Record Number: 32320

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Did you ever at Lurgan read the 4th Georgic? It is the funniest example of the colossal ignorance of a great poet that I know. It's about bees, and Virgil's natural history is very quaint: bees, he thinks, are all males: they find the young in the pollen of flowers. They must be soothed by flute playing when anything goes wrong etc., etc.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 19 Sep 1914 and 13 Oct 1914

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

Great Bookham
Surrey
'Gastons'

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:

Male

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:

Virgil

Title:

The Georgics

Genre:

Classics, Poetry, Natural history, Agriculture / horticulture / husbandry, mythology: includes the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

Almost certainly read in Latin

Provenance

unknown

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

32320

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:

79

Additional Comments:

From a letter to his father, postmarked 13 October 1914. He had been a pupil at Lurgan College, Co. Armagh.

Citation:

C. S. Lewis, Walter Hooper (ed.), C. S. Lewis Collected Letters, (London, 2000), 1, p. 79, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32320, accessed: 26 April 2024

---

Additional Comments:

None