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The element of craftsmanship in poetry is obscured by the fact that all men are taught to speak and most to read and write, while very few men are taught to draw or paint or write music.

W. H. Auden

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W. H. Auden
Age: 66 †
Born: 1907
Born: February 21
Died: 1973
Died: September 28
Author
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Essayist
Librettist
Literary Critic
Literary Historian
Playwright
Poet
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Jórvík
Wystan Hugh Auden
Wystan Auden
Wystan H Auden
W. H. Wystan Hugh Auden
Writing
Poetry
Men
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Obscured
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Craftsmanship
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Speak
Draw
Write
Draws
Facts
Paint
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Elements

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Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone. Silence the pianos and with muffled drum Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
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Now the leaves are falling fast, Nurse's flowers will not last Nurses to their graves are gone, And the prams go rolling on.
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In life the loser's score is always zero.
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But he would have us most of all remember to be enthusiastic over the night. Not only for the sense of wonder it alone has to offer but also because it needs our love. For with sad eyes its delectable creatures look up and beg us dumbly to ask them to follow. They are exiles who long for a future that lies in our power.
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If it form the one landscape that we the inconstant ones Are consistently homesick for, this is chiefly Because it dissolves in water.
W. H. Auden
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Political history is far too criminal to be a fit subject of study for the young. Children should acquire their heroes and villians from fiction.
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There's always another story. There's more than meets the eye.
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The chances are that, in the course of his lifetime, the major poet will write more bad poems than the minor, simply because major poets write a lot.
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Dogmatic theological statements are neither logical propositions nor poetic utterances. They are ''shaggy dog'' stories they have a point, but he who tries too hard to get it will miss it.
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I know nothing, except what everyone knows - if there when Grace dances, I should dance.
W. H. Auden
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To choose what is difficult all one's days, as if it were easy, that is faith
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We would rather be ruined than changed. We would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the moment and let our illusions die.
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Sincerity is technique.
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Dance till the stars come down from the rafters Dance, Dance, Dance 'till you drop.
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In relation to a writer, most readers believe in the Double Standard: they may be unfaithful to him as often as they like, but he must never, never be unfaithful to them.
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What the poet says has never been said before, but, once he has said it, his readers recognize its validity for themselves.
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I think the first prerequisite to civilization is an ability to make polite conversation.
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We all have these places where shy humiliations gambol on sunny afternoons.
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Behind you swiftly the figure comes softly, The spot on your skin is a shocking disease.
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'Healing,' Papa would tell me, 'is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing nature.'
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