Sir Stephen Spender Brief Biography

English Poet and Writer, Best-Known for Poems and World Within World

Aug 18, 2009

Brief biography and works of Sir Stephen Spender, English poet, professor, and novelist noted for his honours in poetry, poetic translations, and academic posts.

Sir Stephen Harold Spender was a leading English poet, reviewer and translator, critic and essayist, and a man of letters in the first half of the 20th century. He was born in London on February 28, 1909, the son of a well-known liberal journalist and lecturer.

In 1941, he married a concert pianist, Natasha Litvin. They have a daughter, Lizzie, married to Australian actor/comedian Barry Humphries, and a son, Matthew.

Spender's Literary Circle

Stephen Spender was educated at University College School in London and later at Oxford University where he met and mixed with other writers of W.H. Auden's circle, poets of his generation, including Cecil Day-Lewis, and Louis MacNeice.

He shared their determination to write openly about social and political issues, and turn away from the difficult work written by earlier poets as T.S. Eliot. In the 1930s, the Spanish Civil War, the Great Depression, and Europe's rise of Fascism were events that inspired him.

He left the university without a degree, went to Berlin and visited the novelist Christopher Isherwood. He briefly became a communist as his interest in politics grew.

Spender's Political Interests

His interest in politics grew and he briefly became a communist. With the outbreak of World War II he came to believe less in the importance of politics and started to write about more personal subjects. He refused to fight during the war because he was a pacifist and served in the volunteer fire service instead.

Other Works as Educator and Editor

After the war Spender worked for UNESCO, a United Nations department dedicated to spreading education. From 1948 he split his time between England and the USA. He was co-editor of the magazine Horizon (1939-1941), with Cyril Connolly, and of Encounter (1953-1966). For 13 years, he held many academic posts, including a professorship, from 1953.

Spender's Later and Final Years

In 1951he published his autobiography, World within World, which gives fascinating insights into the lives of the famous literary figures he knew in the 1930s, a revelation of himself and his generation. His Collected Poems 1928-1985 provides a glimpse of his poetic career.

Spender continued writing poetry all his life, his last volume, Dolphins, was published a year before he died. He also wrote works of literary criticism and reviews, translations, plays, and novels. His work is said to be dominated by his quest to integrate the political into the private domain. In 1983, his many honours culminated in knighthood. He died on July 17, 1995, aged 86.

Works by Stephen Spender

The copyright of the article Sir Stephen Spender Brief Biography in Great Writers is owned by Tel Asiado. Permission to republish Sir Stephen Spender Brief Biography in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.