Record Number: 32379

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'The literary event of the week is our respected laureate's ode in the Times Literary Supplement: truly a most remarkable production, though I am afraid like the honest Major in "Patience", I must confess that "it seems to me nonsense". To do the man justice, the lines about Homer, the ones about the birds, the beginning of the vision, and a few other passages, are rather fine. But the habit of throwing in an odd rhyme here and there is rather uncomfortable: still, if you can lay your hand upon it ... you might keep this number.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

6 Jul 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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Robert Bridges

Title:

Ode on the Tercentenary Commemoration of Shakespeare

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Serial / periodical

Publication Details

Times Literary Supplement (6 July 1916), 319

Provenance

owned
Probably by the Kirkpatricks rather than Lewis himself

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Source Information:

Record ID:

32379

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:

213

Additional Comments:

From a letter to his father, 14? July 1916 The reference is to Gilbert and Sullivan, Patience, Act 1. It is Patience who says 'Well, it seems to me to be nonsense.'

Citation:

C. S. Lewis, Walter Hooper (ed.), C. S. Lewis Collected Letters, (London, 2000), 1, p. 213, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32379, accessed: 19 May 2024

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Additional Comments:

The poem begins: Kind dove-wing'd Peace, for whose green olive-crown The noblest kings would give their diadems, Mother, who hast ruled our home so long, How suddenly art thou fled! The poem is the first item in: 'Shakespeare's England: an Account of the Life & Manners of his Age, volume 1, Clarendon Press Oxford, in the Tercentenary Year 1916'