Modernist & 20Th Century Poets Codexery

Stephen Spender

English poet, novelist, and essayist on social injustice.

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Stephen Spender

via Wikipedia: Modernist poetry in English · see source

Born in Kensington, London, Stephen Spender was the child of journalist Harold Spender and painter-poet Violet Hilda Schuster.[1] A heart attack caused Spender's death in Westminster, London, on 16 July 1995, when he was 86 years old.[2]

George Orwell and Sir Stephen Spender - Lansdowne Terrace London WC1N 1AS (Marchmont Association)
George Orwell and Sir Stephen Spender - Lansdowne Terrace London WC1N 1AS (Marchmont Association). Image: Spudgun67 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Life and work

T. S. Eliot discovered Spender at Faber and Faber in 1933.[3] During the Spanish Civil War, the Daily Worker sent Spender to Spain in January 1937 to report on the sunken Soviet ship Komsomol.[4] He was editor of Encounter magazine from 1953 to 1966, resigning after learning of CIA funding.[5] He was knighted in the 1983 Birthday Honours.[6]

Armenische Pfarrei, Gedenktafel für Spender, 2024 Szentimreváros
Armenische Pfarrei, Gedenktafel für Spender, 2024 Szentimreváros. Image: Globetrotter19 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

He studied at University College, Oxford, and received an honorary fellowship from that institution in 1973.[7] Louis MacNeice, Edward Upward, and Cecil Day-Lewis were among the Auden Group members known to Spender.[8] Spender became a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1936; Harry Pollitt, the party's leader, subsequently asked him to contribute articles about the Moscow Trials to the Daily Worker.[9] From 1970 until 1977, Spender held the position of Professor of English at University College London.[6]

Gedenktafel für Spender, Martinskirche, 2026 Kunszentmárton
Gedenktafel für Spender, Martinskirche, 2026 Kunszentmárton. Image: Globetrotter19 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

What the cited sources add

The catalog was published by Hauser & Wirth Publishers and became available on 20 November 2018.[10]

Stephen Spender
Stephen Spender. Image: Unknown author · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Ignazio Silone, Stephen Spender, letteratura araba 1961
Ignazio Silone, Stephen Spender, letteratura araba 1961. Image: sconosciuto · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
George Orwell and Sir Stephen Spender (Marchmont Association)
George Orwell and Sir Stephen Spender (Marchmont Association). Image: Spudgun67 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Stephen Spender" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: John Sutherland, "Stephen Spender: A Literary Life", Oxford University Press, USA, 6 January 2005, p. 16; David Leeming, "Stephen Spender: A Life in Modernism", Henry Holt and Company, 1 April 2011, p. 19 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Stephen Spender" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Stephen Spender: A Literary Life (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Stephen Spender" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Walsh, "Faber & Faber by Toby Faber review — the inside story of Britain's most illustrious publishing house", The Times, 2019-05-05 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Stephen Spender" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sutherland, "A House in St John's Wood: In Search of My Parents by Matthew Spender; Review by John Sutherland", The Financial Times, 21 August 2015 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Stephen Spender" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Frances Stonor Saunders, "How the CIA plotted against us", New Statesman, 12 July 1999 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Stephen Spender" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; ; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Stephen Spender" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: John Sutherland, "Stephen Spender: A Literary Life", Oxford University Press, USA, 6 January 2005, p. 44 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Stephen Spender" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Raeburn, "Joseph Glasco: The Fifteenth American", Cacklegoose Press, 2015, p. 101–102, 323 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Stephen Spender" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Isherwood, "Christopher and his kind, 1929-1939", Avon Books, 1977, p. 260; Pace, "Stephen Spender, Poet of Melancholic Vision and Social Conscience, Dies at 86", The New York Times, 18 July 1995 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. "The Worlds of Stephen Spender ARTBOOK D.A.P. 2018 Catalog Hauser & Wirth Publishers Books Exhibition Catalogues 9783906915197". facts only, no text reused. artbook.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Stephen Spender (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Test yourself

Three questions drawn from this entry’s sources. Pick an answer to check it.

1. In which place was Stephen Spender born?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is Kensington, London, England.

2. In what year did Stephen Spender die?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1995.

From the source: “Sir Stephen Harold Spender (28 February 1909 – 16 July 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist whose work concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle. He was appointed U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry ”

3. In what year was Stephen Spender born?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1909.

From the source: “Sir Stephen Harold Spender (28 February 1909 – 16 July 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist whose work concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle. He was appointed U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry ”

Answers checked against the source article

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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