Customer Reviews

Poems

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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!

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.

...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!

I found Lewis' poems qood for the most part and interesting. I liked it that there were so many different styles and themes. You definitely need to have read some of his other works to appreciate these poems. My favorite poem in the book and also my favorite poem of all the poems I have read is "The Birth of Language"

While his prose is outstanding and without peer in the English language both in content and style, C.S.Lewis' poetry is worthy of note, although not to the level of Thomas Hardy, Robert Frost or W.B.Yeats. Favorites are Meteorite "glad rush of the golden shower"; a poem about a snubbed unicorn who missed Noah's ark; and a parody of Evolution. If you like thoughtful poetry that rhymes and makes sense, you will enjoy this book.

C.S.Lewis's verses are beautifully crafted, imaginative, powerful expressions of wonder, joy, cynicism, and love of life. His erudition will appeal to those with a classical education, but many of the poems are straightforward and speak to a general reader. Among the poems are a few that hint at his fascination with mythology and with science fiction and space.
This volume is packed with surprises, particularly in choice of words, that made me think "wow!" Definitely I'd recommend it to anyone who appreciates well-written poetry, whether a previous fan of Lewis's or not. -- M.A.

While I'd agree that this collection may not be the best introduction to Lewis' writing, I highly recommend it to anyone who's already a fan. Many of the poems provide fascinating perspectives on ideas that he conveys in his other imaginative writing and essays. Poetry was Lewis' favorite form to write, and he topical breadth in this book is quite enjoyable.

cs lewis studied literature and myth and his brilliance shines thru - yes poems may seem disapointing to some, but lewis is always worth the read.
great for a present to a love-one for they will be surprised that lewis wrote poems.

Thou flowing water, pure and clear,
Make music for thy Lord to hear,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Thou fire so masterful and bright,
That givest man both warmth and light.

101 Great American Poems (Dover Thrift Editions)

I was dissapointed by Lewis' poems. true, their range was one of the largest i've seen (from sci-fi to christian poems), but most were dull and just didn't live up to his reputation. i'd say stick with his fiction like the chronicles of narnia and the dark tower and other stories