Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The Collected Poems of C. S. Lewis by C.S. Lewis The Collected Poems of C. S. Lewis by C.S. Lewis. Lewis, C.S. The Collected Poems of C.S. Lewis. Ed. Walter Hooper. London: Fount Publications [HarperCollins Publishers], 1994. 263 pp. ISBN 0-00-627833-7. Reviewed by Nancy-Lou Patterson. [This review originally appeared as “Athens, Troy, Jerusalem” in Mythlore 20.4 (#78) (1995): 60.] The latest product of the Editor’s ceaseless industry, this volume includes the entire contents of Lewis’s Poems (1964), Spirits in Bondage (1919), and A Miscelleny of additional poems (copyrighted 1986 and 1994) of which (as was the case with the first edition of the works in the 1964 volume), many have been published before but not collected, and some appear in print for the first time. And will, of course, be welcome to readers of Lewis, whether they have already managed to acquire Poems or Spirits in Bondage or not. In addition to the poems, there are not only Hooper’s original introduction to Poems (1964) but a new Introduction by him, discussing the contents of all three sections including the Miscellany, and—deliciously sharp-tongued—an “Introductory Letter” (1963) by Lewis himself, which was, Hooper says, to have accompanied “a volume to be called Young King Cole, and Other Pieces” (xvi). Readers may recall that Lewis also wrote four long poems, of which only the first was published in his lifetime: Dymer (1926), Launcelot , the Nameless Isle , and The Queen of Drum . The four were published with a Preface by the editor Walter Hooper, as Narrative Poems (1969), and this has been published again as a companion volume without apparent revisions under the same title, in the same format and date as The Collected Poems of C.S, Lewis , that is, in 1994. Whether we will eventually see more poems by Lewis previously published but not yet collected, or not yet published, only Walter Hooper knows, but I suspect that if there are any out there we will! Now, to the Poems (1994). Lewis scholars, including Joe R. Christopher, have discussed Lewis’s poetry to very useful effect, and I won’t presume to improve upon their efforts. He was a good poet, if not a great one, and he knew it. In his witty (if fundamentally defensive) “Introductory Letter,” Lewis writes, “It is of course just possible that some one critic who reads this … may be concerned not at all with me as a person or a type and degree of my failure or success” (xxi). A daunting challenge, and one I haven’t the hubris to undertake, except to say that all the poems, including those in the Miscellany, are competent. Many are memorable (ditto), And some are wonderful, But few, at least for me, reach the level of Lewis’s greatest prose, where in line after line, wonder flashes through mind and body, coursing along the veins like lightening. I will quote, in spite of this, some lines that have afforded this stab of wonder to me. From the Poems , I would select (among others, of course), “A Confession,” which concludes: …peacocks, honey, the Great Wall, Aldeberan, Silver weirs, new-cut grass, wave on the beach, hard gem, The shape of horse and woman; Athens, Troy Jerusalem. (15) From Spirits in Bondage , I would chose these lines from “Death in Battle”: a Country of Dreams! Beyond the tide of the ocean, hidden and sunk away, Out of the sound of battles, near to the end of day, Full of dim woods and streams, (223) And from the Miscellany , the astonishing “Findlay Avenue” (circa 1950), which expresses, more personally than in anything Lewis ever wrote elsewhere, that odd combination of sensitivity toward, and separation from, women, despite his close, almost life-long contact with them, that Lewis only finally overcame in his late marriage which was, though he did not know it when he wrote this poem, soon to befall him: What do they do? Their families have all gone hence, Grow up. The whole long avenue exhales the sense. Of absent husbands, housework done, uncounted hours … Almost an eerie rashness to possess a wife. And house that go with living with their different life. For ever inaccessible to us, all day; (251-52) Hooper sensitively closes this volume with the next and last poem, the Epitaph Lewis composed for, and caused to be carved upon, the tombstone of Helen Joy Davidman Lewis. This edition, despite its rash of typos, serves a very useful function, in making Lewis’s poetry available to readers in the 1990s, and it certainly recommended. The Making of C. S. Lewis: From Atheist to Apologist. At the end of World War I, young C. S. Lewis was a devout atheist about to begin his studies at Oxford. In the three decades that followed, he would establish himself as one of the most influential writers and scholars of modern times, undergoing a radical conversion to Christianity that would transform his life and his work. Scholar Harry Lee Poe unfolds these watershed years in Lewis’s life, offering readers a unique perspective on his conversion, his friendships with well-known Christians such as J. R. R. Tolkien and Dorothy L. Sayers, and his development from an opponent of Christianity to one of its most ardent defenders. Author: Harry Lee Poe (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) serves as the Charles Colson University Professor of Faith and Culture at Union University, where he has taught a course on C. S. Lewis for over fifteen years. He is the author of The Inklings of Oxford and C. S. Lewis Remembered , as well as numerous articles. Poe hosts regular Inklings Weekend retreats and is a speaker on Lewis at major libraries worldwide. Product Details. Format: Hardcover w/ Jacket Page Count: 400 Size: 5.5 in x 8.5 in Weight: 20.59 ounces ISBN-10: 1-4335-6783-0 ISBN-13: 978-1-4335- 6783-4 ISBN-UPC: 9781433567834 Case Quantity: 10 Published: June 01, 2021. Table of Contents. Chapter 1: Return to Oxford Chapter 2: From Philosophy to Literature Chapter 3: From Undergraduate to Fellow Chapter 4: From Idealist to Christian Chapter 5: From Poet to Scholar Chapter 6: From Scholar to Novelist Chapter 7: From Peace to War Chapter 8: From Academic Work to War Work Chapter 9: From Personal Testimony to Philosophy of Science Chapter 10: From War to Peace. Endorsements. “Detailed and fluent, this second volume of Poe’s trilogy is a triple helix of biography, literary criticism, and spiritual portraiture that will reward any reader, from the generally curious to the experienced Lewis scholar. Poe’s narrative vision of Lewis’s conversion and apologetic commitment, his arguments along the way, and the nuances of his spiritual insights are, respectively, engaging, challenging, and fascinating. Highly recommended.” James Como , author, C. S. Lewis: A Very Short Introduction. “There are few more-erudite scholars of Lewis alive today than Harry Lee Poe. This being so, this long-expected second volume of Poe’s three- part intellectual life of Lewis is most welcome. Taking Lewis’s intellectual journey from his atheist youth to his work as a middle-aged Christian apologist, Poe serves as the perfect guide to his subject’s emergence as one of the most powerful voices in the English-speaking world.” Joseph Pearce , author, Further Up & Further In: Understanding Narnia. “ The Making of C. S. Lewis , a work of careful and detailed scholarship, is distinguished by the close attention Harry Lee Poe pays to Lewis’s reading and, most importantly, to his poetry and his early literary scholarship. Poe's assessment of the importance of The Allegory of Love —not simply as a work of scholarship but as the test bed for Lewis’s emerging theology of the imagination—is most impressive. Poe delineates the important links between Lewis the literary critic and Lewis the Christian thinker. New Lewis readers and seasoned Lewis scholars have much to gain from this thought-provoking book.” Malcolm Guite , Life Fellow, Girton College, Cambridge; author, Mariner: A Voyage with Samuel Taylor Coleridge and After Prayer. “With the increasing popularity of C. S. Lewis, the time has come for a more complete biography. This second volume of Harry Lee Poe’s three- volume biography covers all the major events and many previously ignored minor events so that we learn far more about Lewis’s generosity, friendships, writings, life of service, and uproarious sense of humor. Besides all the major people in Lewis’s life, Poe pieces together the influence of all the major people in Lewis’s life, as well as Leo Baker, Janie Moore, A. C. Harwood, Owen Barfield, and numerous others. Anyone who wants to graduate to the full picture of the life of Lewis needs to read this book.” Joel D. Heck , Professor of Theology, Concordia University, Texas; author, From Atheism to Christianity: The Story of C. S. Lewis. “Harry Lee Poe has produced an in-depth sequel to his earlier book Becoming C. S. Lewis . This second volume offers detailed information about Lewis’s early adulthood and examines all the people, ideas, and experiences that influenced his pilgrimage from sharp-tongued atheist to golden- tongued apologist for Christian faith.” David C. Downing , Codirector, Marion E. Wade Center. “While not all pictures are worth a thousand words, The Making of C. S. Lewis paints an image that is clearly worth every bit of its 120,000 words. Taking the reader from just before Lewis’s first published book and stopping five years prior to his Narnia debut, Poe masterfully unfolds details that even those familiar with Lewis might not know. This is especially true with the relatively recent discovery of The Norse Spirit in English Literature , as complete details about it are revealed. Anyone wanting to understand why Lewis is so widely respected needs to read this book.” William O’Flaherty , author, The Misquotable C. S. Lewis ; Host, All About Jack podcast. “Hal Poe’s The Making of C. S. Lewis is the much anticipated second installment of Poe’s comprehensive biography of the foremost Christian apologist of the twentieth century. Much as he did in Becoming C. S. Lewis , Poe draws on multiple primary and secondary sources in order to offer an articulate and informed reading of Lewis’s life from 1918 to 1945. Of particular significance is Poe’s exploration of how Lewis’s conversion impacted his writings after 1933 through World War II.” Don King , author, C. S. Lewis, Poet ; Plain to the Inward Eye ; and The Collected Poems of C. S. Lewis. “Harry Lee Poe has a remarkable ability to highlight and explore central moments of Lewis’s life in a highly readable way. Not only does his narrative retain an absorbing continuity of unfolding events, but he also shows the significance of the role that Lewis’s friends and family members, including his adoptive mother, played in shaping the journey of his life. J. R. R. Tolkien once remarked to an Oxford student that they would never get to the bottom of their tutor C. S. Lewis, but The Making of C. S. Lewis succeeds in doing so. It is refreshingly accessible as well as deeply knowledgeable, covering all aspects of the complex Lewis, whose learning, storytelling for adults and children, wisdom, and humor are known throughout the world.” Colin Duriez , author, C. S. Lewis: A Biography of Friendship and Tolkien and C. S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship. The Collected Poems of C. S. Lewis by C.S. Lewis. January 2015, 485 pp Cloth, $75.00 ISBN 978-1-60635-202-1. August 2020, 396 pp Paper, $24.95 ISBN 978-1-60635-411-7. Related posts: The Collected Poems of C. S. Lewis. A Critical Edition. Don W. King. The Collected Poems of C. S. Lewis offers readers, for the first time, a one-volume collection of Lewis’s poetry, including many poems that have never appeared in print. With the poems arranged in chronological order, this volume allows readers the opportunity to compare the poetry Lewis was writing while he was also writing his fiction and nonfiction prose. Beginning with his earliest lyric poems from 1907, The Collected Poems of C. S. Lewis follows Lewis’s efforts to write long, narrative poems, which were particularly influenced by Norse mythology. His outburst of lyric poetry as a young man in the trenches during World War I culminates in his first published work, Spirits in Bondage (1919), followed by his most ambitious narrative poem, Dymer (1926). Both volumes afford unique insights into Lewis the atheist. After his conversion to Christianity in 1930, Lewis wrote a collection of sixteen religious lyrics that he included in The Pilgrim’s Regress (1933); as a group, these are considered among his best poems. Until his death in 1963, Lewis continued writing and publishing poetry, often appearing in journals and magazines under his pseudonym N. W., shorthand for the Anglo-Saxon nat whilk , “[I know] not whom.” As a whole, these latter poems are either occasional verses, burlesques, and erudite satires or they are contemplative poems musing upon the human condition and its pain, joy, suffering, pride, love, doubt, and faith. The Collected Poems of C. S. Lewis demonstrates a dedicated, determined, and passionate poet at work and illustrates the degree and depth to which poetry shaped Lewis’s literary, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual life. The Collected Poems of C. S. Lewis by C.S. Lewis. Follow C.S. LEWIS: The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis eBooks, Volume 1 & 2: $1.99 Until March 30th. The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, Volume I offers an inside perspective to Lewis’s thinking during his formative years. Walter Hooper’s insightful notes and biographical appendix of all the correspondents make this an irreplaceable reference for those curious about the life and work of one of the most creative minds of the modern era. At age sixteen, Lewis begins writing to Arthur Greeves, a boy his age in Belfast who later becomes one of his most treasured friends. Their correspondence would continue over the next fifty years. In his letters to Arthur, Lewis admits that he has abandoned the Christian faith. “I believe in no religion,” he says. “There is absolutely no proof for any of them.” In 1929 Lewis writes to Arthur of a friend ship that was to greatly influence his life and writing. “I was up till 2:30 on Monday talking to the Anglo- Saxon professor Tolkien who came back with me to College … and sat discoursing of the gods and giants & Asgard for three hours …” Gradually, as Lewis spends time with Tolkien and other friends, he admits in his letters to a change of view on religion. In 1930 he writes, “Whereas once I would have said, ‘Shall I adopt Christianity’, I now wait to see whether it will adopt me …” Volume II begins with C. S. Lewis writing his first major work of literary history, The Allegory of Love , which established him as a scholar with imaginative power. These letters trace his creative journey and recount his new circle of friends, “The Inklings,” who meet regularly to share their writing. Tolkien reads aloud chapters of his unfinished The Lord of the Rings , while Lewis shares portions of his first novel, Out of the Silent Planet . Lewis’s weekly letters to his brother, Warnie, away serving in the army during World War II, lead him to begin writing his first spiritual work, The Problem of Pain . Search the C.S. Lewis Blog. ABOUT. This blog offers original work on and about C. S. Lewis from scholars who have written far and wide about his stories, his theology, and his world. HarperOne also posts updates about new products and promotions. We add new entries regularly and we encourage your comments and feedback so we can develop a helpful, thoughtful and entertaining resource for you. The Collected Poems of C. S. Lewis by C.S. Lewis. C.S. Lewis’s poetry is probably the least well-known part of his output. It is also probably the least liked part. People complain that Lewis had a tin ear as a poet. He didn’t give us verse that sings. It’s too full of knots. So they say. I disagree. Or rather, I agree that it has many knots, but I think the knots are interesting, even beautiful. In my view, Lewis’s poetry contains some of his best work and ought to be more widely appreciated. There is a great deal that could be said about both the form and the content of Lewis’s verse, but I want to focus on neither the form nor the content. Rather, let us look at the way that form and content are often inextricably bound to each other. What Lewis says is interdependent with how he says it. There are many poems where we can see this interdependence between form and content, but in this brief article there is space to study only one example. It’s called ‘Le Roi S’Amuse’ (‘The King Amuses Himself’), a poem about God creating the universe. Here, Lewis imagines God as Jove, drawing on the medieval convention of disguising Christianity under pagan forms. ‘Paganism,’ Lewis wrote in one of his academic books, ‘is the religion of poetry, through which the author can express, at any moment, just so much or so little of his real religion as his art requires.’ One particular thing about this poem that needs to be recognised, if we are to enjoy it fully, is the way Lewis ingeniously plays with complex sound effects. He said that he was ‘interested in phonetic patterns: consonances, assonances, internal or inbedded rhymes, and all that.’ It’s quite easy to read ‘Le Roi S’Amuse’ – and indeed many of Lewis’s similarly structured poems – without recognising the careful way in which he chooses words so that they subtly chime with one another. But the chiming and the subtlety of that chiming are part of the total effect that he is aiming to achieve. Here, then, is ‘Le Roi S’Amuse’: Jove gazed On woven mazes Of patterned movement as the atoms whirled. His glance turned Into dancing, burning Colour-gods who rushed upon that sullen world, Waking, re-making, exalting it anew – Silver and purple, shrill-voiced yellow, turgid crimson, and virgin blue. Jove stared On overbearing And aching splendour of the naked rocks. Where his gaze smote, Hazily floated To mount like thistledown in countless flocks, Fruit-loving, root-loving gods, cool and green Of feathery grasses, heather and orchard, pollen’d lily, the olive and the bean. Jove laughed. Like cloven-shafted Lightning, his laughter into brightness broke. From every dint Where the severed splinters Had scattered a Sylvan or a Satyr woke; Ounces came pouncing, dragon-people flew, There was spirited stallion, squirrel unrespectful, clanging raven and kangaroo. Jove sighed. The hoving tide of Ocean trembled at the motion of his breath. The sigh turned Into white, eternal, Radiant Aphrodite unafraid of death; A fragrance, a vagrant unrest on earth she flung, There was favouring and fondling and bravery and building and chuckling music and suckling of the young. Jove thought. He strove and wrought at A thousand clarities; from his brows sprang With earnest mien Stern Athene; The cold armour on her shoulders rang. Our sires at the fires of her lucid eyes began To speak in symbols, to seek out causes, to name the creatures; they became Man. World and Man Unfurled their banner – It was gay Behemoth on a sable field. Fresh-robed In flesh, the ennobled Spirits carousing in their myriads reeled; There was frolic and holiday. Jove laughed to see The abyss empeopled, his bliss imparted, the throng that was his and no longer he. The content of the poem is obvious: God creates a teeming, vivid, colourful universe, lovingly purposed at every level, from atoms whirling in minuscule patterns all the way up to rational spirits ‘carousing’ before their creator. But what is the form of the poem? We can’t examine every stanza, but since every stanza is built to the same scheme we need look at just one. Let’s look at the last one. The stanza has eight lines. The end-rhymes are A, A, B, C, C, B, D, D. ‘Man’ rhymes with the ‘ban-’ of ‘banner’; ‘field’ rhymes three lines later with ‘reeled’; the ‘robe-’ of ‘robed’ rhymes with the ‘ennob-’ of ‘ennobled’; and ‘see’ rhymes with ‘he’. So far so (relatively) simple! But if we then pay attention to the internal rhymes, we see that the scheme Lewis has set himself is in fact far more complicated. The full scheme for each stanza is actually: A, B, A, B, C, C, D, E, F, E, F, G, G, D, H, H, I, J, J, K, K, I. This, as far as I know, is the knottiest rhyme scheme that Lewis ever attempted. I’ve written out the pattern as follows: Line 1: A, B (‘World’, ‘Man’) Line 2: A, B (‘Unfurled’, ‘ban-’) Line 3: C, C, D (‘gay Be-’, ‘sab-’, ‘field’) Line 4: E, F (‘fresh’, ‘robe-’) Line 5: E, F (‘flesh’, ‘ennob-’) Line 6: G, G, D (‘Spir-’, ‘myr-’, ‘reeled’) Line 7: H, H, I (‘frol-’, ‘hol-’, ‘see’) Line 8: J, J, K, K, I (‘abyss’, ‘bliss’, ‘throng’, ‘long-’, ‘he’) That’s nine different rhymes used, in total, 22 times per stanza, – a mind-bogglingly tightly-knit lattice. Well might Lewis write of ‘woven mazes’! The complexity of the form helps convey the complexity of the world being described. Form and content are united. Lewis was deeply concerned to make form and content inseparable in his verse (see, for example, the letter he wrote to his fellow poet, Ruth Pitter on 24 July 1946). ‘Le Roi S’Amuse’ is a good example of his achieving that aim. One last thing. I have mentioned how Lewis as an expert in medieval literature uses the medieval convention of figuring God under a pagan name (Jove). That is not the only medieval aspect to this poem. Its complexity is another such feature. ‘Intricacy,’ Lewis wrote, ‘is a mark of the medieval mind.’ Poets such as Chaucer and Dante and Langland love to present us, he said, with ‘something that cannot be taken in at a glance, something that at first looks planless though all is planned. Everything leads to everything else, but by very intricate paths.’ Lewis’s own practice of intricate patterning is a major aspect of his poetry, – and, indeed, of his fiction too. It reflects not only his knowledge and love of medieval literature but also his belief that the real universe is a fantastically complex work of divine artistry. Every single thing in the cosmos, Lewis believed, has been made both for its own sake and for the sake of every other thing. The independent purposes of each creature cannot be untied from their interdependent purposes. In Letters to Malcolm , his book on prayer, Lewis writes this about God’s creation: ‘The great work of art was made for the sake of all it does and is, down to the curve of every wave and the flight of every insect.’