His name is reminiscent, in relation to the war, of a malingerer,Īnd the composition of his personality hints at the evil within him (Nelson Labels him as the "would-be doctor and leader" in the world of "The Age ofĪnxiety". Intelligence officer on leave from the Canadian Air Force. Malin, the most dominant character overall, is a medical Refuge in the mirror because it offers him the easiest way of facing He is an aging homosexual widower who finds Quant, the first to be introduced, addresses himself in a mirror, an action In "The Age of Anxiety", there are four characters of significance. Which denies possibility but refuses to call it impossible" (Nelson 117). They fail to realize this due to "the modern human condition Throughout the quest, the charactersīelieve themselves to be in a form of Purgatory when they are allegorically Search for the meaning of self and, in essence, the meaning of life, butīecause their search is triggered by intoxication due to alchohol, the Ideal quest, however, this quest accomplishes nothing. "The Age of Anxiety" is, in general, a quest poem. Conflicts common in his works are those between war and peace,Ĭorruption of modern society, and the " dichotomy between the rich and the Industrial English society among economic and moral decay in the 1930's His works adopt a prose of a "clinical diagrostician Īnatomizing society" and interpret social and spiritual acts as failures ofĬommunication (Magill 74). His poetry in theġ930's reflected the world of his era, a world of depression, Fascism, and Youngest son of Constance and George Auden (Magill 72). Auden was born in York, England, in 1907, the third and Reflect his belief that man's quest for self-actualization is in vain. The themes and ideas that Auden's "The Age of Anxiety" conveys In their minds in which they attempt, without success, to discover Their interactions with one another lead them on an imaginary quest In Auden's lengthy poem, "The Age of Anxiety", he follows theĪctions and thoughts of four characters who happen to meet in a bar duringĪ war.