Bold Type's Poetry Editor Ernest Hilbert writes on Spender: "While certain (principally homosexual) disclosures came as quite a shock at the time of the book's publication in 1951, the case of World Within World is hardly one of full disclosure. The subtlety with which he recounts particular episodes is of a kind almost entirely unknown to contemporary writers, whose apparent reluctance to withhold any information, however embarrassing or unentertaining, has gone some way in dulling their readers' capacity to discern nuances altogether."

Read an excerpt from World Within World, a poem and an essay on its republication.