thoughts of four characters who happen to meet in a bar during a war.

Their interactions with one another lead them on an imaginary quest in

their minds in which they attempt, without success, to discover

themselves. The themes and ideas that Auden's The Age of Anxiety

conveys reflect his belief that man's quest for self-actualization is in

W. H. Auden was born in York, England, in 1907, the third and

youngest son of Constance and George Auden (Magill 72). His poetry in

the 1930's reflected the world of his era, a world of depression,

Fascism, and war. His works adopt a prose of a "clinical diagrostician

[sic] anatomizing society" and interpret social and spiritual acts as

failures of communication (Magill 74). They also put forth a diagnosis

of the industrial English society among economic and moral decay in the

1930's (Magill 72). Conflicts common in his works are those between war

and peace, corruption of modern society, and the "dichotomy between the

The Age of Anxiety is, in general, a quest poem. Unlike the

ideal quest, however, this quest accomplishes nothing. The char

labels this as a false quest for nothing is accomplished (Nelson 121).

so is the primary composition of the climax of the work (Nelson 118).

people of the city not on the basis of personality content, but on that

Barrows, Marjorie Wescott, ed., et al. The American Experience:

appetitive flux," and the world as a "clown's cosmos" (Nelson 119).

Altick, Richard D. Lives and Letters. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1969.

bad. If man asks for more, the world only gets worse" (Nelson 120).

could either be death or the life that results from death as the

In The Age of Anxiety, there are four characters of

close to life to have any purgative effect on the audience." It is

search for the meaning of self and, in essence, the meaning of life, but

Some common words found in the essay are:
Righteous Dread, Quant Malin, Age Anxiety, Auden Magill, Seven Stages, Seven Ages, Anxiety Prologue, Emble Rosetta, Age Anxiety_, Malin Nelson, age anxiety, nelson 119, nelson 120, nelson 121, nelson 122, quant malin, seven stages, emble rosetta, stage begins, nelson 118, nelson 121 stage, york random house, york hall co, critical essays auden, hall co 1991,
Approximate Word count = 1785
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)