The Defeat of Youth and Other Poems

The Defeat of Youth, by English writer and philosopher Aldous Huxley was originally published in 1918. The work was Huxley's third book of poetry, published at the age of twenty-four. At the crossroads between youth and adulthood. It consists of a multitude of poetic styles, rooted largely in traditional form. Deep lyrical romanticism imbues his modernist ironicism with the mysterious and often confused ambiguity of nature and love. Playing off the dejected and vulgar with youthful idealisation, as the narrator becomes disgusted at the idealisation of love and youth. The world collapsing around him as he emerges into a world of alienation and self-doubt.