Record Number: 32359

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'By the way, you should get that "Spirit of Man", Bridge's anthology, that everyone is talking about. Mrs K. has it from the library at present: it is one of the prettiest little books I have seen for a long time, and there is a lot of good stuff in it. One "nice point" is that the names of the authors are printed at the end of the volume and not under each piece: it is very amusing - and somewhat humiliating - to see how many you know. [...] 'It must be read ... in the light of its title and avowed purpose.... the book is rather an original work than a collection of poems.... I take it Bridges is here working out an idea of his own: and the medium he chooses is the collective poetry of his predecessors.... One thing in the book I admit is indefensible - the detestable translation from Homer, which, though you may hardly recognise it, is meant to be in the metre of "Oh! let us try". For this Bridges ought to get something with boiling oil.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 21 Jan 1916 and 26 Feb 1916

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

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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

This book was borrowed by Mrs Kirkpatrick and is something 'that everyone is talking about'. Lewis may well have discussed it with her, and perhaps with other members of the household.

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Robert Bridges

Title:

The Spirit of Man: an Anthology in English and French, from the Philosophers & Poets made by the Poet Laureate in 1915 & dedicated by Gracious Permission to His Majesty the King

Genre:

Other religious, Classics, Poetry, Philosophy, Miscellany / Anthology, An anthology of prose as well as poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1916

Provenance

borrowed (public library)

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Source Information:

Record ID:

32359

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:

163 and 166/167

Additional Comments:

(1) From a letter to his father, 6? February 1916 (2) From a letter to his father, Postmark: 26 February 1916 Mrs K. is Mrs Kirkpatrick.

Citation:

C. S. Lewis, Walter Hooper (ed.), C. S. Lewis Collected Letters, (London, 2000), 1, p. 163 and 166/167, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32359, accessed: 19 May 2024

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Additional Comments:

From Bridges' preface to the anthology: 'This book was compiled with a special purpose.... The progress of mankind on the path of liberty and humanity has suddenly been arrested and its promise discredited by the apostasy of a great people.... From the consequent miseries, the insensate and interminable slaughter... we look instinctively to the seers and poets of mankind.'