Selected Poems

by Stephen Spender

. 16mo pp. 80 Brossura (wrappers) Molto buono (Very Good)

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Sir Stephen Harold Spender (1909–1995), English poet, translator, literary critic and editor, was born in London and educated at the University of Oxford, where he first became associated with such other outspoken British literary figures as W. H. Auden, Christopher Isherwood, C. Day Lewis and Louis MacNeice. His book The Thirties and After (1979) recalls these figures and others prominent in the arts and politics and his Journals 1939–1983, published in 1986 and edited by John Goldsmith, are a detailed account of his times and contemporaries.

His passionate and lyrical verse, filled with images of the modern industrial world yet intensely personal, is collected in such volumes as Twenty Poems (1930), The Still Centre (1939), Poems of Dedication (1946), Collected Poems, 1928–1985 (1986).

World Within World, Stephen Spender's autobiography, contains vivid portraits of Virginia Woolf, W. B. Yeats, T. S. Eliot, Lady Ottoline Morrell, W. H. Auden, Christopher Isherwood and many other prominent literary figures. First published in 1951 and still in print, World Within World is recognised as one of the most illuminating literary autobiographies to come out of the 1930s and 1940s. There can be few better portrayals of the political and social atmosphere of the 1930s.

The Destructive Element (1935), The Creative Element (1953), The Making of a Poem (1962) and Love-Hate Relations: English and American Sensibilities (1974), about literary exchanges between Britain and the United States, contain literary and social criticism. Stephen Spender's other works include short stories, novels such as The Backward Son and the heavily autobiographical The Temple (set in Germany on the 1930s) and translations of the poetry of Lorca, Altolaguerra, Rilke, Hölderlin, Stefan George and Schiller. From 1939 to 1941 he co-edited Horizon magazine with Cyril Connolly and was editor of Encounter magazine from 1953 to 1967.

Stephen Spender owed his own early recognition and publication as a poet to T. S. Eliot. In turn Spender was always a generous champion of young talent, from his raising a fund for the struggling 19-year-old Dylan Thomas, to a lifelong commitment to helping promote the publication of newcomers. In 1972, with his passionate concern for the rights of banned and silenced writers to free expression, he was the chief founder of Index on Censorship, in response to an appeal on behalf of victimised authors worldwide by the Russian dissident Litvinov.

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spender as a poet captured in many of his poems the time he lived. The 1930s, the Spanish Civil War, fascism and his love of both men and women. Some of his poems I understood others not so much. The war poems were very poignant such as ‘A Stopwatch and an Ordinance Map’ with

A stopwatch and an ordinance map,
And the bones are fixed at five
Under the moon’s timelessness;
But another who lives on
Wears within his heart forever
The space split open by the bullet.
All under the olive tree.

I liked Air Raid too. Overall an interesting collection of poems.

[Mariana Orantes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Daniel Espartaco dijo que pretendía escribir sobre "el hombre de a pie" y lo comprendí, sin embargo no lo había sentido de forma tan profunda en poesía hasta que leí a Spender. En la primera parte varios de sus poemas no sólo se refieren al hombre de a pie, sino apelan a él mismo como hombre, con su honestidad dolorosa. Poemas sobre estudiantes, niños, trabajadores. Poemas de amor o sobre el mar, sobre las estrellas o una exploración que tienen consecuencias en el sentir humano o en la condición social. Sus desarrollos son tranquilos y cada parte corresponde a lo que debe y no hace juicios. Se dedica a comprender y escribir lo que ve y siente. Amé con locura este libro y me declaro enamorada de Spender. Esta edición en particular es muy buena y tiene la ventaja de ser bilingüe. No estoy de acuerdo con el traductor en varios versos, pero aún así es muy buena. Parece que con Spender no se pierde tanto en la traducción porque su manera de escribir es sencilla y luminosa.

[Justin Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

As selected here, Spender writes about a few themes impressively and intensely. There are some metaphysical-conceit poems, often based on grammar; there are love poems; and there are public poems. There are great poems in each group, but the public poems tend to be stronger; the best of all are often the poems that combine two approaches, like 'Nocturne,' which starts out eye-rolling and ends up brilliant. He's often sentimental, he's often preachy, but you know what? Maybe we need more sentiment, more preaching, and less documentary evidence of the dullness of poets' lives.

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spender was a brilliant but staccatic and inconsistent poet. His work gives excellent insight into war-time London and, with context, a jarringly intimate look into the formerly-underground mythology of the Isherwood clan - standing alone, they often leave something to be desired. To draw the most out of these works, readers would do well to research his life and relationships during the Hamburg/Berlin years beforehand, but if you dig deep enough there's something here for everyone - "gold sequins shaken from a blacksilk screen", as it were.

[Eilis O sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having never read any of Stephen Spender's poetry before this book it was a delight to see how a contemporary of Auden saw the world, particularly those that deal with the Spanish Civil War. It is strange that such poetry can so easily be a poem for all war, and not just the one. I was particularly taken with Spender's poem 'The Landscape near an Aerodrome' which becomes almost otherworldly. It invokes a world that we don't see know a days. Spender's poetry is splendid in an examination of the 20th Century after the First World War and beyond the Second World War.

[Steven Godin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tears pouring from her face of stone,
Angels from the heart, unhappiness
From some past when she slept alone.
Let me dry her eyes with these kisses.
I bear what comfort of commonplace
I can: torch on her coldness thrown.
And then we join in that caress
That drowns our need both to atone.

Stone face on which cold tears are wet.
There's something in me delicate
Reads through her eyes an ocean of green water.
And one by one the salty drops collects
Into an opalescent flask, reflects
The lost world weeping in its daughter.

[adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

“𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐬𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐰𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬. 𝐀𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐝-𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐰 𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫, 𝐎𝐧 𝐬𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬. 𝐄𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐝. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞. 𝐖𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜,
𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬,
𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞’𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐤.”

[Danice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this selection of poems by Stephen Spender. I especially like that he selected the poems and wrote the introduction.

My copy was this edition, hardcover.

[Migüel B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poemario existencialista, me gustó.
Sus principales tópicos son la vida, muerte y el tiempo.
De la obra puedo rescatar un poema sobre la rebelión, plasmada en una metáfora de las estructuras lingüísticas.

[rebeca ravara · Rating 5 out of 5]

a delightful read


thanks cormy

[Rachelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely exquisite poetry on the debilitating effects of war in unexpected places. I had to analyse these poems as a set for my studies, and what a fulfilling angle it was to explore. I could bathe in recurring themes of lost innocence, nature, man and liberation from reality, and still be mystified up to the last line. Spender's work is pure and excellently executed sincerity.

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't think it's far to rate a book of poems because I liked a few of them, understood a few of them, and didn't get the message of the rest. I liked it but I admit I was confused on what he was trying to say with a few of them.

[l · Rating 2 out of 5]

liked a few of them but found the rest kind of ponderous.