Auden was a technical master, comfortable in everything from light verse and ballads to complex modernist structures.
Despite his poetry’s exquisite order, Auden was known for his disheveled personal appearance and a "buffoonlike" didactic charm. W. H. Auden: Selected Poems
Auden's work often gained new life through historical events and popular culture. The Messy Genius of W. H. Auden Auden was a technical master, comfortable in everything