1. W.H. Auden

2. W.H. Auden Oxford educated, teaching there later in life
“most prominent of young English poets who, in the late ‘20s and early ‘30s, saw themselves bringing new techniques and attitudes to English poetry” .
influenced by Hopkins, Hardy, Eliot and Yeats
“early poetry diagnosis the ills of his country” (example in “As I Walked Out One Evening” and Poetry as Memorable Speech essay).
later “became skeptical of poetry...as revelation or a tool for political change” .
“always experimented” and “turned out poems in numerous verse forms.”.

3. W.H. Auden “As I Walked Out One Evening” ( in 1937 )

4. W.H. Auden
From “Poetry as Memorable Speech” essay, written when he was 28 years old
Poetry “must move our emotions, or excite our intellect, for only that which is moving or exciting is memorable.”
“better heard than read”
“Only when it throws light on our own experience, when these lines occur to us as we see, say, the unhappy face of a stockbroker in the suburban train, does poetry convince us of its significance. The test of a poet is the frequency and diversity of the occasions on which we remember his poetry.”
“We shall do poetry a great disservice if we confine it only to the major experiences of life.”

5. W.H. Auden From “Poetry as Memorable Speech” essay
Referencing the thoughts of another English poet, “those who try to put poetry on a pedestal only succeed in putting it on the shelf.”
“Poetry is not concerned with telling people what do to, but with extending our knowledge of good and evil…only leading us to the point where it is possible for us to make a rational and moral choice.”

6. Dylan Thomas

7. Dylan Thomas from Wales
“`discovered’ as a poet in 1933 through a poetry contest in a popular newspaper.”
initially seen as somewhat of a return to “visionary Romanticism” after “deliberately muted ironic tones of Eliot and his followers.”
became “master of the poetic craft.”
“a brilliant talker, an alcoholic, a reckless and impulsive man whose short life was packed with emotional ups and downs.”

8. Dylan Thomas 1914-1953 “Poem in October”
“Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night”
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