The Collected Poems of C. S. Lewis: A Critical Edition

by C.S. Lewis, Don W. King (Editor)

Although C. S. Lewis is best known for his prose and for his clear, lucid literary criticism, Christian apologetics, and imaginative Ransom and Narnia stories, he considered himself a poet for the first two and a half decades of his life. Owen Barfield recalls that anyone who met Lewis as a young man in the early 1920s at Oxford University 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.” 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.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Fiction

485 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2012

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Clive Staples Lewis was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954. He was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. He wrote more than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. His most distinguished and popular accomplishments include Mere Christianity, Out of the Silent Planet, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and the universally acknowledged classics The Chronicles of Narnia. To date, the Narnia books have sold over 100 million copies and been transformed into three major motion pictures.

Lewis was married to poet Joy Davidman.
W.H. Lewis was his elder brother]

Reviews

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lewis' poetry runs opposite to his prose. Overall, I find Lewis' prose to be brilliant, with blunder here and there. His poetry however is mostly blunders with an occasional spark of brilliance. Lewis' early ambition was to be a great poet, but he professed that this was not to be. One can see then why many of these poems were only published posthumously in collections. Yet, how poetically potent his prose could be.

Nevertheless, I'd say this collection is valuable for those who have read Lewis widely. My greatest joy came in discovering bits and pieces of various works, his own and others, within his poetry; even major elements that undergirded his worldview that are only hinted at in his prose (I'm thinking particularity of his medieval cosmology). This harmonizes Barfield's surmising "that somehow what he thought about everything was secretly present in what he said about anything."

[Emily Saladino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still beauty calls as once in the mazes of
Boyhood. The bird-like soul quivers. Into her
Flash darts of unfulfill'd desire and
Pierce with a bright, unabated anguish.

Armed thus with anguish, joy met us even in
Youth-who forgets? This side of the terminus,
Then, now, and always, thus, and only
Thus, were the doors of delight set open.

[Danielle Palmer]

I did not have time to read all the poems in here before it was due back to the library. However, the handful I did read (about driads and dragons, gnomes and wizards) were outstanding. I’ll probably attempt to get a copy for myself at some point so I can search for more treasures within!

[Ayden Tilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amazing poetry! Although unfortunately most of it went over my head. But the ones that didn’t were so great! Lewis is such an amazing author. Poetry has really gone downhill since his time.

[Nathan Lambert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some real duds, but also some spectacular moments of shining truth and beauty.

[Frances Schomburg · Rating 4 out of 5]

actual rating 4.75

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I think back on my childhood, there are few authors that I remember and even fewer that I still read. C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia had a great impact on both my life and taste in literature and is an author I still find myself reading. As I grew older, I tackled his more adult works, both fiction (The Screwtape Letters) and nonfiction (Mere Christianity). It is only recently that I discovered that Mr. Lewis was also a poet. Don W. King compiled almost all of Lewis' poetry in the nearly 500 page volume entitled The Collected Poems of C.S. Lewis. The poems are arranged chronologically from 1907 to 1963 with a section devoted to undated poetry, and include war poetry; spiritual poetry; and even epic poetry of Norse persuasion. There are even some very short poems in this collection, like the following:

She was delicately, beautifully made,
So small, so unafraid,
Till the bomb came
(Bombs are the same,
Delicately, beautifully made.)

This short, but sad poem was written in 1942, which was when World War II had just begun. One of his longer works is entitled Dymer. It is composed of eight cantos and is clearly modeled on some of the greats likes Homer or Milton. It was interesting, but one can see this lacked the Christian themes we are used to see in his work, because it was written long before his conversion. I admit that I did not read all of this poetry, because some of it just bogged me down. The introduction by the editor, Don W. King, does a great service of placing proper perspective on the poetry of C.S. Lewis and why it is important. I believe this work would best be read with another of King's work, C.S. Lewis, Poet. What I did take away from this work was that our plans don't always align with God's plans. By all accounts, C.S. Lewis dreamed of being remembered as one of the greatest poets ever, and it is clear that he poured his heart and soul into his poetry. However, no one today remembers C.S. Lewis for his poetry but instead for his prose, and there is no shame in that at all. If you are interested in poetry and want to understand the context of C.S. Lewis, then I'd recommend this book if you can get it at a reasonable price.

[Dominick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lewis is a great critic and arguably a great novelist, but he is hit and miss as a poet. Part of the problem here is that the collected C. S. Lewis poetry includes everything, even a lot Lewis himself never published, and at least the first third of it is, basically, juvenalia: stuff Lewis wrote as an adolescent or as a very young man. It's not bad, as such things go, but neither does it suggest Lewis was a poetic prodigy, even if he was good enough to get much of this early work published at the time. His ambition outstrips his ability for much of this early output. The poetry improves as we work forward chronologically, and Lewis develops greater facility. He shows a remarkable range, using various forms from alliterative verse through various complexly-rhymed and metred pieces (and even a few in Middle English, or Latin--Lewis was unquestionably erudite and well-read). he's more influenced by the romantics than I would have thought, and there are some very clever and even some powerful and moving verses here. But it's spotty. Lewis's syntax, especially, is at times clotted or stilted so he can meet the exigencies of form.

As a critical edition, as well, there are some weaknesses. there is virtually nothing in the way of introduction, and odd inconsistencies in the notes. Especially frustrating are the numerous notes that say things like, "for the context of this poem, see x"--which means, basically, that the critical edition does not actually provide the apparatus we need to understand the poems!

Lewis completists should certainly have this book, and readers who want to delve fairly deeply into twentieth century poetry might want to give it a look, but more casual Lewis fans and other readers, especially ones with little interest in poetry, probably can give this a pass.

[James Bojaciuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is only a mini-review.

Lewis was no great poet, as much as he wished otherwise. His poetry alone only ranks two stars--and cold, dim stars at that.

But King's editing and assembly is monumental, and deserves four warm stars. I've only kept it from five stars because I feel King could've written a longer, more involved introduction and occasionally sparse notes.

[Danielle Hardy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was hard to rate this a 3 or 4. There are some beautiful profound poems and then there are some that I found completely pointless. And there is also the chance some of them just didn't speak to me specifically or went over my head.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highlights were:

Adam Unparadised
The Turn of the Tide
Evolutionary Hymn
Reason
The Country of the Blind
Wormwood
Two kinds of Memory
On Being Human