Continuing with “Poetry Month”, Dr. Don W. King joins David to introduce Lewis’ poetic corpus.
S5E60: Poetry Month: “C.S. Lewis, Poet”, After Hours with Dr. Don W. King (Download)
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Show Notes
Introduction
Quote-of-the-week
Doubtless it is a rule in poetry that if you do your own work well, you will find you have done also work you never dreamed of
C.S. Lewis, The Allegory of Love
Biographical Information
Dr. Don W. King received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He has taught at Montreat College for forty-seven years, teaching courses in British literature. Last time he was on Pints With Jack he was talking to us about Lewis’ brother, Warnie, and has a book coming out on that subject. Dr. King is an active researcher and writer, publishing over 60 articles and numerous books, including several books about Lewis’ wife, Joy Davidman, as well as two books which I’m sure we’ll mention today: The Collected Poems of C.S. Lewis: A Critical Edition and C.S. Lewis, Poet: The Legacy of His Poetic Impulse.
Guest Biographical Information
Chit-Chat
- Dr. King had just celebrated his 49th wedding anniversary with his wife, Jeanine.
Beverage and Toast
- David was drinking a smoothie
- Dr. King was drinking a hazelnut coffee
Discussion
1. “Background”
You’ve been on this show before, but would you mind taking a minute to introduce yourself to our new listeners?
2. “Warnie Update”
When you were last on the show, we were talking about your upcoming book about Warnie Lewis. Do you have any updates on the status of that book?
3. “The burgeoning poet”
When did he first start writing poetry?
4. “Published poems”
Can you tell us about Lewis’ main published collections of poetry? How was his poetry received when it was published?
5. “What’s the deal with Dymer?!”
Dymer is rather strange. What’s it all about?
6. “Does his poetry good and does it matter?”
Is Lewis’ poetry any good? Does it really matter, given that he is more famous for his other kinds of writing?
Lewis has sometimes been dismissed as archaic and out of touch but in retrospect his efforts in poetry, as in other fields, are much more contemporary and much more keenly directed to the crises of modernity that he has been given credit for. There are many complex links between his work and that of his two great contemporaries Yeats and Eliot. He is not perhaps a great poet in the same sense that they were, but he is a great deal better than the long neglect of his verse would imply. There is a clear internal coherence between all his efforts in every field. Taken together these efforts constitute an attempt at the redemptive re-integration of Reason and Imagination, the broken modes of our being and knowing…
Malcolm Guite, Faith Hope and Poetry
7. “Did his poetry change?”
Did Jack change much as a poet over the years?
8. “Poetry in prose”
How does his poetic impulse find its way into his prose?
9. “Producing the Critical Edition”
What was involved in putting together a critical edition of Lewis’ poetry? What work had been done previously and what’s happened since the publishing of your book?
10. “Newly-discovered poems”
Have any new poems been discovered since you published?
11. “Main motifs”
Reading Lewis’ poetry these past few months, I’ve been quite impressed by the range of styles and topics he addresses. Some poems are serious, but many are funny, including some epitaphs and what amounts to a joke about Noah’s Ark. What would you say are some main montifs and topics which appear in his poetry?
12. “What’s his poetic legacy?”
So we’ve spoken about the critical edition of Lewis’ poems which you put together, so let’s talk about your other book, C.S. Lewis, Poet: The Legacy of His Poetic Impulse. Put simply, what is Lewis’ legacy?
13. “Poem #1: The sailing of the Ark”
Would you mind just giving us a flavour of Lewis’ poetry by picking a few of your favourites and talking to us about them?
The sky was low, the sounding rain was falling dense and dark,
And Noah’s sons were standing at the window of the Ark.The beasts were in, but Japhet said, ‘I see one creature more
Belated and unmated there come knocking at the door.’‘Well let him knock,’ said Ham, ‘Or let him drown or learn to swim.
We’re overcrowded as it is; we’ve got no room for him.’‘And yet he knocks, how terribly he knocks,’ said Shem, ‘It’s feet
Are hard as horn–but oh the air that comes from it is sweet.’‘Now hush,’ said Ham, ‘You’ll waken Dad, and once he comes to see
What’s at the door, it’s sure to mean more work for you and me.’Noah’s voice came roaring from the darkness down below,
‘Some animal is knocking. Take it in before we go.’Ham shouted back, and savagely he nudged the other two,
‘That’s only Japhet knocking down a brad-nail in his shoe.’Said Noah, ‘Boys, I hear a noise that’s like a horse’s hoof.’
Said Ham, ‘Why, that’s the dreadful rain that drums upon the roof.’Noah tumbled up on deck and out he put his head;
His face went grey, his knees were loosed, he tore his beard and said,‘Look, look! It would not wait. It turns away. It takes its flight.
Fine work you’ve made of it, my sons, between you all tonight!’‘Even if I could outrun it now, it would not turn again
–Not now. Our great discourtesy has earned its high disdain.‘Oh noble and unmated beast, my sons were all unkind;
In such a night what stable and what manger will you find?‘Oh golden hoofs, oh cataracts of mane, oh nostrils wide
With indignation! Oh the neck wave-arched, the lovely pride!‘Oh long shall be the furrows ploughed across the hearts of men
Before it comes to stable and to manger once again,‘And dark and crooked all the ways in which our race shall walk,
And shrivelled all their manhood like a flower with a broken stalk,‘And all the world, oh Ham, may curse the hour when you were born;
C.S. Lewis, The Sailing of the Ark
Because of you the Ark must sail without the Unicorn.’
14. “Poem #2: The Apologist’s Evening Prayer”
From all my lame defeats and oh! much more
From all the victories that I seemed to score;
From cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf
At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh;
From all my proofs of Thy divinity,
Thou, who wouldst give no sign, deliver me.Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust, instead
C.S. Lewis, The Apologist’s Evening Prayer
Of Thee, their thin-worn image of Thy head.
From all my thoughts, even from my thoughts of Thee,
O thou fair Silence, fall, and set me free.
Lord of the narrow gate and the needle’s eye,
Take from me all my trumpery lest I die.
15. “Poem #3: A Funny Old Man Had A Habit”
A funny old man had a habit
C.S. Lewis, A Funny Old Man Had A Habit
of giving a leaf to a rabbit.
At first it was shy
But then, by and by,
It got rude and would stand up to grab it.
16. “Poem #4: Epitaph for Joy Davidman”
Here the whole world (stars, water, air,
C.S. Lewis, Epitaph for Joy Davidman
And field, and forest, as they were
Reflected in a single mind)
Like cast off clothes was left behind
In ashes, yet with hopes that she,
Re-born from holy poverty,
In lenten lands, hereafter may
Resume them on her Easter Day.
17. “Poem #5: All This Is Flashy Rhetoric about Loving You”
All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.
I never had a selfless thought since I was born.
I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through:
I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.Peace, re-assurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,
I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin:
I talk of love –a scholar’s parrot may talk Greek–
But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.Only that now you have taught me (but how late) my lack.
I see the chasm. And everything you are was making
My heart into a bridge by which I might get back
From exile, and grow man. And now the bridge is breaking.For this I bless you as the ruin falls. The pains
C.S. Lewis, All This Flashy Rhetoric about Loving You
You give me are more precious than all other gains.
18. “Poem #6: Love’s as warm as tears”
Love’s as warm as tears,
Love is tears:
Pressure within the brain,
Tension at the throat,
Deluge, weeks of rain,
Haystacks afloat,
Featureless seas between
Hedges, where once was green.Love’s as fierce as fire,
Love is fire:
All sorts–Infernal heat
Clinkered with greed and pride,
Lyric desire, sharp-sweet,
Laughing, even when denied,
And that empyreal flame
Whence all loves came.Love’s as fresh as spring,
Love is spring:
Bird-song in the air,
Cool smells in a wood,
Whispering “Dare! Dare!”
To sap, to blood,
Telling “Ease, safety, rest,
Are good; not best.”Love’s as hard as nails,
C.S. Lewis, Love’s As Warm As Tears
Love is nails:
Blunt, thick, hammered through
The medial nerves of One
Who, having made us, knew
The thing He had done,
Seeing (what all that is)
Our cross, and His.
Our audio engineer, Taylor, has a “different” musical setting for this poem…
19. “Dating”
How did you set about dating the poems? Did you enlist the help of Dr. Charlie W. Starr?
20. “Why read Jack’s poetry?”
What’s your final pitch as to why people should read the poetry of C.S. Lewis?
More Information
- Don W. King (Website)
- The Collected Poems of C. S. Lewis: A Critical Edition (Kent State University Press | Amazon)
- C.S. Lewis, Poet: The Legacy of His Poetic Impulse (Kent State University Press | Amazon)
