Nicholas Jenkins.
NICHOLAS JENKINS
thE ISLAND: W.H.AUDEN AND THE LAST OF ENGLISHNESS (2024)
Systan Hugh Auden (born 1907) was a notable British-American poet. Born in York to a middle class family living near Birmingham, he attendedChrist Church, Oxford, where he read English. After a few months in Berlin, he taught for five years in preparatory schools. In 1939 he moved to the USA, becoming an American ciitizen in 1946.
His first book of poems was published in 1930 and was well received. His second book of poems, The Orators, was published in 1932. He continued to publish poetry and plays after moving to the USA. From 1956 to 1961 he was Professor of Poetry at Oxford University. He moved permanently to Oxford in 1972, when Christ Church offered him a cottage in its grounds. He died on a visit to Vienna in 1973, at the age of 66.
The Guardian wrote of the book: ‘Nicholas Jenkins’s exhaustive volume – part biography, part literary study, part marathon – draws together the many influences on the young writer, from the first world war to his fascination with the lead mines of the Pennines.’
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Nicholas Jenkins teaches English at Stanford University, California. Born in London, he took his undergraduate degree at Magdalen College Oxford. He then went to the USA as a Harkness Fellow, and wrote his doctoral thesis on W.H.Auden in New York. Before moving to Stanford UNiversity, he taught English at Harvard for two years.
