INKLINGS Q & A: How did C. S. Lewis come up with the name for one of his most be...
INKLINGS Q & A: How did C. S. Lewis come up with the name for one of his most beloved Narnia characters, Puddleglum?
A: In his scholarly survey "English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Excluding Drama" (1954), Lewis mentioned a minor sixteenth-century poet named John Studley, whose word choices were sometimes unintentionally comical. Studley used terms such as "frostyface" and "topsy turvy" in passages meant to be serious, and he described the hellish river Styx as a "puddle glum." Lewis said he couldn't help but smile over the phrase. And he can't help but make his readers smile when he turns it into the name of his morose Marshwiggle in The Silver Chair--Puddleglum.
A: In his scholarly survey "English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Excluding Drama" (1954), Lewis mentioned a minor sixteenth-century poet named John Studley, whose word choices were sometimes unintentionally comical. Studley used terms such as "frostyface" and "topsy turvy" in passages meant to be serious, and he described the hellish river Styx as a "puddle glum." Lewis said he couldn't help but smile over the phrase. And he can't help but make his readers smile when he turns it into the name of his morose Marshwiggle in The Silver Chair--Puddleglum.
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