W.H. Auden was a British-American well-known for his poems on topics like morality, love, and, in the case of "Epitaph on a Tyrant," which was published in 1940, politics. "Epitaph on a Tyrant" is a poem creating the epitaph after the death of an unnamed tyrant. Auden wrote the poem in the context of the tumultuous 20th century, in which tyrants Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini popped up and wrecked the world. In the poem, Auden doesn't memorialize the tyrant; instead, he captures the essence of totalitarian rule and what living under it would be like. Auden sketches the portrait of a tyrant whose pursuit of perfection leads to the imposition of a rigid, oppressive order upon society that harms everyone.
Naturally, the poem is hypercritical of the tyrannical and tyrannical systems of government. Auden was an ardent member of the left wing in both the U.S. and U.K. His criticism of tyrants is reflective of not only his political philosophy but of the general beliefs of the time. Although Hitler and Mussolini initially enjoyed relatively high favorability in both countries, after the start of World War II, things changed, and they became hated. And though "Epitaph on a Tyrant" is widely regarded as one of the best and most important poems of the 20th century, it is not widely read anymore.
