© 1996 Don W. King

Part One of this essay (through the section on Dymer) was published in The Canadian C. S. Journal No. 91 (Spring 1997): 9-23; Part Two was published in The Canadian C. S. Journal No. 92 (Fall 1997): 34-52.

A Bibliographic Review of C. S. Lewis as Poet: 1952-1995

It is no hyperbole to claim that throughout the first thirty years of his life, C. S. Lewis lusted to achieve acclaim as a poet. His visceral poetic aspirations are well documented in his letters, journal, and diary entries; in addition, his first two published works, Spirits in Bondage (1919) and Dymer (1926), volumes of poetry, testify to this judgment. In a lecture delivered in 1964, Owen Barfield recalls that anyone who met Lewis as a young man quickly learned he was one "whose ruling passion was to become a great poet. At that time if you thought of Lewis you automatically thought of poetry." Scholarly interest in the poetry, while slow at first, accelerated in the 1970's and has held steady since then. Since 1952 over fifty scholarly articles and theses (but no book length study) have been written on Lewis' poetry; in brief, in the 1950's one article was written; in the 1960's four; in the 1970's twenty; in the 1980's seventeen; and, half way through the 1990's thirteen.

In spite of this activity, I believe it is time scholars bring a new focus upon Lewis' poetry, one that embraces diverse critical readings of the poems while seeking to discover whether a unified reading of the poetry is possible. What we need now is the full weight of thoughtful scholarship examining the poetry in a more comprehensive, critical manner with an eye to noting how an understanding of Lewis' poetry and his desire to achieve acclaim as a poet informs a deeper understanding of his prose, both the fiction and non-fiction. As a way of encouraging such efforts, this essay will survey the existing scholarly work on Lewis as poet and suggest directions for further investigation. In order for this material to be readily accessible, I propose to survey in chronological order groups of articles written on 1) Spirits in Bondage, 2) Dymer, 3) Poems (1964), published posthumously and edited by Walter Hooper, 4) other published poems, including brief reference to The Collected Poems of C. S. Lewis (1994) also edited by Hooper, and 5) articles devoted to general remarks on Lewis' poetry. At the end of the essay I will provide a complete bibliography.

Spirits in Bondage: A Cycle of Lyrics

In the seventy-six years since these youthful poems were first published, twelve articles on them have been published. Two are brief comments on particular aspects of the poems. Robert Lancelyn Green's four-paragraph note clarifies the source of the couplet Lewis placed on the title page. George Musacchio uses seven paragraphs to point out Heinemann, the publisher of Spirits in Bondage, incorrectly advertised the volume in 1920 as being the creation of George Lewis and then makes brief mention of how the poems "Death in Battle" and "French Nocturne" are worthy of interest as war poems of World War I. John Kirkpatrick writes an essay considering how selected poems from Spirits in Bondage contribute fresh insights in humankind, particularly in relation to other kinds (read animals, nature, supernatural beings, and so on), other humans, and "to the divine, within us or outside of us" (2). Although he does not limit his discussion to Spirits in Bondage, he notes that "In Praise of Solid People" and "Death in Battle" can be grouped among those poems reflecting Lewis' views on other humans while "Our Daily Bread" offers something of his view on the divine. Kirkpatrick's discussion is limited to brief generalizations followed by full text citation of the poems; there is no attempt at literary analysis.

Chad Walsh's "The Almost Poet" from his The Literary Legacy of C. S. Lewis is the first serious attempt to consider Lewis as poet. About Spirits in Bondage Walsh acknowledges Lewis' poetic inspirations as Housman, Hardy, Yeats, and Keats. He argues "the poems are usually direct and easy to understand; they demand no excessive psychologizing" (36). Furthermore, Walsh claims these poems may be broadly categorized in the Romantic tradition with an occasional reference to World War I pulling them into the twentieth century. When Walsh turns his hand to analysis he is very effective, as in the case of his comment that the volume's first poem, "Prologue," uses a metaphor comparing "the poet and ancient Phoenicians sailing to the tin isles." Unfortunately, however, "since few readers are likely ever to lay hands on a copy of Spirits" [his comment precedes the 1984 reprint by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich] (37), he decides to forego a thorough literary analysis of the entire volume and instead singles out several poems for analysis; these include "French Nocturne," "Victory," "Ode for New Year's Day," "Satan Speaks," "Our Daily Bread," "In Praise of Solid People," and "Irish Nocturne."

Walsh is helpful in summarizing the major themes of Spirits in Bondage; for example, he rightly shows these poems as reflecting Lewis' youthful struggles with "great religious and metaphyscial questions" (41). In addition, Walsh argues Lewis stumbles as a poet when he "tries to say weighty things," becomes "preachy or editorializes," and "fails to convert his ideas into effective symbols" (42). Other problems are his heavy reliance on formal meters and effusive use of mythological and literary allusions. Still, Walsh commends the volume as illustrating a young poet "willing to learn the craft" and well-equipped by wide reading. In Lewis' determination to wrestle with the eternal questions of "life, death, meaning, emptiness, God, Satan, love," Walsh finds much to admire, since these are the ideas "toward which great poetry gravitates" (43).

Perhaps the most ambitious essay on Spirits in Bondage is Stephen Thorson's effort to follow its thematic pattern as a cycle of lyrics. While he adds little to Walsh's general observations, Thorson attempts to give a reading of the volume as a whole by tracing the poems, one by one, in light of the tripartite thematic structure provided by Lewis. In this regard he takes us through the poems in each section (Part I: The Prison House; Part II: Hesitation; Part III: The Escape), makes most often a very brief comment on each (in some instances only a phrase), and tries to show their interconnectedness; in this latter effort he fails, probably more because the poems themselves are misplaced by Lewis than because Thorson's attempt is flawed. In spite of Lewis' intent for these poems to function as a cycle, a close reading suggests that some poems placed in one section could as easily be placed in another. Thorson labors admirably to force a unified reading and offers some thoughtful evidence at times; in the end, however, the effort to give Spirits in Bondage a unified reading centered around its thematic implications does not work. His essay is worth reading because it is a serious and thoughtful look at the volume as a whole.

Joe Christopher's "C. S. Lewis Dances Among the Elves: A Dull and Scholarly Survey of Spirits in Bondage and "The Queen of Drum" quickly surveys eleven poems in the volume with "poetic references to fairies and elves" (11). In most of these poems ("Te Ne Quaesieris," "The Autumn Morning," "Victory," "Our Daily Bread," "In Praise of Solid People," "Ballade Mystique," "Night," "Song of the Pilgrims," "World's Desire," "Song," "Hymn (for Boys' Voices)," and "The Satyr") Christopher focuses upon how Lewis uses supernatural creatures "as a symbol of the mysterious, the Romantic, the dream of escape. In short, they are psychological symbols" (12). He concludes his comments on these poems by noting Lewis has established "the land of faerie as an ideal of Romantic escape and the faeries, with one or two clear exceptions, as the attractive inhabitants of this golden realm" (14). While Christopher offers some interesting ideas, particularly as they introduce the reader to the primary concern of this essay ("The Queen of Drum"), the narrow focus on faeries is of little value to a comprehensive understanding of Spirits in Bondage. Roland Kawano's look at Lewis'early poems in Spirits in Bondage is a quick but helpful overview of the volume's organization and poetic themes.

Walter Hooper's "Preface" to the 1984 reprint of Spirits in Bondage is arguably the best piece of criticism currently available concerning these poems. Hooper's great contribution is less literary analysis than literary history (though his accuracy even here is currently under question by Lindskoog and others); his preface is long on how the volume came to be and short on literary analysis. For example, he reveals many of the poems later published in Spirits in Bondage were originally included in a hand-copied notebook entitled "The Metrical Meditations of a Cod." Furthermore, he argues convincingly that certain poems almost certainly were written while Lewis lived and studied with his great tutor, W. T. Kirkpatrick. We learn from Hooper that while Lewis' father was privy to the typescript of the poems, "it seems doubtful if Mr. Lewis understood the 'general idea' behind the cyle" (xiii-xiv). Hooper goes on to provide an account of the important factors influencing Lewis while he was composing Spirits in Bondage, including his search for joy, his experiences at public school, his thrill at discovering "pure Northernness," his friendship with Arthur Greeves, his studies under Kirkpatrick, his acceptance at Oxford, his military service, his reading of philosophy, and his aspiration to achieve acclaim as a poet. Of the latter Hooper quotes a letter to Greeves in which Lewis writes he is busy "scribbling verse" while at the front, hopes to have it published, and then expects to be killed; after which "I shall enjoy a 9 days immortality while friends who know nothing about poetry imagine that I must have been a genius--which usually happens in such cases" (xxix).

Also of value is Hooper's tracing of the publication history of the book from its initial rejection by Macmillans to its eventual publication by Heinemann under the pseudonym Clive Hamilton. We learn as well of its generally favorable evaluation by reviewers except for Lewis' father and brother, Warren. Warren, in particular, was irked by what he viewed as his brother's false atheism, writing his father "it would have been better if it had never been published. . . . It is obvious that a profession of a Christian belief is as necessary a part of a man's mental make up as a belief in the King, the Regular Army, and the Public Schools" (xxxvii-xxxviii). At the end of his preface Hooper challenges critical readers: "As tempting as it may be to think how much better everything [in Spirits in Bondage] could be said in prose, I urge that one at least consider the poems as poems [emphasis Hooper's]" (xxxix-xl). Hooper's challenge in the tradition of New Criticism is a worthy one, but has not yet been accepted by scholars.

Peter Schakel in his Reason and Imagination in C. S. Lewis: A Study of Till We Have Faces devotes a thoughtful chapter to Lewis' poetry in Spirits in Bondage and Dymer. Arguing the poetry demonstates "a bifurcation and tension between the rationalism and the romantic"(93) aspects of Lewis' personality, Schakel says "in [Spirits in Bondage]its 'enlightened' rationalism on the one hand and deep sense of longing for a world of the spirit on the other, the collection provides an early and immature version of themes which would be treated much more satisfactorily in Till We Have Faces" (94). He then offers cogent though brief comments upon "De Profundis" (where he says these opposing themes are united), "The Philosopher," "The Escape," "Dungeon Grates," and "How He Saw Angus the God." Schakel says the volume as a whole "is uneven as a collection of poetry: there are a few gems, usually brief passages rather than entire poems. Its strength is expression of youthful emotions rather than handling of poetic skills. Its best quality as poetry is its visual imagery" (98).

Another look at these poems is found in George Sayer's 1988 biography of Lewis. Sayer has little to add to the critical discussion; like Hooper, he traces the publication history of the poems and then offers brief analyses of selected poems. Poems not previously noted include "Spook" and "Apology." Sayer's contribution to criticism of Spirits in Bondage is unfortunately negligible, especially since he writes so convincingly about Dymer. Moreover, his assertion that because Lewis was disappointed with the book's critical reception, "he abandoned the thought of becoming a lyric poet" (85) is no where supported; indeed, the fact that he continued to write poetry, lyric as well as narrative throughout the rest of his life, argues against this claim.

Joe Christopher 1994 essay, "Is 'D' for Despoina?" is fascinating speculation about whether Mrs. Moore is the inspiration for the veiled Despoina in two poems from Spirits in Bondage, "Apology" and "Ode for New Year's Day." By referring to Lewis' diaries and letters (especially to Arthur Greeves) where Lewis often referred to Mrs. Moore as "D", Christopher patches together a convincing though not verifiable conjecture in support of this idea. He does not analyze the poems as such but uses them in terms of the dating he tries to establish, so that he concludes with "the mysterious 'D' and the literary use of Despoina, coming in the same general time period, are probably related; the discussion of the two poems does not invalidate this conjecure and, in a general way, tends to identify Janie Moore with Despoina; since she is already identified with 'D', the triple identification of 'D', Despoina, and Moore seems likely (at least, to [Christopher])" (57-58). Though admittedly speculative, this essay is well-done and worth a close look.

John Bremer's discussion of this same topic in his "From Despoina to Diotima: The Mistress of C. S. Lewis" is more thorough, perceptive, and, in the end he disagrees with Christopher's identification of Janie Moore with Despoina. He begins by providing a detailed chronology of Lewis' life from his first connection to Oxford (Dec. 1916) through the publication of Spirits in Bondage (Mar. 1919) with special attention to any mention of Mrs. Moore in Lewis' letters, diaries, and other communications. He follows this with a carefully argued case for the development and nature of Lewis' relationship with Mrs. Moore, the dates and occasions for writing the poems in the volume, and the relationship, if any, between the two. With regard to the first, Bremer, following in the line of biographers such as Wilson, Green and Hooper, and, more recently, Hooper himself, assumes that a sexual relationship between Lewis and Moore was a certainty, though admittedly not verifiable, and that it probably began as early as September, 1917.

With regard to the second, Bremer follows with a helpful summary of the details we know about the writing, composition, and publication of the poems that finally make up Spirits in Bondage. He concludes the first part of his essay by arguing that it "is absolutely clear . . . that Janie Moore and Jack's feelings for her and his sexual relationship with her do not play any significant part in the composition, the literal putting together, of these poems into a lyric cycle . . . . Nor does she seem to have affected any individual poems" (11). Later Bremer discusses "Apology," "Ode for New Year's Day", and "World's Desire" (poems where Despoina or a woman seems to be addressed) and claims Mrs. Moore, in the sense that she inspired Lewis or was the object of admiration or veneration, "never touched his writings" (16). This fine essay ends with an intelligent discussion that posits possible references to "D" in the letters and diaries as Despoina (symbolically linked to the idea of "mistress" but not connected with the figure who is mentioned in Spirits in Bondage), Demeter (the Earth-mother), and Diotima (the introducer to love in Greek literature). Bremer's essay is must reading.

Dymer

Ten scholars have given Dymer critical scrutiny. The earliest essay on Dymer is Marjorie Milne's laudatory personal reaction (she compares her first reading to "watching a ballet") to how powerfully the poem affects her as myth. She quotes Lewis' own distinction between myth and poetry, noting in particular his claim "in a myth the pattern of events is all that matter. . . . Any means which succeeds in lodging these events in our imagination has, as we say, done the trick" (170). Though her essay is brief, she argues convincingly Dymer is a poem infused and empowered by its mythic elements ("conflict-leading-to-death-and-rebirth," "Paradise-Hades: Heaven and Hell," and "the poet's relation to his Muse"). She concludes her panegyric with this unintended hyperbole: "Those . . . who are not unwilling to read a 'classic' because it appears ahead of its time may, I fancy, read and re-read Dymer and enjoying Mr. Lewis once again as myth-maker may discover him as poet" (173). Similarly, Barfield, in his lecture mentioned above, calls Dymer "an extremely good though not quite a great poem." He argues it is worth reading because "it is practically the only place where the voice of the earlier Lewis [pre-conversion to Christ] . . . is heard speaking not through the memory of the later Lewis but one could say in his own person." Barfield's comments again suggest how critical it is scholars turn full attention to this poem.

Nevill Coghill, whose essay "The Approach to English" will be discussed more fully below, gives us solid literary analysis in his brief but helpful insight when he says "[Dymer] is a good story well told, and supported by the sense of there being a powerful mind behind it, flashing out occasionally with an original expression . . . or in a well-sustained passage of natural description, in a vein that harks back to the countryside tradition of poetry and to the sentiment of nature" (59). Walter Hooper's "Preface" to Narrative Poems is primarily concerned with historical background on Dymer; he reveals the titles of other poems Lewis was working on at the time, including besides those later published in Spirits in Bondage, "Loki Bound," "The Quest of Bleheris," and "Medea's Childhood." According to a manuscript version of the poem, Lewis toyed with the idea of making it a dream version since "Lewis added one further stanza after Canto IX, 35, in which he, the dreamer, awakes" (x).

Joe Christopher's study of Dymer is really more a note; this is not surprising since it is an exerpt from his dissertation. In this short piece he links the poem to Northrop Frye's taxonomy of romance; according to Frye the romance "often radiates a glow of subjective intensity." Christopher sees the "upwelling from the unconscious," "the feast prepared in the empty palace," "Dymer as the Wanderer," and "the failure to ask the proper questions" as romance motifs in the poem (17). Further, he argues Dymer is more in the tradition of The Faerie Queen than King Horn or Havelock the Dane. In very brief fashion he touches on elements in several cantos to support his contention. Unfortunately, Christopher struggles in his reading of the poem as a whole. At first he posits a possible Freudian reading: "[The poem] is so obviously a Oedipal complexioned story, that the temptation is to read it in terms of Lewis's life--the death of his mother when he was ten (hence the vanishing goddess), the difficulties with his father. Perhaps the fairest interpretation is to put the story in Freudian terms" (18). But then he argues against this since readers identify with Dymer (why this should negate the Freudian reading he never says). His concluding lines are most disappointing: "All I can do is testify that to me the shift [of point of view at the end of the poem] is too sudden to be successful: I am left feeling not 'what a glorious rebirth!' but 'How odd!'" (18).

Richard Hodgens' essay on Lewis' Narrative Poems discusses more than Dymer, but he is the first critic to dignify the poem with an extended and thoughtful discussion. In his introduction he notes the important role narrative poetry played in Lewis' literary development, pointing out how aggressively the young Lewis defended such poetry from the prevailing English verse of the 1920's. With refreshing candor, Hodgens regretfully admits he does not share Lewis' penchant: "I cannot adopt a fighting attitude on behalf of narrative verse in general nor on behalf of Lewis' narrative poems in particular. I must admit I have not enjoyed reading [Lewis'] poems . . . (3). With this caveat aside, Hodgens goes on to make a series of helpful points.

First, he argues though Lewis' intention in narrative poetry is to tell a story first and execute the mechanics of poetry second, in Dymer he reverses this: "I think it is only fair to grant that Dymer is not altogether lacking in understanding, or beauty, or vitality or solidity. Certainly no one could object to the execution of the verse itself. But the poem fails, as it approaches its conclusion, to tell its story clearly, and the conclusion itself is obscure" (4). Second, after a short summary of the poem, Hodgens investigates the literary history of Dymer and tries to reconcile how elements of an earlier prose version and an earlier verse version may have contributed to the flawed character of the final verse version. Third, he suggests possible literary influences, including Paradise Lost, Arnold's "Sohrab and Rustum," and a series of other poems Lewis was writing while concurrently writing his versions of Dymer. Fourth, Hodgens posits "the conflict of generations," particularly the murder of a parent by a child, as uppermost in Lewis' mind during this time. Fifth, he commends Lewis for several technical achievements, including the regularity of the poem's meter, the effectiveness of the dialogue, and vividness of the visual images. Hodgens' thoughtful comments on Dymer advances our understanding of this difficult poem.

Michael Slack gives an interesting reading of Dymer; he argues the poem's Sehnsucht "is essentially similar to the Platonic Eros" (3). To this he adds: "Both are similarly self-corrective, are unsatisfiable in this world, and have as their goals union with 'ultimate reality'" (4). While this is a valuable critical perspective, the essay is flawed on several accounts. Some are minor, as when Slack claims Dymer was published three years prior to Lewis' conversion in 1929; actually, in Surprised by Joy Lewis dates his conversion to Christ as occurring in 1931. Others are more serious. For instance, after citing that "Plato defines the soul's natures as the appetitive, the passionate, and the rational, each characterized by a form of desire with its peculiar object" (4), Slack argues "it is appropriate that Dymer learns of sexual passion as his last sampling of Eros as physical desire because the intensity of sexual desire and, more subtly, the fact that procreation is one way of achieving immortality make it the most deceptive appetitive form of Eros" (5). Awkward syntax aside, what does this mean? Unfortunately, there are many similar passages. Still, this essay deserves critical attention for its fresh approach to our understanding of Dymer.

George Sayer's essay is without question the best piece of criticism yet published on Dymer. He begins with helpful references to how the poem was initially reviewed, including citations, and then he briefly traces in Lewis' letters and diaries the origin of the ideas behind the poem. Most impressive is his linking of several of the poems from Spirits in Bondage to his discussion of Dymer, including "Death in Battle," "Victory," "De Profundis," "Despoina," "Satan Speaks," and "Tu Ne Quaesieris." Though much remains to be done in this regard, Sayer rightly points critical attention to the integral link between Lewis' first two published works. Also Sayer mentions the important philosophical influences upon Lewis at the time of the poem's composition (in addition to Kirkpatrick's atheism, he lists Hegel, F. H. Bradley, and J. Cook Wilson) as well as the fact that Lewis was "in full flight from his romantic sensibility" (97).

With this extremely effective introduction behind him, Sayer succinctly states what he believes to be the main subject of the poem: "Which is without doubt the temptation of fantasies--fantasies of love, lust, and power." Specifically, Sayer argues Dymer is centrally concerned with the "Christina Dream, the fantasy of sexual love" (97), and he supports this thesis by referring to illustrative passages in Lewis' diary. Lewis' intent in the poem is to show how destructive the Christina Dream can be. Citing from a letter to Green, Sayer notes that for Lewis at the time of the writing of Dymer romanticism was full of dangers, "'a sickness of the soul' and one that could prove fatal. In his case the Christina Dream was undoubtedly accompanied by a strong sense of guilt, especially sexual guilt" (97-98). Using this as his critical perspective, Sayer then offers an intelligent and systematic analysis of the poem. He freely uses the verse to support his critical insights and is seemingly always on target. For example, about the mysterious bride Dymer enjoys sexually and who later is transformed into a hideous old hag, Sayer says:

Whom does she represent? Not, I am sure, Lewis's friend, Mrs. Moore, as has sometimes been suggested. The poem is not written at this crude biographical level. She represents the strong sense of guilt he experiences after having broken the conventional social and moral laws, and still more the guilt that is often felt by those who indulge in sexual fantasies. He feels guilty because of the inadequacy of his relationship with the mysterious bride. (104)

Indeed, much of Sayer's analysis focuses upon how guilt drives Dymer into often reckless and purposeless action.

Although Sayer also notes the functions of Nature and joy in the poem, he articulates the role of other characters effectively. Regarding the master-magician, Sayer reminds us Lewis says "'the physical appearance of the Magician owes something to Yeats as I saw him'" (107), and cites passages from the poem illustrating this point. Furthermore, he shows how the Magician "sets out to tempt Dymer to dream again and more deeply. He must close his eyes to the real world, to his own mistakes and failures, and live as far as possible in the world of fantasy" (108). Of the woman he meets in his drug-induced dream initiated by the Magican, Sayer says she becomes the focus of "an orgy of sexual temptations, perhaps one of the most powerful in the whole range of English poetry" (109). Sayer correctly points out how crucial it is to distinguish between Dymer's early experience with the mysterious bride and this later fantasy: "The union with the mysterious bride is one unblessed and unsanctified by the moral laws. . . . So he suffers from a guilt, personified in the ancient matriarch. But the brief meeting supplies him with an ideal to pursue. His experience in the Master's house is merely one of sexual fantasy" (110).

In Sayer's conclusion he offers additional insights. He notes Lewis privately "thought the best passages [in Dymer] were among the pieces of writing by which he would most like to be remembered" (113). About the psychological nature of the poem, Sayer admits Lewis' approach is outdated but adds "there is no verse treatment of the subject comparable to Dymer in depth and complexity" (113). He also reinforces other critics who admire Lewis' technical achievements in the poem while noting its unfashionable form: "At a time when free verse was coming into fashion, it is written in complex stanzas that rhyme and scan perfectly. Again it is quite free from the fashionable sort of obscurity--all its lines make sense" (113). He ends by calling on readers to read Dymer aloud: "Experienced in this way (of course you have to find a reader who knows how to read rhyme royal, nowadays no easy thing) it will still make a great impression on the sensitive listener, even though he may not dance with delight, as Owen Barfield is reported to have done when he first heard parts of it read to him" (114). Sayer's essay is the most comprehensive on Dymer and should encourage others to treat this poem in a serious, scholarly fashion.

Peter Schakel's comments about Dymer are filtered by his argument that, as with Spirits in Bondage noted above, the tension is between rationalism and romanticism. Consequently, he believes "Dymer is a review and modification of Lewis's earlier romanticism, both the romantic protest and idealism and the romantic longing and emotional indulgence" (99). He gives an accurate summary of the poem read in this way and notes significant differences in handling this tension from Spirits in Bondage:

Dymer, more than Spirits in Bondage, develops the Platonic theme, or Lewis's adaptation of a Platonic theme, implicit in the earlier title and the ideas about nature expressed there. Dymer, like all humanity is imprisoned within his mortal body; he must seek to become free of it, to keep his attention on higher things. But that effort is hindered by the world, especially by nature, which is "diabolical" in that its attractions and beauties create longings and satisfactions which invite one to be content with the world and this life. . . It is a neat, abstractly satisfying means of dealing with the problems of suffering and evil in the world, and a good deal more sophisticated than the simple materialism of Spirits in Bondage. (101)

Like Sayer, Schakel rightly connects Spirits in Bondage and Dymer; however, as his greater purpose is a discussion of Till We Have Faces, he focuses upon showing the affinities between Dymer and Till We Have Faces. Still, Schakel's criticism of both these volumes of poetry broadens our understanding of Lewis as poet.

Almost as effective is Patrick Murphy's essay in which he argues for our reading Dymer as "a long, continuous narrative poem that begins as a hesitation fantasy but is resolved as supernatural (marvelous) fantasy" (2). That is, readers following the narrative hesitate "over the more fantastic elements of the story, wondering whether they are products of the fictional world or products of Dymer's fantasizing mind" (3); the dissonance this creates draws readers deeper into the narrative and "induces reader hesitation and intensifies the experiencing of Dymer's journey of self-discovery and enlightenment" (5). As Dymer comes to a series of realizations about himself, readers remain uncertain, "impaired by hesitation over the nature of the events that led to Dymer's enlightenment" (6); another way to put this is while readers follow Dymer through his adventures, they wonder whether what he describes is dream or reality. For Murphy this tension is resolved in Canto VIII when Dymer learns his mysterious lover is a spirit: "At that point, but not before it, Dymer's and the reader's hesitation ends [sic] and the hesitation fantasy becomes clearly a supernatural fantasy, a marvelous story, moving inexorably toward Dymer's destruction" (6). This essay should be read as a complement to Sayer's, and its critical insights advance our understanding of the poem.

Poems

Scholars turning their attention to Poems find a collection of Lewis' poetry published in various places over the years and not dependent upon a unified theme. Consequently, these poems are readily accessible, can be considered individually unlike those in Spirits in Bondage and Dymer, and comment upon various issues important to Lewis at the time they were written. Problematic, however, is the fact that many of the selections in Poems differ from the originals published earlier in various journals and periodicals. While the differences are sometimes minor (alternate punctuations or capitializations), others are significant, including re-arranged, deleted, or added lines, word changes, and, on occasion, extra stanzas. Most of the authors of the Poems essays either do not know about these variations or choose to work with the versions provided in Poems. Compounding this problem is the recent publication of The Collected Poems of C. S. Lewis (1994). Although recent issues of The Lewis Legacy discuss some of the problems associated with the latter volume, extended scholarly discussions are yet forthcoming.²

In spite of this, some of the most interesting if uneven criticism of Lewis' poetry is found in these thirteen critical pieces, the bulk by Joe Christopher and Kathryn Lindskoog. Walter Hooper's "Preface" is notable, primarily because of Hooper's explanations about how and why the volume came to be published. He reveals that Lewis had been collecting a number of his poems, many previously published, with an eye toward publishing the compiliation as Young King Cole and Other Pieces. Unfortunately, Lewis died and left unfinished this effort. Accordingly, Hooper felt "justified in collecting everything I could find among his literary remains and in following my judgements as to what should be printed" (vii). Furthermore, Hooper says it was not always easy to determine the final version of some poems because even among those previously printed there were multiple versions; in addition, he says Lewis used to dictate poems to him and "even after he [Lewis] thought one was completed he might suggest a change here. Then a change there" (vii-viii). All this is problematic for scholars since unless all variants are available for scrutiny, the question of which version of each poem Lewis intended as "final" is unknown. A final difficultly revealed by this "Preface" is Hooper's admission that he does revise some of the poems, including titles, but he does not explain how and why he made these editorial decisions.

Joe Christopher's discussion of Lewis' theological triolet (first published in The Pilgrim's Regress and later published as "Divine Justice" in Poems) is a quick note on the triolet as a type of poem and Lewis' success with his sole experiment with such a poem, and his look at Lewis' "serious limerick" (no. 11 of "Epigrams and Epitaphs") is a very brief comment upon how Lewis' unconventional metrics inform the sober and ironic message of the limerick. In his slightly longer analysis of "The Apologist's Evening Prayer," he looks at how the tone of this poem "is much like Donne" (2). He notes similarities in the use of pronouns (for example, "Thou"), parallelism of the "From all" phrase, and the balanced, antithetical phrasing. Christopher side-steps the question of whose poetry is best and ends with "we are left with a simpler-than-Donne poem in Donne's tradition" (4).

Kathryn Lindskoog's fascination with the poem "Reason" from Poems turns on her seeing in Lewis' use of reason and imagination in the poem a confirmation of the right brain/left brain polarity popularized in the 1970's. Though she is careful to avoid putting this kind of pop psychology/physiology in the mouth of Lewis, she intimates he intuitively anticipates such notions in "Reason." She brings in references to Till We Have Faces and The Pilgrim's Regress as well as allusions to right brain/left brain authorities to bolster her contention. Her essay is informative but begs the question. In a subsequent essay on Lewis' views of Christmas she provides a very brief commentary upon "The Nativity," noting that Lewis likens himself there to a slow, dull ox; then a foolish ass; and finally a strayed and bleating sheep.

In 1989 a special issue of Studies in the Literary Imagination, C. S. Lewis: A Critic Recriticized, contains two essays on Poems. The first, Joe Christopher's essay on Lewis as love poet, argues that while he "always had a romantic heart along with his rationalistic head" (161), he wrote love poems of one kind or another throughout his poetic career. Christopher quickly surveys Spirits in Bondage, Dymer, "The Nameless Isle," "The Queen of Drum," and "Lancelot" and finds little love poetry. In Poems, however, he identifies a number of poems worthy of notice. He calls "The Small Man Orders His Wedding" an epithalamion and enjoys Lewis' "playfulness with language" (164) as he depicts both bride and bridegroom and their contemplation of how marriage will affect them. "Infatuation" concerns a man drawn to a woman he knows to be "shallow, vapid, and sensuous" (165), and Christopher argues it is probably a youthful effort by Lewis. He then groups "Joys That Sting," "Old Poets Remembered," and "As the Ruin Falls" as sonnets probably written to Joy Davidman: "In all of them the woman addressed is dying: they could have been written during Davidman's first bout with cancer, but--since Lewis only began to know he loved her during that time--the probability is stronger for the second and final bout with cancer" (167-168). His analyses of these poems are more prosaic than enlightening, though he is right when he says these are among "Lewis's best verse, clever, polished, and . . . highly successful" (173).

The second essay in this special issue is Don King's attempt to identify in several poems "a voice not often heard in Lewis's prose; that is, a distant voice--uncertain, unsure, and ambivalent toward matters of life and meaning" (175). King claims there are nine poems in the volume evidencing either "a view of the human condition that is deeply melancholic and at times even nihilistic" or focusing "on personal isolation, most often expressed through terminated friendships" (177). For example, about "Caught," first published in The Pilgrim's Regress, he says Lewis pictures God as "an all-encompassing, smothering, demanding entity, uncompromising in His jealous possession of a follower" (178), and his analysis of "To Charles Williams" ends with "the impression that the loss of a friend challenges our well-worn self-reassurances about life as having ultimate meaning and purpose" (180). Other poems considered are "Scanzons," "To a Friend," "The Salamander," "A Confession," "Lines Written in a Copy of Milton's Work," "Joys That Sting," and "As the Ruin Falls." King admits this distant voice does not dominate Poems, but he believes its appearance, rather than undermining Lewis' apologetics, makes Lewis' defenses of the faith "all the more effective and compelling" (184).

Joe Christopher's look at "The Phoenix" is frustrating; that is, he follows a lengthy, involved, technical discussion of the poem's metrics (for which he apologizes) with an analysis that raises more questions than it answers. After taking us through Lewis' use of the poulter's measure (the alternation of iambic heptameter and iambic hexameter), Christopher tries to explain what the poem means. He considers the images of the phoenix and the fish, but has trouble deciding how they work in the poem. When he does attempt interpretation, he is tentative and halting. For example, about the line "I had dreamed that I had caught / . . . a silver, shining fish," he says "it is difficult to know what his metaphor means" (4). Though he argues the persona speaking in the poem is a man, he is uncertain even of this: "I say the speaker is a man for what is implied in the poem is that the woman is attracted to the man" (5), yet the poem could sustain a reading with a female persona. More disturbing is his conclusion that timorously wonders: "Is this an autobiographical poem on Lewis's part ? . . . The male spiritual leader attracts women followers, who may even think they are being pious while they daydream of being closer to the leader, rather than to God" (6). Christopher's essay does not advance our understanding of "The Phoenix."

The essay by James Prothero purports to be a re-evaluation of his earlier, jaundiced view of Lewis' poetry. He recalls saying that Lewis' poetry was "heavy on cleverness and light on poetic grace" and felt the poems were "essays forced into verse" (2). After enjoying his dish of crow, he turns his attention to Poems. Though he cannot resist the occasional jab at Lewis' poetic sensibilities as when he writes Lewis "would rather choose the right word than the best sounding word, that he favored sense over sound" (2), Prothero grudgingly admits Lewis "can write graceful poetry" citing "Late Summer" as an example. In addition, he finds power and clarity in "Joys That Sting," and reserves his most lavish praise for "After Prayers, Lie Cold:" "It is all there: the metric grace, the sensory imagery, the inexplicable mastery, the depth of thought and insight. It's the kind of poem that creates a hush after reading" (6). He concludes by deciding Lewis is best as a poet in his late poems.

Joe Christopher's essay "C. S. Lewis' Lingusitic [sic] Myth" is primarily an analysis of "The Birth of Language" with related comments on "The Planets" and That Hideous Strength. He provides an excellent background to his analysis by tracing Lewis' earlier use of Mercury as a mythic and symbolic device in various literary and poetic contexts, including The Discarded Image. Referring to "The Planets," he shows Lewis suggests the mythical god, Mercury, is the "Lord of language," and so becomes "the generator of words" (41) for human speech. In addition, he cites the passage from That Hideous Strength where "Viritrilbia, whom men call Mercury" descends upon the collected group at St. Anne's and there is an explosion of linguistic activity:

What they said, none of the party could ever understand. [One] maintained that they had been chiefly engaged in making puns. [Another] denied that he had ever, even that night, made a pun, but all agreed that they had been extraordinarily witty. If not plays upon words, yet certainly plays upon thoughts, paradoxes, fancies, anecdotes, theories laughingly advanced yet (on consideration) well worth taking seriously, had flowed from them and over them with dazzling prodigality. (43).

Both these works, then, are used to establish the idea that "for Lewis at least, Mercury is primarily a linguistic phenomenon" (43), preparing readers for his discussion of "The Birth of Language."

Christopher's critical reading of "The Birth of Language" is thorough as he discusses the poem's meter, rhyme scheme, and punctuation as well as its content. In fact, he offers three different readings of the poem. The first he calls a literal one, and in it he argues the poem says "the Sun tosses out fiery flakes which reach the planet Mercury." There the flakes shape themselves into figures similar to the god Mercury, rest awhile, feed on the fruit of fiery trees on the planet's surface, and then fly through space to Earth where they are changed "from god-like beings into words spoken by mankind" (49). The second he calls a Platonic one, and in it he argues the poems says "the origin of the eternal values is the Godhead, the One, symbolized by the Sun, from which they come into this universe." Once in the universe they are changed by a demiurge, symbolized by Mercury, who names them; it is by these names or words that they are known and used by mankind "-indeed, from these words develop whole languages, with words for all purposes" (49). The third he calls a Christian one, and in it he argues the poem says "God the Father, God the Sire, symbolized by the Sun at the center of the solar system, is the source of all virtues, which He sends like angels to God the Son, the Logos or Word, symbolized by the planet Mercury." As God names these virtues, He sends them like angels "to be born into this world of mankind." Furthermore, the words coming to Earth foreshadow the coming of Christ, "for each word has 'birth / Miraculous" (49-50).

He finishes the essay by attempting to downplay to some degree his second and third readings of the "The Birth of Language," primarily because he is uncertain if Lewis intended such readings. Instead, he is more certain that his first reading supports a mythic interpretation: "Thus, whatever Lewis may have intended, however much he may have meant to control his meaning or meanings, I suggest the poem may have a mythic quality. It hints at a larger meaning than is easily put into words" (50). Christopher's formalist reading of this poem is done rather well and serves as a possible model for future close readings of the poetry. His analysis of "Old Poets Remembered," while much shorter than his reading of "The Birth of Language," examines the poem as an English sonnet, and he argues (as was noted above) it was probably written "during one of the periods of Lewis's wife's fatal illness . . . [and] since it has been traditional to write love poems in sonnet form, it is not surprising to find Lewis doing that here" (16). This is Christopher's best piece on Lewis' poetry.

Kathryn Lindskoog's Finding the Landlord: A Guidebook to C. S. Lewis's Pilgrim's Regress is a marvelous study of that work. Her introduction briefly comments upon Spirits in Bondage, Dymer, "Joy," and the original source for nine poems later appearing in The Pilgrim's Regress; she also quotes a poem beginning "I will write down the portion that I understand / Of twenty years wherein I went from land to land" and argues it served as the inspiration for what becomes The Pilgrim's Regress (xviii-xxvi). In addition, she comments briefly on all sixteen poems included in Lewis' modern allegory, noting both their function in the work and where they appear in variant forms in Poems. While her discussion of each of these sixteen poems is brief and integrated into her larger study of The Pilgrim's Regress, she makes perceptive points assisting our understanding of each.

Other Published Poems

There are nine critical sources focusing upon Lewis' other published poetry, highlighted by a thoughtful master's thesis. In addition to what Hooper says about Dymer in his "Preface" to Narrative Poems, he also reviews the other poems in the volume (Dymer, "Launcelot," "The Nameless Isle," and "The Queen of Drum." Hooper offers little criticism though he does indulge in several literary judgments. He says "there is little I can say of Launcelot except that it reflects [Lewis'] deep love for the 'matter of Britain' (especially Malory)" (xii); he attributes "The Nameless Isle" to Lewis' love of the Old English alliterative line as well as his desire to write a long story in verse (xii); and he reveals that "The Queen of Drum" is his personal favorite: "Besides the poem's poetical merits, I would say that The Queen of Drum is a Christian work, though not written from Lewis's usual objective basis: the Christianity emerges, and even the theme of Drumland (Romanticism) is developed on its own merits, and not as Christian byway" (xiv). Readers will want to draw their own conclusions with regard to Hooper's comments in this preface.

William Linden's piece on "The Queen of Drum" argues that the geographical references to Drum in the poem suggest it is located "in the region of Narnia-Archenland." He also believes there was a Drummian Revolution akin to the French Revolution, though "one may conjecture that the Revolution was suppressed by the neighboring states" (9). Such conjectures define this brief analysis. James Purcell adds little to our understanding of Narrative Poems in his review essay; his impatience with reading the poems as poems is clear in the following statement: "Unfortunately, Lewis worked in his poetry within the critical limits of British Victorian taste" (2). Richard Hodgens' essay mentioned above in reference to Dymer also discusses "The Queen of Drum." After reviewing the plot and relating how Lewis' The Discarded Image provides helpful information on his view of the longaevi, the long-lived ones, Hodgens turns his attention to criticizing several sudden and ineffective plot turns as well as Lewis' use of a mixed-meter rather than a consistent one. His argument about meter is informed, literate, and interesting. Carol Brown's short note on "The Queen of Drum" reflects on the three roads available to the characters in the poem: heaven, hell, or elfland. She moralizes in her conclusion: "The three ways are a reality in our lives. It is futile to comment on Heaven or Hell. Our conscience will take care of that, but Elfland is a present danger" (14).

Caroline Geer's thesis on Lewis' other narrative poems excluding Dymer begins with an obligatory brief biography in which she assumes but never proves Lewis "was at best a minor poet" (6). She concentrates upon the "posthumous narrative poems" and so conveniently does not have to consider Dymer, although she does briefly nod her head its direction with "the tone of the poem is anti-totalitarian, vindictive, and romantic" (10). Her intent throughout is to "explore common motifs found in the stories of the three poems ["Launcelot," "The Nameless Isle," and "The Queen of Drum"]" (11). In addition, to Arthurian myth (especially the grail legend), Greek mythology, and romanticism, the theme of the quest is investigated. Suggesting both Charles Williams and Tennyson as influences, Geer summarizes the basic content of "Launcelot," offers a review of the grail legend, and notes that the theme ("The Sangrail has betrayed us all") is so powerful it dominates Lewis' characterizations of Guinever, Arthur, Gawain, and Launcelot; she claims theme not character drives the poem. However, because of Lewis' apt use of language and in spite of the unfinished nature of the poem, Geer finds "Launcelot" "an effective dramatic narrative. . . . The story is a dramatization of the quest as the real struggle in men's lives as they search for truth and strive to consecrate themselves to the holy journey" (30).

Of "The Nameless Isle" (title supplied by Hooper in Narrative Poems), Geer says it is like "a complete and finished story" (32), even though it is incomplete. Noting the poem's alliterative style, Geer speculates Lewis wrote it in conjunction with his teaching of Beowulf and other Anglo-Saxon poetry, perhaps as an experiment. Again, she summarizes the poem, comments briefly on Anglo-Saxon metrics, and says the poem draws upon Greek and English mythology and biblical motifs. Noticeable in this poem is the flatness of characterization; characters are significant only as they contribute "to the unfolding of the story" (39). She argues for a reading that sees the shipwrecked master mariner as an Odysseus-figure, though not as heroic; other elements she finds compelling are the love-quest and the magic flute.

After giving a careful review of its literary development and following her summary of "The Queen of Drum," Geer offers helpful insight and analysis. She reads the poem as contrasting "the philosophy which acknowledges a physical, close universe [represented by the General and the Council of Drum] opposed to one which recognizes a spiritual, open universe" [represented by the Queen and the Archbishop] (58). Helpful, too, is her suggestion that since drum has Celtic connections to the idea of faerie, readers are prepared for the Queen's eventual movement into Elfland, even at the risk of damnation. When she links the General with facism and naziism because the poem uses the words "duce" and "fuhrer," she is probably on target; she claims "he is the epitome of the philosophy of modern Materialism--vulgar, efficient, insensitive" (62). In its contrast between dreams and materialism, Geer posits the poem as restating "man's deep, and often unfulfilled, need to long for something Other--either the pure emotional pleasure of Faery or deep spiritual fulfillment in a personal relationship with God--which may be approached through, though never realized in, dreams" (65). Her thesis concludes by noting Lewis' use of the third person narrator in each poem (giving them, she claims, "a measure of authenticity") as well as the ubiquitous quest theme; this is a piece of criticism worth reading if only for its earnest look at these three poems.

Roland Kawano studies "The Nameless Isle" and suggests that because it was written during the years of Lewis' move to Christian faith it "reflects Lewis's own preoccupation with the pilgrimage which eventually brought him into orthodoxy" (2). After a summary, Kawano says the poem reflects for the first time in Lewis' writing the image of the great dance; further, he says the theme of the poem "is that of edenic reversal" (3), linking it therefore to Perelandra. He also identifies other spiritually-infused motifs including genuflection, reference to All Saint's Eve, and the Exodus simile; about the latter, Kawano speculates: "Is it also possible that through the Exodus simile Lewis is speaking of a change in himself, or a personal exodus?" (3-4). Though Kawano acknowledges such an argument opens him to the charge of practicing the "personal heresy," he maintains this reading of the poem and carries it over to his essay on "The Queen of Drum." Noting that the poem is concerned with the tension for the Queen between the Kingdom of Light and the Land of Faerie, Kawano cannot resist wondering "how far-fetched it would be to recognize in the alternatives given the Queen, the kind of alternatives that Lewis recognized he was wrestling with prior to becoming a Christian" (12). He adds later: "Perhaps the poet was telling us of a choice that he had made in his priate [sic] life, a choice that could not help but have consequences in his poetry" (13).

Walter Hooper's "Preface" to The Collected Poems of C. S. Lewis offers some interesting new commentary on the history of some of Lewis' poems. Spirits in Bondage and Poems are included in this volume as well as "A Miscellany of Additional Poems." Of this latter group Hooper has little to say beyond how they come to be in Collected Poems. He also includes an "Introductory Letter" purportedly written by Lewis in 1963 and intended to be used as the introduction to a volume of poetry, Young King Cole, and Other Pieces, that Lewis never completed. Though perhaps intended as irony, this letter has a priggish tone as it attacks contemporary critical attitudes regarding poetry. If this is Lewis, perhaps he never published the letter during his lifetime because he intended to revise it.

General Works on Lewis' Poetry

The remaining fifteen critical sources deal with general aspects of Lewis' poetry rather than specific poems. Nevill Coghill's "The Approach to English" mentioned above also comments on Lewis' poetry. Particularly revealing is Coghill's memory that as young men both he and Lewis "hoped to be poets. . . . It was not until six or seven years later that Lewis said sadly to me 'When I at last realized that I was not, after all, going to be a great man . . .' I think he meant 'a great poet'" (53). He attributes Lewis' "gusto" for poetry as that which inspired him to add poetry to his own reading of history, and he notes "no one knew better than he how an understanding of poetry depends on an understanding of the poet's universe" (62). Coghill's points are intriguing and more insightful than Joe Christopher's review of the material on Lewis' two meetings with W. B. Yeats and how Lewis modeled the figure of the Magician in Dymer on his recollection of Yeats' physical appearance.

Margaret Anderson's thesis traces the theme of incarnation through Lewis' poetry. Specifically, she believes God's imminence and creative transcendence appear frequently: "These two features are found in many of Lewis' poems, sometimes as a central idea or theme, sometimes as motif, sometimes as a principle or foundation of some aspect of life" (3). In Dymer she finds it "embryonic, foreshadowing but weakly the use it would find in Lewis's later work" (4). Other poems she considers concern the incarnation and the historical Jesus ("Love's As Warm As Tears," et al.), our humanity ("The Adam at Night," et al.), language ("The Birth of Language," et al.), speech ("Footnote to All Prayers," et al.), myth ("The Planets," et al.), and animal and plant life ("Eden's Courtesy" and "The Magician and the Dryad"). Anderson's reading of Lewis' poetry is noteworthy; though her thesis is necessarily incomplete because it does not consider Spirits in Bondage, nevertheless she offers a thoughtful and well-argued analysis. I find her statement "the poems of C. S. Lewis reflect that even on the most lyrical level of self-expression his deepest concern is God" (60) not hyperbole but provocative and informed.

The two essays by Hope Kirkpatrick focus upon the dialogue between Lewis and E. M. W. Tillyard published as The Personal Heresy; in effect, she simply summarizes the main arguments of the book and adds little to our understanding of Lewis as a poet. Joe Christopher essay on transformed nature looks at the role of nature in Lewis' poetry with an eye on the possible influence Wordsworth may have had on Lewis' nature poetry; in addition, he looks at a similar influence in several prose passages from Lewis' fiction.

James Tetreault offers an interesting discussion of Lewis' discordant relationship with T. S. Eliot. Noting the similarities between Lewis and Eliot (both were adult converts to Christianity, found a spiritual home in the Church of England, and made their faith a matter of public record), Tetreault argues it is more striking the differences between the two "as poets, as literary critics, as religious thinkers, and as social theorists." Furthermore, he says that "if Eliot's feelings about Lewis remain problematical, Lewis, on his side, for most of his lifetime regarded Eliot with resentment and antipathy" (2). The wide gulf between the two is especially evident regarding their poetic sensibilities. Tetreault points out how Eliot's modernist sympathies ran exactly counter to Lewis'; if the former celebrated poetry that was "smart, clever, with a cynical, mocking tone . . . joyless and world-weary . . . often without rhyme or even any readily apparent meter" (3), the latter championed "the poetry of heroism and aspiration, preferably in narrative form" (4). Despite the essay's promising beginning, Tetreault does not explore in detail the issue of their different poetic sensibilities beyond what has been mentioned.

Very unsatisfying is Roland Kawano's brief essay on Lewis as a public poet; he argues "the public character and conventions of poetry interested him most of all; and it is this public character which we . . . see in his poetry" (20). Unfortunately, Kawano either does not know or decides to neglect the very personal and private poems in both Spirits in Bondage and Poems.

A major piece on Lewis as poet comes from Jerry Daniel and his emphasis on how wonderfully effective Lewis is in describing the "essence of things." Calling this focus as an "emphasis on the quiddity of things" (10), Daniel offers thoughtful commentary and numerous examples from Lewis' work to sustain his argument. As a reader, Lewis, according to Daniel, "immersed himself in the quality of a story or a poem he was reading" (10), and "whether prose or verse, all works were 'poetry' to him in the sense that the 'feel' or 'taste' was primary" (11). Indeed, Daniel uses the image of the "taste" of a poem throughout as a way of describing Lewis' acquisition of poetry. In addition, Daniel applies this same rubric to Lewis as literary critic and imaginative writer. He finds Lewis' love of stock responses in poetry a connection to his desire for the essence of things:

Lewis felt . . . that literature ought to produce stock responses: if a story presents a scene of cruelty, we ought to respond with horror; if a poem describes a mother's love for her child we ought to respond with warm satisfaction. Since he, as an artist, was attempting to impart a vision, he was attempting to elicit a response to that vision; and, believing in absolute values, he preferred to elicit a stock response . . . [Lewis forces] us to attend to the great reality of the poetry, the vision, inherent in so many works written by so many different persons in different ages of our history. (25)

Daniel's essay is must reading for anyone interested in Lewis' poetry.

Sara Park McLaughlin and Mark O. Webb do yeo(wo)man like service for those interested in researching word choice and selection in Lewis' Spirits in Bondage, Dymer, and Narrative Poems. In their book they index all the significant words in these volumes in a handy format; that is, instead of referring to page numbers, in general they refer to individual poems and line numbers. This book will be an essential critical aid for those focusing upon Lewis' poetic diction.

The role of joy and memory in Wordsworth's poetry and how Lewis' understanding of these concepts inform a reading of Wordsworth are the two points of interest in Margaret Carter's essay. In addition to her dutiful references to romanticism and critics like Coleridge and M. H. Abrams, Carter posits four characteristics of joy: 1) "it blurs the categories of wanting and having; it is a desire more precious than any possession"; 2) "it comes through certain objects . . . but cannot be identified with them"; 3) it is instantaneous and transtemporal; one usually recognizes the desire at the moment of falling out of it;" and 4) it "puts us in touch with an objective reality beyond ourselves" (10). While her ideas are interesting, it is very curious to give Wordsworth's poetry a reading informed by Lewis; that is, a reading of Lewis' poetry as informed by Wordsworth seems a more worthy literary endeavor.

W. W. Robson revises his own earlier view of Lewis' poetry that held it was "thin and restricted" and argues "there is a small number of the poems in which he touches greatness, poems that are not like anything else he wrote" (437-438). Briefly touching on Spirits in Bondage, Dymer, "The Queen of Drum," Robson then turns to his real interest: Lewis' short poems found in Poems and especially The Pilgrim's Regress; according to Robson, such poems are the ones "on which [Lewis'] reputation as a poet should rest" (438). He says these poems are characterized by lacking a sense of a continuing and developing literary personality, by being explicitly Christian though not apologetic, and by being packed with meaning. Robson is most accurate when he notes these poems show Lewis as "much more vulnerable, self-critical, even at times self-abasing, than he is in his prose" and when he points out that Lewis' poems have been underrated "because, like many of Ben Jonson's poems, they say much in little" (439). His praise for the poems within The Pilgrim's Regress is high; amid the "pamphleteering wilderness . . . springs up a well of pure inspiration. It is as if, with a profound and unconscious tact, he had reserved for verse the expression of this finest and most sensitive perceptions. His verse sings in The Pilgrim's Regress as it rarely does elsewhere" (439). From Poems Robson finds "Joys That Sting" "one of the best," "Angel's Song" as "perhaps the most purely beautiful of Lewis's poems" (442), and "Scanzons" as "a 'found' rather than a 'made' poem" (443). He ends his personal re-evaluation of Lewis' poetry by claiming that he has discovered a "vein of true poetry in his work, something that came, not from the bullying, smothering quality of the inferior things that he wrote, in both prose and verse, but from the gentle, sensitive human being that his friends knew that he was" (443). Robson's reversal of his early disapproval of Lewis' poetry is instructive since it suggests there is much more to the poetry than a quick, superficial survey suggests; also, Robson's evaluation of the poems he reviews is critically perceptive.

Charles Huttar's essay focuses upon both Lewis' love of language and his technical expertise as poet. While relegating Lewis to the role of minor poet, Huttar quotes Ruth Pitter who says Lewis is a "good poet-craftsman" and "a great word master." Huttar finds in Lewis' poetry "his attitudes toward language, including a respect for its illusive and elusive nature and at the same time an overflowing enjoyment of it" (87). Among the chief characteristics of Lewis' poetry is his "sheer love of the sounds of words . . . [often revealed] in his virtuoso deployment in poem after poem of intricate patterns of exact or slant rhyme, both final and internal" (87). Another notable characteristic of his poetry "is semantic change, specifically the alteration of meaning which may disrupt communication between members of a speech community" (92); Huttar then cites poems revealing Lewis' use of semantics as a tool for critiquing contemporary culture.

In a rather long but helpful digression, Huttar considers Lewis' relationship to T. S. Eliot, particularly with regard to Lewis' poem "A Confession;" furthermore, he introduces how Lewis' "stock responses" in the poem brings into relief his differences with I. A. Richards. Richards is suspicious of stock responses because they tend to be "reflexes that spring from private prejudices or obsessions;" he believes good poetry ought to get readers to set aside these conditioned reactions and to open themselves to direct experience leading "to more refined responses, better adjusted to the demands of reality." Lewis, on the other hand, distrusts such a solution for its "unjustified faith in raw experience and innate human goodness" as well as its "overvaluing of novelty." His solution is to substitute "attitudes and emotional responses grounded in such memories, associations, and values as are widely distributed among the human family in space and time" (101). The language of poetry, particularly stock responses, becomes a vehicle to do just that.

The final characteristic of Lewis' poetry Huttar comments upon concerns the way "Lewis examines language as a fundamental human attribute, one that reveals both our greatness and our limitations" (103). Huttar reviews several poems that celebrate the birth of language, human reason and dominion, and freedom of the will. In addition, he cites letters showing Lewis' admission of the inadequacy of language to communicate effectively anything: "One can't put these experiences into words. . . . One can hardly put anything into words: only the simplest colours have names, and hardly any of the smells. The simple physical pains and (still more) the pleasures can't be expressed in language" (106). Huttar believes Lewis' poems on God best demonstrate the shortcoming of language, and he offers from "Footnote to All Prayers" the following as an example: "To 'attempt the ineffable Name' . . . is to risk worshipping an 'idol' shaped by one's 'own unquiet thought;' the language of prayer references only 'frail images' in the speaker's mind, 'which cannot be the thing Thou art' . . . 'Take not, oh Lord, our literal sense. Lord, in Thy great, / Unbroken speech our limping metaphor translate'" (106). Huttar's work in this essay is thorough and keen; his critical focus upon Lewis' use of language in his poetry is solid.

Luci Shaw provokes critical thought when she says "that an audience unresponsive to his poetry [Lewis' interpretation of popular reception to Spirits in Bondage and Dymer] may have quenched the full development of a promethean poetic gift." Of Spirits in Bondage, she notes it is the work of a young poet--idealistic, moralistic, yet ambivalent, ambitious but wrestling with eternal questions in symbolism often too weak to deliver the burden of his pretentious metaphysic" (2). She believes "Dymer deserved to fail. . . . It is hard even to describe the theme of Dymer, let alone interpret it" (3). Regarding his other narrative poems she says little, though she admits a favorable opinion of "The Queen of Drum." She notes the appearance of Poems as proof of Lewis' life-long commitment to writing poetry, but she finds his use of the pseudonym "Nat Whilk" (Anglo-Saxon for "I know not whom) in the majority of the sources where the poems in Poems were first published as evidence that he became more a private poet later in life, "one who would willingly share his verses with intimate friends, colleagues and correspondents, but whose desire for recognition as a poet had been blunted, perhaps by his lack of public success" (5). After elucidating her opinion about the marks of a great poet, Shaw avoids labeling Lewis; instead, she wisely writes that the way to enter his poetry is through the heart, not the head, and "what more can I say about Lewis's poetry than that it works for me?" (7; Shaw's emphasis).

King's recent essay is a careful attempt to reveal Lewis' "early enthusiasm for the poetry he was reading [as a young man], and his almost frantic desire to achieve acclaim as a poet" (80). Through a close reading of Lewis' letters, diaries, and journal entries, King shows how Lewis from 1914 to 1926 pursued these aims. For example, he cites letters to Arthur Greeves where Lewis writes of his love for the Iliad, Malory's "Morte D'Arthur," Spenser's The Fairy Queen, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Milton's "Comus" and Paradise Lost, Shelley's "Prometheus Unbound," Wordsworth's "The Prelude," and the poetry of Tennyson, Morris, Arnold, and Yeats. Of Milton in particular Lewis notes on March 6, 1917: "I have finished Paradise Lost again, enjoying it even more than before. . . . In Milton is everything you get everywhere else, only better. He is as voluptuous as Keats, as romantic as Morris, as grand as Wagner, as weird as Poe, and a better lover of nature than even the Brontes" (81). King also cites a telling diary entry from exactly nine years later, March 6, 1926, in which Lewis engages in brutal self-examination of his motives for wanting to write poetry; he confesses: "I desire that my value as a poet should be acknowledged by others" (85). In this same entry Lewis writes that his aspirations are little more than spiritual pride and even seems ashamed that "whenever I stopped writing or thought of publication or showed the MS. to friends I contemplated not that of which I had been writing, but my writing about it: I passed from looking at the macrocosm to looking as a little historical event inside the 'Me'" (86).

In addition, King provides evidence that Lewis' aspirations to be known as a poet continued throughout his life, even after he began to achieve acclaim as a prose writer. The essay concludes by challenging critics to study Lewis from several new points of view. First, he suggests "critical exploration of Lewis's prose from the perspective of his being a frustrated poet" (89). Second, he argues for "intense critical inquiry into the rhythm and cadence of his prose as reflecting his deeply-felt poetic sensibility" (90). Third, he notes that Lewis' early aspirations "to achieve literary acclaim as a poet inform our understanding of why it is that the danger of spiritual pride surfaces so often in his writings" (90). While King's claim that "the world is undoubtedly richer because this would-be poet found expression for his poetic sensibilities in prose" (91) is perhaps reaching, the insights offered are worth reflection.

In conclusion I offer several thoughts. First, the significant work on Lewis as poet are selected essays by Christopher, Sayer's work on Dymer, the essays by Hodgens, Daniel, Robson, King, Huttar, and Bremer, and Geer's thesis; these should be the starting place for additional scholarly work. Second, scholars should consider Lewis' poetry as poetry; he deserves our careful, focused attention, as a better understanding of his poetry will contribute to our appreciation of his prose. Indeed, Lewis' aspirations to become a great poet and the devotion with which he drove himself to achieving this goal as a young man most certainly influences the "poetic" characteristics of his best prose. Third, scholars should apply additional critical readings to the poetry; for example, what would a feminist reading of Dymer contribute to our understanding of the poem? Finally, what no one has yet done, although George Sayer has come close, is to offer a unified reading of Lewis' poetry; that is, scholarly investigation should be placed squarely on the attempt to find in Lewis' poetry insights into his overall achievements as a writer. If a unified reading of the poetry is possible, it may advance the study of Lewis beyond the common tendency of many to view him as a primarily theological writer and onto the level of discovering his merits as literary craftsman and creator; that is, we may find how a reading of Lewis' poetry informs our understanding of his prose.³

Bibliography of works on Lewis' poetry: 1952-1995

Anderson, Margaret. "'Fresh Robed / In Flesh': The Incarnation Theme in the Poetry of C. S. Lewis." M. A. Thesis. Old Dominion University, 1975.

Barfield, Owen. "C. S. Lewis." An address given at Wheaton College, Wheaton, Ill., October 16, 1964. The Wade Center.

Bremer, John. "From Despoina to Diotima: The Mistress of C. S. Lewis." The Lewis Legacy No. 61 (Summer 1994): 6-18.

Brown, Carol Ann. "Three Roads: A Comment on 'The Queen of Drum.'" Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society 7 (April 1976): 14.

Carter, Margaret. "Joy and Memory: Wordsworth as Illuminated by C. S. Lewis." Mythlore 17 (Autumn 1990): 9-13.

Christopher, Joe. "An Analysis of 'Old Poets Remembered.'" The Lamp-Post of the Southern California C. S. Lewis Society 19 (Fall 1995): 16-18.

--------------------. "An Analysis of 'The Apologist's Evening Prayer.'" Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society 5 (October 1974): 2-4.

--------------------. "A Serious Limerick." The Chronicle of the Portland C. S. Lewis Society 1, no. 8 (September 8, 1972): 4-5.

--------------------. "A Study of C. S. Lewis's Dymer." Orcrist 6 (Winter 1971-72): 17-19. This is a revision of Chapter Two: Dymer (pp. 17-25) from his dissertation "The Romances of Clive Staples Lewis." University of Oklahoma, 1969.

--------------------. "A Theological Triolet." Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society 2 (September 1971): 4-5.

--------------------. "C. S. Lewis Dances Among the Elves: A Dull and Scholarly Survey of Spirits in Bondage and 'The Queen of Drum.'" Mythlore 9 (Spring 1982): 11-17, 47.

--------------------. "C. S. Lewis' Lingusitic [sic] Myth." Mythlore 21 (Summer 1995): 41-50.

--------------------. "C. S. Lewis, Love Poet." Studies in the Literary Imagination 22 (Fall 1989): 161­173.

--------------------. "From the Master's Lips": W. B. Yeats as C. S. Lewis Saw Him." Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society 6 (November 1974): 14-19.

--------------------. "Is 'D' for Despoina?" The Canadian C. S Lewis Journal: The Inklings, Their Friends, and Their Predecessors No. 85 (Spring 1994): 48-59.

--------------------. "No Fish for the Phoenix." Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society 23 (July 1992): 1-7.

--------------------. "Transformed Nature: 'Where Is It Now, the Glory and the Dream?'" Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society 7 (September 1976): 1-7.

Coghill, Nevill. "The Approach to English." In Light on C. S. Lewis. Ed. Jocelyn Gibb. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1965.

Daniel, Jerry. "The Taste of the Pineapple: A Basis for Literary Criticism." in The Taste of the Pineapple: Essays on C. S. Lewis as Reader, Critic, and Imaginative Writer. Bruce L. Edwards, ed. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1988.

Geer, Caroline. "The Posthumous Narrative Poems of C. S. Lewis." M. A. Thesis. North Texas State University, 1976.

Green, Rodger Lancelyn. "C. S. Lewis and Andrew Lang." Notes and Queries 22 (May 1975): 208-09.

Hodgens, Richard. "Notes on Narrative Poems." Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society 7 (April 1976): 1-14.

Hooper, Walter. "Preface." In C. S. Lewis. Poems. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1964.

------------------. "Preface." In C. S. Lewis. Narrative Poems. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1969.

------------------. "Preface." In C. S. Lewis. Spirits in Bondage: A Cycle of Lyrics. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1984.

------------------. "Introduction" and "Introductory Letter." In C. S. Lewis. The Collected Poems of C. S. Lewis. London: Fount, 1994.

Huttar, Charles. "A Lifelong Love Affair with Language: C. S. Lewis's Poetry." In Word and Story in C. S. Lewis. Peter Schakel and Charles Huttar, eds. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 1991.

Kawano, Roland. "C. S. Lewis and 'The Nameless Isle': A Metaphor of Major Change." Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society 15 (March, 1984): 1-4.

--------------------. "C. S. Lewis's Early Poems." The Living Church 186 (February 13, 1983): 9-10.

--------------------. "C. S. Lewis: Public Poet." Mythlore 9 (Autumn 1982): 20-21.

--------------------. "C. S. Lewis' The Queen of Drum." The Lamp-Post of the Southern California C. S. Lewis Society 11 (November 1987): 10-14.

King, Don. "The Distant Voice in C. S. Lewis's Poems." Studies in the Literary Imagination 22 (Fall 1989): 175­184.

------------. "Making the Poor Best of Dull Things: C. S. Lewis as Poet." SEVEN: An Anglo-American Literary Review. Vol. 12. Ed. Barbara Reynolds, et. al. Wheaton, Illinois: Marion E. Wade Center, 1995, pp. 79-92.

Kirkpatrick, Hope. "An Approach to The Personal Heresy." Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society 7 (June 1976): 1-8.

---------------------. "The Final Essay in The Personal Heresy." Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society 9 (May 1978): 1-8.

Kirkpatrick, John. "Fresh Views of Humankind in Lewis's Poems." Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society 10 (September 1979): 1-7.

Landrum, David. "Pindar, Prodigality, and Paganism: Natural Law Ethics in the Poetry of C. S. Lewis." The Lamp-Post of the Southern California C. S. Lewis Society 19 (Summer 1995): 4-13.

Linden, William. "New Light on Narnia; or, Who Beat the Drum?" Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society 2 (April 1971): 9-10.

Lindskoog, Kathryn. "C. S. Lewis on Christmas." Christianity Today 27 (December 16, 1983): 24-26.

------------------------. Finding the Landlord: A Guidebook to C. S. Lewis's Pilgrim's Regress. Chicago: Cornerstone Press, 1995.

------------------------. "Getting It Together: Lewis and the Two Hemispheres of Knowing." Journal of Psychology and Theology 3 (Fall 1975): 290-293. Reprinted in Mythlore 6 (Winter 1979): 43-45. Also revised and published as "Appendix Two" in Finding the Landlord.

McLaughlin, Sara Park and Mark O. Webb. A Word Index to the Poetry of C. S. Lewis. West Cornwall, CT: Locust Hill Press, 1988.

Milne, Marjorie. "Dymer: Myth or Poem?" The Month 194 (September 1952): 170-173.

Murphy, Patrick. "C. S. Lewis's Dymer: Once More with Hesitation." Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society 17 (June 1986): 1-8. Rept. in The Poetic Fantastic: Studies in an Evolving Genre. Eds. Patrick Murphy and Vernon Hyles. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1989.

Musacchio, George. "War Poet." The Lamp-Post of the Southern California C. S. Lewis Society 2, no. 4 (October 1978): 7. Revised and reprinted in George Musacchio. C. S. Lewis: Man and Writer. Belton, Texas: University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Press, 1994.

Prothero, James. "Lewis's Poetry: A Preliminary Exploration." Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society 25 (March-April 1994): 1-6.

Purcell, James. "Narrative Poems." Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society. 2, (November 1972): 2-3.

Robson, W. W. "The Poetry of C. S. Lewis." The Chesterton Review 17, iii­iv (Aug.­Nov. 1991): 437­443. Also see his essay "The Romanticism of C. S Lewis." Cambridge Quarterly 1965 or 1966. Rpt. in W. W. Robson. Critical Essays. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1966.

Sayer, George. "C. S. Lewis's Dymer." In Seven: An Anglo-American Literary Review. Vol 1. Ed. Barbara Reyolds, et. al. Cambridge: Heffers Printers, 1980, pp. 94-116.

-----------------. Jack: C. S. Lewis and His Times. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988.

Schakel, Peter. Reason and Imagination in C. S. Lewis: A Study of Till We Have Faces. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1984.

Shaw, Luci. "Looking Back to Eden: The Poetry of C. S. Lewis." Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society. 23 (Feb. 1992): 1-7. Reprinted in Radix 21, iii (1993): 12­15, 30.

Slack, Michael. "Sehnsucht and the Platonic Eros in Dymer." Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society. 11 (August 1980): 3-7.

Tetreault, James. "C. S. Lewis and T. S. Eliot." Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society 8 (December 1976): 1-5. Revised and expanded as "Parallel Lines: C. S. Lewis and T. S. Eliot." Renascence: Essays on Value in Literature 38, no. 4 (Summer 1986): 256-269.

Thorson, Stephen. "Thematic Implications of C. S. Lewis' Spirits in Bondage." Mythlore 8 (Summer 1981): 26-30.

Walsh, Chad. The Literary Legacy of C. S. Lewis. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979.