Customer Reviews

Taliessin through Logres, The Region of the Summer Stars, and Arthurian Torso

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This poetry takes some time to master, but it is well worth the effort. It recounts the rise and fall of Arthur's kingdom from the point of view of Taliessin, the court poet. The non-linear lyric pieces are a perfection of the craft; especial standouts are "Taliessin's Song of the Unicorn," and "The Queen's Servant." Perhaps if enough people become familiar with this hard-to-find classic, it will reappear in print! All lovers of Arthuriana: this is a must.
Tawny M. Goswitz

"The cone's shadow of earth fell into space, and into, other than space, the third heaven. In the third heaven are the living unriven truths, climax tranquil in Venus. Merlin and Brisen heard, as in faint beelike humming round the cone's point, the feeling intellect hasten to fasten on the moving earth's hide. In the third heaven the stones of the waste glimmered like summer stars." That's the only poetry I can recite and I probably got it wrong. It's from Taliessin Through Logres and The Region of the Summer Stars, Williams' two cycles of Arthurian poetry (here in one volume). Without reading C.S.Lewis' commentary in Arthurian Torso (also in this volume)I wouldn't know what he meant, but these lines have something most poetry doesn't; they sound like an incantation, pulsing with power and vision. Like everything Williams wrote, they seem to pull you into another place and the walls between the two worlds dissolve. That's the effect of hearing these poems. Understanding them is another matter. Numerous critics have pointed out that they're rather hard to understand; C.S. Lewis penned his significant commentary in an effort to make Williams' last (and unfinished) poems accessible to a wider audience. He brilliantly succeeded both in opening these poems to the reader and showing how they complement Williams' other writings and echo his ideas. Lewis couldn't keep these two cycles from going out of print, but this Eerdmans volume, scarce as it is, gives credence to Williams' self-penned epitaph, "Poet, Under the Mercy."

This book comes in four parts 1)Taliessin through Logres (collection of Charles Williams' poems about the Arthurian saga as seen through the eyes of the court poet Taliessin) 2)The Region of the Summer Stars (more of Williams' poems about the Holy Grail) 3)Arthurian Torso, consisting of a) Charles Williams prose work on the history of the Grail/Arthurian legend, entitled The Figure of Arthur, and b)C.S. Lewis's commentary on Williams' poetry, entitled Williams and the Arthuriad. A fine introduction by Mary McDermott Shideler accompanies the Eerdmans edition of this work.

I found Arthurian Torso to be the best part of the book by far. By itself, it deserves a five star rating. Williams traces the fascinating history of the Grail with the legend of King Arthur and the Round Table using a combination of scholarly acumen and lucid tutorial explanations. In other words, it is both accurate and understandable. Lewis, in turn, adds insightful commentary about both the Arthurian saga and Williams' poems on the subject. Lewis's wisdom and lucid prose are as delightful to read on this matter as they are about other subjects he tackled.

Unfortunately, I think the poetry will appeal to very few people. I give it a one star quality (which, when combined with the five star quality of the Arthurian Torso give the book an overall rank of three.) Even C.S. Lewis admits that Williams' biggest fault is his obscurity. (There are times when even such a scholar as Lewis - who not only loved the Arthurian legend, who adored poetry, and who had discussed this poetry at length with Williams himself - found himself puzzled by parts of it, describing parts of it as "cryptic", or saying "I end in doubts" or "There are things in this piece which I do not understand.")

I was unmoved by this poetry. It was like trying to read something in an unfamiliar language - no meaning was conveyed.

So all in all, this book receives a mixed review. If the Arthurian legend interests you, then this work is worth obtaining, simply for the Arthurian Torso section of it. If you get anything out of the poetry, it will be a bonus.

I really don't like blank verse, yet Williams verse, with its intense focus on the Incarnation, is great. I think it helps to have read his theological works first and to be fairly well read on Arthurian myths, but an some level any Christian should hear "the song of another" Williams bore.

One of the three books I really want on a Kindle so I can carry with me.