SOURCE: Hufstader, Jonathan. “MacNeice's Critic Jailed in the Mind.” Essays in Criticism 44, no. 3 (July 1994): 190-212.

In the following essay, Hufstader provides an in-depth study of the poetic and journalistic aspects of Autumn Journal and praises MacNeice for admitting ignorance instead of posturing and feigning understanding of the tumultuous events that unfold around him.

From the summer of 1938 to the following January, Louis MacNeice composed Autumn Journal, a long poetic reflection on both the events of the day (especially the Munich crisis and the Spanish Civil War) and those of his own life (his attempt to begin again after his first marriage had failed). The writer presents himself as an observer who makes judgments, a thoughtful person trying to evaluate his experience and reach coherent personal conclusions. What makes Autumn Journal such an interesting poem is that its writer does these things so badly. Visiting Spain in Easter, 1936, he...