Today is the birthday centenary of W.H. Auden, one of the most famed poets of the twentieth century.

Arthur Kirsch’s Auden and Christianity, published by Yale University Press, is the first book to explore in depth how the poet turned to faith for guidance in his art and his life, despite his early disinterest in religion and his homosexuality.

Booklist wrote of Kirsch’s work,

Critics have largely neglected the effects of Auden’s mature
commitment to Christianity.  Kirsch remedies that neglect with this
much-needed study of how Auden’s religious beliefs shaped his artistic
vision. . . . A fascinating blending of aesthetics and theology.