Poems

It was a struggle to pick through the earlier works, as Lewis is so steeped in the classics that it was nearly impossible to follow him in all his ancient references. But, as the book turned towards more of his theological poetry, it shined. What a brilliant master of word and thought! I kept a card inside the front cover of works the particularly moved me.

Although primarily known for his fantasy and Christian apologetics, Lewis actually started his literary career with poetry and brought his amazing precision of word use to craft poetic gems on topics ranging from the planets to laughing at injustice to a "confession" of his inability to see the hidden meanings claimed by literary figures. Many of them pull in mythical figures such as Circe or Greek gods, always incorporating his unique ability to see the meaning behind the mythos. I wrote a college paper defending the thesis that one of his poems, "A Cliche Came Out Of Its Cage," summed up his entire body of literary work. Lewis' poetry demands a breadth of knowledge on the part of the reader, or at least a willingness to research show more Hesperus and Jove and Athene and Firdausi and dryads and Midgard. But the richly layered and musically enchanting poems are well worth the effort. show less

This book is Walter Hooper’s collection of various C.S. Lewis poems written throughout his life. The poetry here is so much better than the poetry in Dymer! Maybe because Lewis never intended most of them to be published, they have a beautifully relaxed quality. They seem like poems that naturally popped into his head, rather than words he strained to generate. (Of course, that also means some of them feel slightly unfinished). They have a splendid variety of forms, styles, and subjects. As with much of his poetry and technical work, it’s packed with allusions, and some poems are essentially meaningless if you’re not familiar with the allusion, so you want your Google open while reading. The book would be improved with a few show more footnotes, both to source allusions and to provide context of where/when poems were written and/or published.

More details: http://hannahgivens.wordpress.com/2014/08/13/interesting-carictars-poems/ show less

Lewis is better known for his philosophical/theological writings and his fiction, but his poems are adequate and, at times, beautiful.

I honestly believe that some of these poems, e.g. "The Prodigality of Firdausi," are genuinely great contributions to Engish literature.

Comprehensive collection with some real gems.

2 copies