{{Short description|Sequence of poems by W. H. Auden}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}{{italic title}}{{expand Swedish|Horae Canonicae|date=July 2017}} '''''Horae Canonicae''''' is a series of poems by W. H. Auden written between 1949 and 1955. The title is a reference to the canonical hours of the Christian Church, as are the titles of the seven poems constituting the series: "Prime", "Terce", "Sext", "Nones", "Vespers", "Compline", and "Lauds". Each refers to a fixed time of the day for prayer.
The canonical hours create a framework for the dramatization of Auden's religious position, which he described in a letter as "very much the same as [[Reinhold Neibuhr|Reinhold [Neibuhr]'s]], i.e. Augustinian, not Thomist (I would allow a little more place, perhaps, for the ''Via Negativa''.) Liturgically, I am Anglo-Catholic...".<ref>{{cite journal|author=Curtis, Jan|title=W. H. Auden's Theology of History in ''Horae Canonicae'': 'Prime', 'Terce', and 'Sext'|journal=Literature and Theology|year=1997|volume=11|issue=1|pages=46–66|doi=10.1093/litthe/11.1.46}}</ref>
"Prime" and "Nones" were first published in Auden's collection ''Nones'' (1951). ''Horae Canonicae'' was published as a unity in Auden's ''The Shield of Achilles'' (1955).
== See also == * Diurnal offices
== Notes == {{reflist}}
{{W. H. Auden}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Poetry by W. H. Auden Category:1955 poems
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