W. H. AUDEN PAPERS

Finding Aid

Size: 0.5 linear feet

Literary rights:
Literary rights were not granted to Wichita State University. When permission is granted to examine the manuscripts, it is not an authorization to publish them. Manuscripts cannot be used for publication without regard for common law literary rights, copyright laws and the laws of libel. It is the responsibility of the researcher and his/her publisher to obtain permission to publish. Scholars and students who eventually plan to have their work published are urged to make inquiry regarding overall restrictions on publication before initial research.

Restrictions: None

Content note:
This collection includes several letters, photographs, and newspaper clippings from English and American poet W. H. Auden (1907-1973). One clipping contains an extensive obituary for Auden, while another clipping records details of a trial over ownership of Auden's papers and manuscripts after his death.

Biographical note:
Auden was born in England in 1907 and published his first poem in 1922. He attnded Oxford and later traveled to Berlin, where he became fluent in German. Returning to Great Britain, he became a schoolmaster in Scotland and England while beginning his proflific writing career.

Later poems were based on his experiences in Spain during the Spanish Civil War and travels to Iceland, China and the United States. He became a naturalized American citizen in 1946 and died in Austria, where he lived for several years, in 1973.

Acquisition: Purchased from Second Life Books in June, 1988

Processed by: AHC, 9-16-1988; JEF, 3-6-1998