thousands of words instead of hundreds.
Brodsky, the author of essays Sorrow and Reason and Less than One, said that "there is still a need for a compass in the ocean of existing printed matter", and the compass he said is the critic's vision and brushwork. Brodsky said that there are two main reasons for poets to write essays and comments: the need of life and the impulse to think. Writing poetry is not enough to make a living, and you can't spit out your ideas.
Auden wrote in the first sentence of the preface to a wonderful collection of essays "The Dyer's Hand":
Fortunately, because of the needs of life, I have the impulse to think. Coupled with Auden's attitude that poets must be "rooted in the awe of imagination", we can read real insights in The Dyer's Son.
Creation needs taste.
Auden once said in "A Pragmatic Poet": "I dare say that every critic must realize that he must read faster than normal people. 」
But many friends often have the impression that Auden will stay in a room with closed shutters for several weeks and bury himself in hard work all day if he doesn't need to go out.
Regarding reading, Auden said that the simplest and ultimate criterion is: "Happiness is by no means an infallible criticism guide, but it is the most error-prone criticism method. The happiness of reading is based on "good taste". "
Auden, who has good taste, cares about words, reads widely, writes seriously, and is used to talking to literary lovers (Auden once said that his most suitable job is a writer and a teacher), is simply an ideal leader in reading literature.
In his inaugural speech as a professor of poetry at Oxford University, he quoted a passage from Thoreau: "The art of living, the art of a poet's life: since there is nothing to do, do something." "Carry out the theme of' creation, cognition and judgment'.
In other words, whether people read, speak or think, all words and the present time count, which may affect them.
Thinking requires choice.
Professor Auden's reminder is too difficult for us.
We have long been used to wasting time, tossing and turning, and wasting our lives in ever-changing fantasies.
Isn't it?
This book discusses poetry, writing and Shakespeare. Auden not only quoted other people's words, but also expressed his family's opinion. However, if your interest in literature is not strong enough, and your understanding of poetry only stays at the stage where poetry can be sung, and good lyrics are good poems (isn't that why Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize), what impact can this book have on you?
I have to say that Auden is not soft on poets, poetry lovers and readers. He said that he dreamed of opening a "bard college" and took five courses. The first four items are roughly related to our imagination, and the last one is very demanding: "Each student is required to look after a domestic animal and cultivate a small garden. 」
Why?
Auden believes that poetry and literature, or we can also include culture, learners and researchers. Practicality should be taken into account. You can regard literature and art as a hobby, but the so-called reflection on life and social conscience is only something that one of us can talk about. Poetry, literature, art, if you can't accumulate enough skills to help make a living. At the very least, we should create spiritual returns.
Raising animals is to face creatures. Growing flowers and grass is to face seasonal changes.
Art lovers and creators must be able to face life and master their own lives.
Auden believes that all thoughts are selected, and poets are no different from farmers.
Reading is translation.
Auden said.
Because Auden's Funeral Blues was sung in the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral, the poet's reputation was praised. This poem is divided into four paragraphs, and the third paragraph reads as follows:
Auden said that all his poems were written for love. "If there is no equivalence in love, I hope I am the one who loves more." .
Auden was first a poet and then a critic. Although his poems and comments are not immortal, they are enough for us to read on and on.