W. H. Auden died in Vienna on 29 September 1973, aged 66. He read his poetry in the city shortly before his death and stayed overnight before returning to Oxford.

Born Wystan Hugh Auden in York in 1907, he studied at Christ Church, Oxford. His 1930 collection Poemsestablished him as one of the leading English poets of his generation. He also wrote plays, essays and libretti.

Auden left Britain for the United States in 1939 and became an American citizen in 1946. He retained strong connections with Europe and later divided his time between America and a house at Kirchstetten in Austria.

In 1972 he left New York as his main winter home and returned to Oxford, where Christ Church provided him with accommodation. He spent the following summer in Austria. On his way back to England in September 1973, he stopped in Vienna to give a poetry reading.

He died in his hotel during the night. Auden was buried in Kirchstetten, the Austrian village where he spent many summers.