Stephen Spender (1909–1995) was a leading member of a group of socially conscious British writers of the 1930s. This group took part in "new left" politics and worked for social reform. Born in London, Spender attended University College, Oxford, where he became friends with other writers, including W. H. Auden. While his contemporaries focused on society and its problems, Spender wrote poetry with a more personal and individual voice. Because he was a pacifist, he did not fight in either the Spanish Civil War, as many liberal writers did, or World War II. He was a firefighter in London during the Blitz. By the 1950s, he wrote less poetry and became better known as a critic and lecturer, both in Britain and in the United States. He edited the literary review Encounter from 1953 to 1967. The Creative Element (1953) is one of Spender's well-known critical works. His autobiography, World Within World, was published in 1951 and reissued in 1994.