An English poet, novelist and essayist, Stephen Spender (1909-1995) came to prominence in the 1930s alongside W. H. Auden and others. He was appointed the seventeenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the United States Library of Congress in 1965 and focused his work on themes of social justice.
Nonfiction
Winter 1964
A Symposium on W. H. Auden’s “A Change of Air”
A Change of Air Corns, heartburn, sinus headaches, such minor ailments Tell of estrangement between your name and you, Suggest a change of air: heed them, but let The modesty […]
My Credo: A Symposium of Critics (Continued)
Spring 1951
VIII. On the Function of Criticism
MY CREDO (continued) Poetry is the use of certain techniques of language and certain forms in order to make vivid certain metaphors. The poet says “my experience is like this,” […]
Poetry
Summer 1948
Epithalamion
(To William Jay and Barbara H. Smith, Oct. 1, 1947) If my will could become this night With all my conscious stars to witness The marriage of this human pair— […]
The Kenyon Review Credos
On the Function of Criticism
From The Kenyon Review, Spring 1951, Vol. XIII, No. 2 Poetry is the use of certain techniques of language and certain forms in order to make vivid certain metaphors. The […]