{"product_id":"auden-9781836391722","title":"Auden","description":"\u003cp\u003ePeter Ackroyd's compelling portrait of W. H. Auden, poet of a restless century.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePeter Ackroyd's compelling portrait of W. H. Auden, poet of a restless century.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOf all the English poets born in the twentieth century, Wystan Hugh Auden is by far the most significant. This forthright biography explores the evolution of his poetic voice in tandem with his shifting beliefs  Existentialism, Marxism, Freudianism and Anglo-Catholicism  reflecting the intellectual climate of the century. Rooted in English traditions, Auden's work reveals both public and personal histories, from the Great Depression and Spanish Civil War to his experiences as a gay man navigating repression and later liberation. The book traces his journeys from Oxford to Berlin, China and America, bringing to life his turbulent era and the inner conflicts of his long relationship with Chester Kallman. This insightful and compelling account by acclaimed historian Peter Ackroyd captures Auden's genius as both a historical witness and an enduring poetic voice.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eDetails\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eISBN13: 9781836391722\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormat: Hardback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNumber of Pages: 400\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdition: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication Date: 01 Jul 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublisher: Reaktion Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication City, Country: London, United Kingdom\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDimensions (cm): 23.4(H)x15.6(L)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWeight (gm): \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePeter Ackroyd \u003c\/b\u003eis one of Britain's most respected historians and novelists. His many books include \u003ci\u003eLondon: The Biography, Hawksmoor, \u003c\/i\u003eand the \u003ci\u003eHistory of England \u003c\/i\u003eseries.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eReviews\u003c\/h4\u003e\"Culture Preview 2026: The best non-fiction to read this year\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew Statesman\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[A] first-class new biography.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMartin Chilton\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Independent\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This is a terrific life of an intriguing poet by one of our great biographers. Peter Ackroyd sensitively explores W. H. Auden's development as a poet, his family, religion (Anglo-Catholic) and relationships. By fleshing out Auden the man, we better understand his verse. One fine writer on another.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMelanie McDonagh\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLondon Standard\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Peter Ackroyd’s intriguing biography tracks the great poet from his earliest years to his harrowing physical transformation . . . Ackroyd paints Auden as a poet with hawk’s vision and a masochistic streak, full of moral certitude but just as prone to weep at Garbo films or be overtaken by swamps of self-torment.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDeclan Ryan\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Daily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"As Auden wrote in an early poem: \u003ci\u003e‘A shilling life will give you all the facts.’\u003c\/i\u003e In fairness, \u003ci\u003eAuden\u003c\/i\u003e does a bit more than that. Ackroyd is good at giving the floor to those who actually knew the man . . . Ackroyd makes us feel like we know Auden the man.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHarry Cochrane\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Spectator\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This critical biography of poet W.H. Auden analyzes his work in the context of his intellectual promiscuity and experiences as a gay man living in the repressive early twentieth century.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Ackroyd's new life of Auden, who was born in York in 1907 and died in Vienna in 1973, neatly weaves together biographical detail with literary commentary .  .  . Ackroyd provides a well-rounded biography that gets to the heart of the man without confining him to a role in literary or political history, and only occasionally lets his personal judgements show – and some of them are bold . . . But the facts of the poet’s life are poetic: Auden lived a tragicomedy, sometimes by design. Ackroyd gives us an eminently readable new biography that is, from start to finish, both frequently funny and profoundly sad.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJane Cooper\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew Statesman\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A brilliant new biography . . . If you have been intimidated by the figure of Auden, then I would highly recommend Ackroyd’s very readable and vibrant account of his life and work. Done well, literary biography is one of my favourite genres, but there is always the risk it will be exhaustive, hagiographic or dry as dust. One of Ackroyd’s great gifts is that he understands that the life experiences that inspire poetry are often mysterious and metaphorical . . . It is also a biography that tries to avoid moral judgement, with a breezy, neutral tone that lets us decide for ourselves what we think of this complex man . . . Ackroyd has done a wonderful job.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eClare Pollard\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Idler\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Peter Ackroyd is just the latest in a long line of scholars , writers , poets and biographers who have tried their best to do justice to the quintessential Double – or make that the Triple, Quadruple, Mega-Multi – Man . . . Ackroyd has a strong claim to being the world's most professional and hardest-working, if not actually greatest, living biographer . . . Auden's uniqueness – the enduring appeal, the continuing disturbance, the reason we read him now – lies in his deeply unsettling combination of intimacy and authority, and the sense that you never quite know what’s coming next . . . Ackroyd certainly ticks everything necessary off the Auden biographer’s list.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eIan Sansom\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTimes Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"In Peter Ackroyd, Auden has an estimable biographer whose own career stands comparison with the poet's for industry and commitment to his art . . .  This biography makes the case for revisiting all his work and not just the fragments that have endured in popular culture . . . We cannot easily define him, but nor can we escape him. For all the seeming impossibility of the task it has set itself, this book succeeds as a portrait.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePeter Williams\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eProspect\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"For a poet of such stature, WH Auden has been comparatively ill-served by biographers . . . Step forward, then, Peter Ackroyd, writer of many indispensable literary biographies: notably of TS.Eliot, William Blake and Charles Dickens. In this fine life of the poet who, perhaps more than any other, defined the literary aesthetic of England between the wars, he offers a new standard work . . . Ackroyd is excellent on Auden's creative development: his lifelong quest for a voice with which he was happy, rooted in a rigorous attention to metre, a debt to homily, a love of Old English culture and a fascination with music, language and their interconnection . . . Auden, in spite of his gifts (or because of them), was never truly happy. But he has, more than half a century after his death, finally found a biographer worthy of his life and work.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMatthew d'Ancona\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe New World\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Peter Ackroyd, the celebrated biographer of T.S. Eliot, has now turned his attention to Eliot’s great successor as an Anglo-American poet. \u003ci\u003eAuden\u003c\/i\u003e is an eminently readable and well-paced account, rich in anecdote, sympathetically following the man all the way from prodigious youth to senior man of letters.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSeamus Perry, Fellow of Balliol College and Professor of English Literature, University of Oxford\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Peter Ackroyd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48979751960793,"sku":"9781836391722","price":39.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0502\/9530\/8441\/files\/9781836391722.jpg?v=1784470246","url":"https:\/\/www.arielbooks.com.au\/products\/auden-9781836391722","provider":"Ariel","version":"1.0","type":"link"}