Spender, Sir Stephen 1909-95
English poet and critic

Born in London, he was educated at University College, Oxford. One of the 'modern poets' of the 1930s, he was left-wing in outlook and essentially a liberal in thought. From 1939 to 1941 he was co-editor, with Cyril Connolly, of Horizon, and from 1953 to 1967 was co-editor of Encounter, and was Professor of English at University College London (1970-77). He translated Schiller, Ernst Toller, Rainer Maria Rilke and Federico Garc�a Lorca, among others, besides writing much literary criticism. From his beginnings in 1930 with the novella Twenty Poems to Engaged in Writing (1957), he relived his experiences in the Spanish Civil War and World War II in Poems from Spain (1939), Runes and Visions (1941), Poems of Dedication (1941) and The Edge of Darkness (1949). Critical evaluations include The Destructive Element (1936), Life and the Poet (1942), The Creative Element (1944), and his first autobiography, World within World (1951). His later work includes The Year of the Young Rebels (1969), The Thirties and After (1978) and Chinese Journal (with David Hockney, 1982). Collected Poems 1930-85 was published in 1985, and his Journals (1939-83) in 1987. In 1991, he compiled the volume Character Studies, with proceeds from sales going to AIDS patients. His acclaimed volume of poetry, Dolphins, was published in 1994.

Bibliography: H David, Stephen Spender (1993)