Gathers forty of Lewis' early lyric poems which deal with the author's war experiences and, then agnostic, beliefs.
“It is ‘Will’ that creates the world, even though the world itself is a malignant thing which inveigles us into reproducing and perpetuating life. The way to terminate this malignancy is by asceticism.”—from the preface
In 1919, when C.S. Lewis was only twenty, just a few months returned from the Great War, his first collection of poetry was published, presaging the author’s brilliant career. At the time, Lewis was in the midst of his agnostic phase, yet to become the great Christian philosopher of his later life. As such, the poems all revolve around the theme of nature as a malevolent force, with beauty as the only divine truth.
This volume includes a preface by Walter Hooper, which illuminates Lewis’s formative influences, drawing from his letters, diaries, and other works to provide a record of the early part of the great writer’s life.
Contents:
Prologue
Part One: The Prison House
- Satan Speaks
- French Nocturne (Monchy-le-Preux)
- The Satyr
- Victory
- Irish Nocturne
- Spooks
- Apology
- Ode for New Year's Day
- Night
- To Sleep
- In Prison
- De Profundis
- Satan Speaks
- The Witch
- Dungeon Grates
- The Philosopher
- The Ocean Strand
- Noon
- Milton Read Again (in Surrey)
- Sonnet
- The Autumn Morning
Part Two: Hesitation
- L'Apprenti Sorcier
- Alexandrines
- In Praise of Solid People
Part Three: The Escape
- Song of the Pilgrms
- Song
- The Ass
- Ballade Mystique
- Night
- Oxford
- Hymn (for Boys' Voices)
- 'Our Daily Bread'
- How He Saw Angus the God
- The Roads
- Hesperus
- The Star Bath
- Tu Ne Quaesieris
- Lullaby
- World's Desire
- Death in Battle
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