W. H. Auden, Spain

Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London)

Ed. by Chris Baldick, Goldsmiths College, University of London
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Newman University), Louise McDonald (Newman University)

Dates

First circulation or publication May 1937

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Pamphlets/ Tracts/ Chapbooks

Resources

W. H. Auden’s Spain (1937) is the most celebrated English poem about the Spanish Civil War of 1936-9, and a major instance of the 1930s literature of moral and political “commitment”. A partisan poem rather than a narrowly propagandist one – it does not plead a cause, nor urge enlistment, nor even directly mention the fascist rebellion against the Spanish Republic – its rhetorical panorama of human history presents the conflict as a moment of urgent choice in which sides must be taken. The terms in which Spain poses that choice were welcomed by many readers on the political Left, but distrusted as morally objectionable by others, including George Orwell, who later subjected one stanza to …

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2328 words

Citation: Baldick, Chris. "Spain". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 September 2018 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1919, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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