"'Healing,' Papa would tell me, 'is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing nature.'"

Art

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Insight & Reflection

This reflection on art by W. H. Auden resonates across generations. It highlights a fundamental truth about human nature: our continuous search for meaning in art is what ultimately defines our character and our path forward.

About W. H. Auden

Wystan Hugh Auden was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry is noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in tone, form, and content. Some of his best known poems are about love, such as "Funeral Blues"; on political and social themes, such as "September 1, 1939" and "The Shield of Achilles"; on cultural and psychological themes, such as The Age of Anxiety; and on religious themes, such as "For the Time Being" and "Horae Canonicae".

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Editorial Note: This quote is curated and fact-checked by the Quotes Archive Editorial Team. Verified Literature Specialist.

More by W. H. Auden

"When I find myself in the company of scientists, I feel like a shabby curate who has strayed by mistake into a room full of dukes."

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"Like everything which is not the involuntary result of fleeting emotion but the creation of time and will, any marriage, happy or unhappy, is infinitely more interesting than any romance, however passionate."

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More about Art

"Art is the soul's attempt to give enduring form to the formless. A lesson woven into the fabric of human history."

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"It is a humble truth that beauty in art is the harmony of spirit, intellect, and craft — an essential principle for the reflective life."

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