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Each volume of WRITERS OF TODAY is a dialogue between noted literary critic Walter Kerr and one of the best known writers of our time. Produced in the 1950s, these programs provide rare profiles of these men as they discuss contemporary literature and society at the time of their own writing peaks.

Auden bemoans the declining role of the poet in society. He decries the increasing mechanization of form and yet believes poetry is more personal than ever before. He explains that the problem lies in the grand scale of modern events. How, for instance, might a poem about World War II be written? In defining what makes a poet, Auden says 'If one is stimulated by arbitrary restrictions, that person may be a poet.'