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In this article, Auden discusses the impact of culture on literature in general and poetry in particular; his stance is, “modern culture's and how these restrict the poet's capacity.” After giving a brief but very effective description of conditions and status of literature at present and the attitude of people toward it, “This fascination is not due to the nature of art itself, but to the way in which an artist works…”, he gives four reasons for this state of affairs in literature in the twentieth century:
(1) “The loss of belief in the eternity of the physical universe.”:

(2) “The loss of belief in the significance and reality of sensory phenomena.”

(3) Present culture “has completely changed the meaning of the word tradition. It no longer means a way of working handed down from one generation to the next; a sense of tradition now means a consciousness of the whole of the past as present, yet at the same time as a structured, whole the parts of which are related in terms of before and after. Originality no longer means a slight modification in the style of one's immediate predecessors; it means a capacity to find in any work of any date or place a clue to finding one's authentic voice. The burden of choice and selection is put squarely upon the shoulders of each individual poet and it is a heavy one.” and (4) The disappearance of the Public Realm as the sphere of revelatory personal deeds.

If we look at the history of literature and study various phases closely, we find that literature of every age is shaped and restricted by the culture and criteria of that period. For example, Marlowe, Shakespeare, and other writers and poets of Elizabethan age created the literature of particular taste and form because the age and culture, and temperament of that time demanded that type of literature from them. It is branded ‘the Elizabethan Literature’ for its own idiosyncrasies. The Restoration and the Augustan writers had to produce the literature that their reading public required, and the restrictions of that culture demanded. The Augustan would and could not write the way the Elizabethans would because their reading public was different from that of the Elizabethan age and the mood of the age was different. The social, economic, and new philosophies of Newton and De Carte restrict them to write in a particular way. Lock and Shaftsbury made them see man in a particular light and goaded them to write satires that would meet the demand of the age. In the same way, Romantic poetry was framed by particular culture and sensibility.

It is true that modern civilization and culture lack certain sticking values and standards because the foundation on which civilization rests has changed with the advent of Darwinian philosophy and the stability that we have seen when the civilizations were built on the religious foundation had disappeared and it has been replaced by the new foundation based on science. it is unstable and the direction of modern civilization changes with the changes in scientific knowledge and inventions. With these changes, we find the changes in literary trends.

In fact, the present culture is not restricting the poets’ capacity; rather it is encouraging poets to innovate new forms, diction, and imageries to suit the requirements of culture and mood of the age.

Augustan age produced different literature keeping in view the requirements and restrictions of its culture, the Romantics revolted against it, and produced the literature that cater to the requirements of culture and sensibility of that time. If the romantics had written like Augustans, neither their culture nor their sensibility would have accepted them. Therefore, if present culture restricts the writers to write in a particular sensibility and in different form and diction from their predecessors, it is enhancement, not a draw back. They are new additions to the richness of literature.