Spirits In Bondage: A Cycle Of Lyrics [Paperback]

C.S. Lewis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 6, 1984 | Series: Harvest/HBJ Book

Published in 1919 when Lewis was only twenty, these early poems give an insight into the author's youthful agnosticism. The poems are written in various metrical forms, but are unified by a central idea, expressing his conviction that nature was malevolent and beauty the only true spirituality. 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: 132 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; 1 edition (January 6, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156847485
• ISBN-13: 978-0156847483
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,511,851 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Earliest Lewis, April 15, 2000

By 

E. T. Veal (Chicago, Illinois USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spirits In Bondage: A Cycle Of Lyrics (Paperback)

Published a few months after the end of the Great War as part of the vogue for "soldier poets", this slim verse cycle (a prologue and 40 short poems) was C. S. Lewis' first book. Sales were minuscule, and it was never reprinted during the author's lifetime.

The poet was not yet 21, and his world view was dominated by two principles: rage-filled atheism ("I maintained that God did not exist. I was also very angry with God for not existing. I was equally angry with Him for creating a world.") and romantic longing (in the words of the prologue, "Sing about the Hidden Country fresh and full of quiet green/ Sailing over seas uncharted to a port that none has seen"). In the long run, these proved incompatible. In 1919 they rested side by side. In the first 21 poems of the cycle ("The Prison House"), the former predominates. In the second half ("Hesitation" and "The Escape"), an occult-tinged search for a spiritual world that may or may not actually exist offers release from bondage, climaxing in the finale "Death in Battle (xl)", with its stirring yet poignant first stanza:

"Open the gates for me,/ Open the gates of the peaceful castle, rosy in the West,/ In the sweet dim Isle of Apples over the wide sea's breast,/ Open the gates for me!"

"Death in Battle" is distinctly the highlight, as well as the conclusion, of the cycle. The beginning is also good, a bleak, powerful "Satan Speaks (i)": "I am Nature, the Mighty Mother,/ I am the law: ye have none other." In between are striking lines ("And here he builds a nebula, and there he slays a sun" ("Ode for New Year's Day (viii)")) but also many collections of images that fail to cohere (the two poems entitled "Night" (ix and xxix)) and much bald exposition that gains nothing from being set in verse ("Dungeon Grates (xv)", an apparent attempt to spell out the "philosophy" underlying Richard Lovelace's famous "To Althea, From Prison").

Often talent and imagination overcome technical faults. Although "The Star Bath (xxxvi)" is almost as badly overloaded as the two "Nights", its image of a primeval cleansing of the heavens clings to the reader's memory. "Irish Nocturne (v)", where the fog of industrial pollution symbolizes modern spiritual lethargy, has its clumsy moments but is redeemed by its concluding lines:

"For I know that the colourless skies/ And the blurred horizons breed/ Lonely desire and many words and brooding and never a deed."

Scattered also here and there are fantasy vignettes that relieve the heaviness of their companions and look forward to the "pictures in my head" that gave rise to Lewis' best work. "Spooks (vi)" tells of a ghost lingering at his sweetheart's door, "The Witch (xiv)" of an enchantress' flight through the woods, "How He Saw Angus the God (xxxiii)" of a Celtic epiphany.

If Lewis had written nothing else, this volume would not have kept his name alive. Few but Lewis completists are likely to buy it, but that audience will, I think, find it more readable and interesting than they anticipated.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pre-Christian Poetry of C.S. Lewis, March 20, 2002

By 

C.L. Blair (Greenville, SC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spirits In Bondage: A Cycle Of Lyrics (Paperback)

First published in 1919 when Lewis was 20, a recent veteran of World War I, and still an agnostic/atheist. The planned title was "Spirits in Prison" taken from the verse in First Peter. The title reflects Lewis' Platonic dualism that sees the human spirit (which is good) trapped in matter (which is evil). Lewis never abandoned Platonism entirely (e.g. "The Last Battle") but it is far more stark and more grim in many of these early poems. In this - his transition from Platonism and its remaining vestiges after conversion - Lewis is similar to St. Augustine. (For more in this line see Lewis' "The Pilgrim's Regress" - particularly the introductory essay he wrote for later editions). "Spirits in Bondage" has beautiful moments such as "Dungeon Grates" which is not (in portions) an unfit expression of a Christian's experience: that sudden awareness of `unsought beauty in a casual hour.' All in all, this book is fairly grim (flatly blasphemous in places), but interesting for who wrote it and for the occasional moments of beauty and wit. [The star rating is reflective of this last thought.]

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not the best poetry, but vital to a proper understanding of Lewis, March 29, 2007

By 

Jesse Rouse (Kenosha, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spirits in Bondage: A Cycle of Lyrics (Paperback)

These poems have their bright spots, thought in parts they are rather overloaded with mythic words and a sense that the author was struggling to keep up a sense of awe and epicness and failing in the process. Most of the poems revolve around two themes: (1) I hate God and (2) I hate the world. Most of them are not happy poems to say the least.

While they are not excellent poetry, they are decent, and very good if you take into consideration that he wrote them while a teenager. They provide a glimpse into his thoughts on life and God which cannot even be seen in his letters from the period. He apparently felt he was able to write in poetry what he did not necessarily want others to know that be thought. The fact that he published it under the false name Clive Hamilton should not be overlooked.

In short, do not get this if you're looking for excellent poetry. Get this if you want to understand the development of Lewis' thought.

Overall grade: B+