Record Number: 32313

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'I am at present engaged in reading Newman's poems; do you know them at all? They are very, very delicate and pretty, and are like nothing more than one of those valuable painted Chinese vases which a touch would destroy. I must except from this criticism the "Dream of Gerontius", which is very strongly written. but the rest are almost too delicate for my taste: it is a kind of beauty that I can't very much appreciate.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 1 Jun 1914 and 6 Jul 1914

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

Great Malvern
Worcestershire
Malvern College

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

---

Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Clive Staples Lewis

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

n/a

Date of Birth:

29 Nov 1898

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Student

Religion:

Church of England

Country of Origin:

Northern Ireland

Country of Experience:

England

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

---

Text Being Read:

Author:

John Henry Newman

Title:

Verses on Various Occasions

Genre:

Other religious, Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

Either the original Burns, Oates edition, 1868, or Longmans, Green, 1901 and 1903.

Provenance

unknown

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

32313

Source:

Print

Author:

C. S. Lewis

Editor:

Walter Hooper

Title:

C. S. Lewis Collected Letters

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

2000

Vol:

1

Page:

65

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

C. S. Lewis, Walter Hooper (ed.), C. S. Lewis Collected Letters, (London, 2000), 1, p. 65, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32313, accessed: 03 May 2024

---

Additional Comments:

Newman's 'Dream of Gerontius' depicts the journey of the soul to God at the hour of death.... Lewis came to like the 'Dream' very much in later life and in a discussion of Purgatory in chapter 20 of 'Letters to Malcolm' (1964) he said 'the right view returns magnificently in Newman's 'Dream'. (Footnote by Hooper in 'Letters', p.66)