SOURCE: An obituary in The Times, London, July 18, 1995, p. 19.

[In the obituary below, the critic surveys Spender's life and career.]

Latterly the reputation of Stephen Spender had been very much that of critic, lecturer, scholar and ambassador for culture, a role reflected in the seemingly belated knighthood bestowed on him in 1983. But these were functions which usefully filled the void left by his waning powers as a poet. As a creative artist Spender will always be indissolubly linked with the 1930s and his impressive stature and handsome features made him the physically dominating presence in the aesthetes' group which gathered around Auden and Isherwood at Oxford in those days. It was the decade when politics invaded the innermost recesses of literature, but as a poet Spender's inspiration was intensely personal, and he could never bring himself to wave flags or chant slogans for very long. His characteristic note...