W.H. Auden, perhaps one of the most renowned poets of the 20th century, was an intellectual in constant search for understanding of the world in which he lived. Time after time, whether it was during his days of study at Oxford University or amidst his return to an absolute, Christian frame of mind as a middle-aged man, Auden, vacillated back and forth between opposite poles of viewpoint. Auden questioned institutionalized ideas from the start …showed first 75 words of 3764 total…

…showed last 75 words of 3764 total…happiness would seemingly be anything but doleful, let us not reduce it to that. Auden was amidst the process of searching for more than just happiness (if he wanted to be happy, he would have stopped ‘thinking’ a long time ago) – he was on a quest for understanding, a quest for truth, a realness, a stronghold amidst his life’s crashing waves, and this quest led him invariably through a great deal change in life.