W.H. Auden was the greatest English poet of the twentieth century. It is nearly fifteen years since his last biography, and the publication and discovery of a mass of new material now makes possible a bold reappraisal of his life and work. Auden wrote about the anguish and bafflement of the twentieth century. This biography is not only a study of the life and ideas of a great poet, but a commentary on the wars, ideologies, spiritual questioning and sexual attitudes of the century in which he lived. 'Unless I write something, anything, good, indifferent, or trashy, every day, I feel ill,' Auden once said. His biography is therefore a study of a man who was supremely dedicated as a writer - a model of what it means to be a poet - and is also a book which delves into and examines Auden's immensely challenging theories of living. Auden is a book about play and fun and teasing; about the redemptive power of love; about political violence; Christianity and existentialism; shame, suffering and penitence; literary coteries in Europe and the United States; lust, addictions and self-destruction. Above all, Davenport- Hines's elegant, readable, and scholarly biography is a book for our times.