Quotes by Stephen Spender

About Stephen Spender:

Sir Stephen Harold Spender was an English poet, novelist and essayist who concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle in his work. He was appointed the seventeenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the United States Library of Congress in 1965.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

There is a certain justice in criticism. The critic is like a midwife - a tyrannical midwife.

Stephen Spender

When you read and understand a poem, comprehending its rich and formal meanings, then you master chaos a little.

Stephen Spender

When a child, my dreams rode on your wishes, I was your son, high on your horse, My mind a top whipped by the lashes Of your rhetoric, windy of course.

Stephen Spender

Great poetry is always written by somebody straining to go beyond what he can do.

Stephen Spender

Religion stands, the Church blocking the sun.

Stephen Spender

Although Poets are vain and ambitious, their vanity and ambition are of the purest kind attainable in this world. They are ambitious to be accepted for what they altimately are as revealed in their poetry.

Stephen Spender

Author Bio

  • NameStephen Spender
  • DescriptionPoet
  • BornFebruary 28, 1909
  • DiedJuly 16, 1995
  • CountryUnited Kingdom
  • ProfessionPoet; Writer; Essayist
  • AwardsCommander Of The Order Of The British Empire; Queen's Gold Medal For Poetry