Poems [Paperback]

C.S. Lewis (Author)

Book Description

Series: Harvest Book | Publication Date: November 4, 2002

A collection of Lewis’s shorter poetry on a wide range of subjects-God and the pagan deities, unicorns and spaceships, nature, love, age, and reason: “Idea poems which reiterate themes known to have occupied Lewis’s ingenious and provocative mind” (Clyde S. Kilby, New York Times Book Review). Edited and with a Preface by Walter Hooper.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) gained international renown for an impressive array of beloved works both popular and scholarly: literary criticism, children's literature, fantasy literature, and numerous books on theology. Among his most celebrated achievements are Out of the Silent Planet, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Screwtape Letters, The Four Loves, and Surprised by Joy.

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (November 4, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156027690
• ISBN-13: 978-0156027694
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #407,563 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963), known as Jack to his friends, was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably the most influential Christian writer of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English literature at Oxford University until 1954, when he was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. His major contributions in literary criticism, children's literature, fantasy literature, and popular theology brought him international renown and acclaim. Lewis and his good friend J. R. R. Tolkien, the author of the The Lord of the Rings, were part of the Inklings, an informal writers' club that met at a local pub to discuss story ideas. Lewis's fascination with fairy tales, myths, and ancient legends, coupled with inspiration drawn from his childhood, led him to write The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, one of the best-loved books of all time. Six further books followed to become the immensely popular The Chronicles of Narnia. The final title in the series, The Last Battle, won the Carnegie Medal, one of the highest marks of excellence in children's literature. His other distinguished and popular accomplishments include Out of the Silent Planet, The Four Loves, The Screwtape Letters, and Mere Christianity.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars C.S. Lewis, the poet: Great Work from a master writer!, September 30, 2000

By 

Jeffery K. Matheus (Indianapolis, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Poems (Paperback)

Many readers, even some of C.S. Lewis' biggest fans, don't realise that Lewis wrote poetry. In fact, Lewis once said that poetry was his favorite literary form. Well, as it turns out Mr. Lewis was an excellent poet, full of style, emotion, and above-all, imagination! The poems in this collection show C.S. Lewis to be a true master of rhyme and meter, and he is also quite masterful in his uses of imagery, sound, and metaphor. There are also some fine non-rhyming pieces here, but it is really his excellent sense of rhyme that sticks out in your head long after you put the book away. Much of the work here (though not all) is of a spiritual nature, and Lewis expresses his faith in Christ quite openly, but never crosses the line into the type of overt "preachiness" that taints much of Christian-oriented poetry. Poems such as "As the Ruin Falls" (which was later turned into a song by Christian musician Phil Keaggy), "Reason", "Pan's Purge", "Deadly Sins", "Pattern", and "Love As Warm as Tears" rate right alongside some of the finest spiritual rhymes ever written, and for fans of Lewis' popular Narnia stories, there is even an imaginative piece called "Narnian Suite". If you are a fan of C.S. Lewis, or just a fan of classic-style poetry, then please crack open this fine book and enjoy!

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Collected Poetry of C.S. Lewis, June 22, 1998

By 

David Graham (Shell, Ecuador) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Poems (Paperback)

Thomas Howard, writing about this book in a review, remarked, "This is the best - the glorious best - of Lewis." I wouldn't go quite that far in my praise of this book, but it does indeed have a number of poems that speak to the heart. Lewis's technique is outstanding, but technique does not guarantee great poetry, and some of Lewis's poems soar loftily while others fall flat. Most poems are short enough to fit on one or two pages, making this book a nice item to dabble in for a few minutes at lunch, before bedtime, or just lounging around the house. Some of my favorites were his Narnia Suite (a "March for Strings, Kettledrums, and Sixty-three dwarfs"!), Evolutionary Hymn (a satire that will make you chuckle), Love's As Warm As Tears (that I found moving), and The Apologist's Evening Prayer (a candid plea for mercy from someone who regularly spoke on God's behalf). If you already enjoy reading C.S. Lewis, then buy this book. If you haven't read anything by Lewis, you might want to start some place else (like The Chronicles of Narnia, The Weight of Glory, or God in the Dock) before turning to his poetry.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thy bookshelf is naked until..., July 16, 2002

By 

Cipriano "www.bookpuddle.blogspot.com" (Planet Claire) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Poems (Paperback)

...this is on it! I have read and re-read this thing, and will continue to do so! My usual reaction to reading anything that Lewis committed to paper is something like... "Now there's something worth remembering for the rest of my life." His poems are no exception.
This compilation is superb in that it spans all of the short verse that Lewis wrote from the age of sixteen until his death at age sixty-five.
He was profoundly disillusioned with the direction of the "modern" poetry of his day. He lamented the incoherence and lack of structure that was taking place (his poem "A Confession" addresses these feelings), and he greatly favored a return to a metrically disciplined, rhyming style.
That's what we get here in Lewis's Poems. Over one hundred lightning flashes bursting with intelligent layers of meaning, yet remaining accessible to the average reader. These poems are healthy, they embrace life, they respect death, they exalt nature, they are wide-eyed at night and squinting at the brilliance of noonday. Using subject matter as diverse as salamanders to meteorites, these poems impart truth because they come from the mind of someone who believed in objective truth. As he said, "Great subjects do not make great poems; usually, indeed, the reverse."
And elsewhere "'Look in thy heart and write' is good counsel for poets; but when a poet looks in his heart he finds many things there besides the actual. That is why, and how, he is a poet."
If I started listing my personal favorites I'd exceed amazon's 1,000 word limit! Suffice it to say that perhaps the greatest thing about Lewis's Poems is that once you've read them you're left with a sense that the author thinks highly of the reader!

"It seems to me appropriate, almost inevitable, that when that great Imagination which in the beginning, for Its own delight and for the delight of men and angels and (in their proper mode) of beasts, had invented and formed the whole world of Nature, submitted to express Itself in human speech, that speech should sometimes be poetry. For poetry too is a little incarnation, giving body to what had been before invisible and inaudible."
- from Lewis's "Reflections On The Psalms" -

What makes Lewis so great?
Well, for starters... he thinks that words like Imagination, Nature, and Itself, are proper nouns that deserve capitals!