Poetic Diction: Off of the Wishlist and into the Library

 

I have always been assured by whatever text I've read about it that "Poetic Diction" is THE Owen Barfield book to read. I have enjoyed and fairly grasped his arguments in "Saving the Appearances" and "Studies in Words," and I was looking forward to a similar experience. I was grimly surprised.

Seldom have I felt like such a hill-country hick while reading a book, the technicality of it was so far above my pay grade. It assumed a familiarity with the works of other famous critics and their theories, had chunks of untranslated Greek (familiar, I'm sure, to Tolkien and Lewis) , and flowed on in sentences crammed with double-jointed terms that soon had my head spinning. 

I closed the book in a sort of a daze. I was little wiser than when I had begun. I think I only truly understood two sentences, near the beginning, and that instinctively: "Meaning includes the whole content of a word, or of a group of words arranged in a particular order, other than the actual sounds of which they are composed. Thus, this book is concerned with a realm of human experience in which such an expression as 'prophets old' may, and probably will, 'mean' something quite different from 'old prophets'."

The difficulties, I am convinced, lie in my own lack of powers. It will probably repay multiple readings with closer attention, like a musician trying to master a complicated passage of music. It might even behoove me to try translating it for myself into words of one syllable. In the meantime, here is what the all-knowing Wikipedia has to say about it:

Barfield's book Poetic Diction begins with examples of "felt changes" arising in reading poetry, and discusses how these relate to general principles of poetic composition. But his greater agenda is "the study of meaning". Using poetic examples, he sets out to demonstrate how the imagination works with words and metaphors to create meaning. He shows how the imagination of the poet creates new meaning, and how this same process has been active, throughout human experience, to create and continuously expand language. For Barfield this is not just literary criticism: it is evidence bearing on the evolution of human consciousness. This, for many readers, is his real accomplishment: his unique presentation of "not merely a theory of poetic diction, but a theory of poetry, and not merely a theory of poetry, but a theory of knowledge". This theory was developed directly from a close study of the evolution of words and meaning, starting with the relation between the primitive mind's myth making capacity, and the formation of words. Barfield uses numerous examples to demonstrate that words originally had a unified "concrete and undivided" meaning, which we now distinguish as several distinct concepts. For example, he points out that the single Greek word pneuma (which can be variously translated as "breath", "spirit", or "wind") reflects the original unity of these concepts of air, spirit, wind, and breath, all included in one "holophrase". This Barfield considers to be not the application of a poetic analogy to natural phenomena, but the discernment of an actual phenomenal unity. Not only concepts, but the phenomena themselves, form a unity, the perception of which was possible to primitive consciousness and therefore reflected in language. This is the perspective Barfield believes to have been primordial in the evolution of consciousness, the perspective which was "fighting for its life", as he phrases it, in the philosophy of Plato, and which, in a regenerate and more sophisticated form, benefiting from the development of rational thought, needs to be recovered if consciousness is to continue to evolve. 

For now, I shall have to take their word for it. 

The Second Friend: CPB

“The First [Friend] is the alter ego, the man who first reveals to you that you are not alone in the world by turning out (beyond hope) to share all your most secret delights. There is nothing to be overcome in making him your friend; he and you join like raindrops on a window. But the Second Friend is the man who disagrees with you about everything. He is not so much the alter ego as the antiself. Of course he shares your interests; otherwise he would not become your friend at all. But he has approached them all at a different angle. He has read all the right books but has got the wrong thing out of every one. It is as if he spoke your language but mispronounced it. How can he be so nearly right and yet, invariably, just not right? He is as fascinating (and infuriating) as a woman. When you set out to correct his heresies, you will find that he forsooth has decided to correct yours! And then you go at it, hammer and tongs, far into the night, night after night, or walking through fine country that neither gives a glance to, each learning the weight of the other's punches, and often more like mutually respectful enemies than friends. Actually (though it never seems so at the time) you modify one another's thought; out of this perpetual dogfight a community of mind and a deep affection emerge.”

― C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy

Items from the Wish List: From the Sublime to the Hilarious

Poetic Diction: A Study in Meaning by Owen Barfield

First published in 1928, 'Poetic Diction: A study in Meaning' presents not merely a theory of poetic diction but also a theory of poetry and a theory of knowledge. "Language has preserved for us the inner, living history of man's soul. It reveals the evolution of consciousness." Owen Barfield Owen Barfield is one of the twentieth century's most significant writers and philosophers. A member of the Inklings, Barfield's ideas and literary artistry influenced fellow-Inklings C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, and won praise from many of the foremost literary figures of the century. Praise for Owen Barfield: "A prolific and interesting thinker" - Times Literary Supplement "The wisest and best of my unofficial teachers."- C.S.Lewis "A masterpiece ... of prophetic value" - T.S.Eliot "possibly the clearest and most searching thinker of the present time" - Howard Nemerov. – Amazon.

The Rediscovery of Meaning, and Other Essays by Owen Barfield

'The Rediscovery of Meaning' is a collection of essays about language, imagination, the human being, society and God. In each, Barfield points to solutions to the modern-day experience of meaningless fragmentation. This book includes some of Barfield's most brilliant, most readable, and most profound pieces. Among them are 'Poetic Diction and Legal Fiction', 'The Harp and the Camera', 'Matter, Imagination and Spirit', and 'Philology and the Incarnation'. – Amazon.

Owen Barfield on C.S. Lewis by Owen Barfield

'Owen Barfield on C.S. Lewis' is a collection of essays and lectures about the author, theologian, and literary scholar, C. S. Lewis. Barfield and Lewis were close friends for 44 years, from their Oxford days after WWI to Lewis's death in 1963. Barfield's reflections on their relationship ended only with his own passing, in his hundredth year. Barfield was instrumental in converting Lewis to theism. However, the two disagreed on many points, and it is that creative dialectic which defines and irradiates their friendship: "In an argument we always, both of us, were arguing for the truth, not for victory" (Owen Barfield). C.S. Lewis on Owen Barfield: "The wisest and best of my unofficial teachers." "Barfield towers above us all." To Walter Field: "You notice when Owen and I are talking metaphysics which you don't follow: you don't notice the times when you and Owen are talking economics which I can't follow. Owen is the only one who is never out of his depth." – Amazon.

Symbol or Substance?: A Dialogue on the Eucharist with C. S. Lewis, Billy Graham and J. R. R. Tolkien by Peter Kreeft

In this engaging fictional conversation, Peter Kreeft gives credible voices to C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Billy Graham as they discuss one of the most contentious questions in the history of Christianity: Is Jesus symbolically or substantially present in the Eucharist?

These widely respected modern Christian witnesses represent three important Western theological traditions. Graham, an ordained Southern Baptist minister who traversed the world and the airwaves to spread the good news of salvation, represents evangelical Protestantism. Lewis, an Oxford professor, a prolific Christian apologist, and the author of The Chronicles of Narnia, was a member of the Church of England. Also an Oxford don, Tolkien was a friend of Lewis, the author of The Lord of the Rings, and a Roman Catholic.

While Lewis and Tolkien likely discussed the Eucharist during their long friendship, the conversation in this book never took place―but it could have, says Kreeft, who faithfully presents the views of these three impressive men. – Amazon.

Christian Mythmakers: C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L'Engle, J.R.R. Tolkien, George Madonald, G.K. Chesterton, and Others 
by Rolland Hein

The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (Penguin Classics) by E. T. A. Hoffmann, Anthea Bell

 Tomcat Murr is a loveable, self-taught animal who has written his own autobiography. But a printer's error causes his story to be accidentally mixed and spliced with a book about the composer Johannes Kreisler. As the two versions break off and alternate at dramatic moments, two wildly different characters emerge from the confusion - Murr, the confident scholar, lover, carouser and brawler, and the moody, hypochondriac genius Kreisler. In his exuberant and bizarre novel, Hoffmann brilliantly evokes the fantastic, the ridiculous and the sublime within the humdrum bustle of daily life, making The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (1820-22) one of the funniest and strangest novels of the nineteenth century. – Amazon.

Upstart Crow - The Complete Series 1-3 And The Christmas Specials Boxset

Upstart Crow by Ben Elton

It’s the 1590s. William Shakespeare—brought to life on screen by the inimitable David Mitchell—is at the start of his career. But no one is taking him seriously. In London, he is mercilessly mocked by his rivals and at home in Stratford he is belittled by his sullen teenage daughter.

Yet he is determined to find an ending for his newest creation,Romeo and Juliet. Luckily, inspiration is forthcoming. The trials and tribulations of his closest friends and family reveal the plot twists he’d been missing. And not only for this famous tragedy but for many of his finest plays.

With sparkling wordplay, hilarious gags, and his trademark wit, Ben Elton celebrates the great William Shakespeare and reveals the startling stories behind the playwright’s best-known plays. – Amazon.

Rick & Morty: Season 4 (DVD) Starring Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland 

Teachers and Loved Ones of CSL

George MacDonald: 365 Readings, Edited and with a Preface by C. S. Lewis.

Really belongs with the George MacDonald books, but has Lewis’s name plastered all over the front. Maybe I’ll move it over with the others. A Collier book.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Daily Readings. Selections. Softcover.

Diary of an Old Soul, by George MacDonald.

“A Book of Strife in the Form of a Diary of an Old Soul.” A book of poems that can be read as a daily devotional (there are verses for each day of the year). In these poems MacDonald struggles, not always so much as to have faith as to find the proper way to work out that faith in life and in his soul. If that sounds sappy, it is, in the old sense of the word: full of sap, full of life. It is a stern fight, a fight not to the death but to the life. It reminds you that MacDonald was not only a writer, but a minister. A book beloved by C. S. Lewis. This copy is getting some age spots.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Poetry. Religion. Softcover.

The Splendid Century, by W.(arren) H.(amilton) Lewis.

“Life in the France of Louis XIV” (that’s the Fourteenth). Dedicated “To My Brother” (that’s C. S. Lewis). It is easy for me to forget sometimes that Warnie was not just Jack Lewis’s amusing and fatter alcoholic brother. He was a scholar in his own right, though he never took a degree; as an enthusiast he wrote a whole series of books on 17^th Century France that were well-received. “Pleasures and palaces are, of course, an enormously entertaining part of this vivid account of France under Louis XIV. More important is the author's exploration of the political, economic, social and artistic forces that developed during the long reign of the Sun-King. It was an age of contradictions and compromises and high taxes and formal manners. And to the day he died Louis XIV ate with his fingers and acted like God. The opening account of Louis XIV's private life and loves sets the pace for this witty, provocative account of a century that, like our own, was a time of transition, dissatisfaction, and progress. This was the age of Moliere, Racine, Corneille...the age of the salons and the graceful correspondents. And also an age that sent thousands of Huguenots to the galleys, the notorious death ships that served as seventeenth-century concentration camps.” – Amazon. His other books on France (which I would like to get – I am not that interested in France, but he is that entertaining a writer) are “The Sunset of the Splendid Century”, “Assault on Olympus”, “Louis XIV: An Informal Portrait”, “The Scandalous Regent”, “Levantine Adventurer”, and “Memoirs of the Duc de Saint-Simon”. Insert of period illustrations; this second-hand copy is a little creased at the spine, and the only copy of Warnie’s works that I’ve ever found ‘in real life’.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: History. 17^th Century France. Softcover.

Saving the Appearances: A Study in Idolatry, by Owen Barfield.

“A book by British philosopher Owen Barfield, is concerned with physics, the evolution of consciousness, pre-history, ancient Greece, ancient Israel, the medieval period, the scientific revolution, Christianity, Romanticism, and much else. The book was Barfield's favorite of those he authored, and the one that he most wanted to continue to be read. The book explores approximately three thousand years of history — particularly the history of human consciousness in relation to that which precedes or underlies the world of perception or phenomena. Given the vast field considered by the book, it is concise and brief, about two hundred pages. Barfield describes the growth of human consciousness as an interaction with nature, leading the reader to a fresh understanding of man's history, circumstances, and destiny. Saving the Appearances has in common with some thoughts of Teilhard de Chardin the understanding of idols as appearances having nothing within. "[A] representation, which is collectively mistaken for an ultimate – ought not to be called a representation. It is an idol. Thus the phenomena themselves are idols, when they are imagined as enjoying that independence of human perception which can in fact only pertain to the unrepresented.” – Wikipedia. I found the arguments “interesting, but tough.” Barfield, whom C. S. Lewis called “the wisest and best of my unofficial teachers”, was an Anthroposophist of the Steiner School. Barfield has been called “The Last of the Inklings”, having passed away only in 1997. This second-hand copy is showing its age as well.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Consciousness. Philosophy of Science. Softcover.

History in English Words, by Owen Barfield. Foreword by W. H. Auden.

“This popular book provides a brief, brilliant history of those who have spoken the Indo-European tongues. It is illustrated throughout by current English words—whose derivation from other languages, whose history in use and changes of meaning—record and unlock the larger history. "In our language alone, not to speak of its many companions, the past history of humanity is spread out in an imperishable map, just as the history of the mineral earth lies embedded in the layers of its outer crust.... Language has preserved for us the inner, living history of our soul. It reveals the evolution of consciousness" (Owen Barfield). It was Barfield who first advanced the ideas about language, myth, and belief that became identified with the thought and art of the Inklings.” – Goodreads. A fascinating study of how and when certain types of words entered our language, and how they allowed new concepts to enter our minds. You can’t think about something, really, until you have a word for it and define that word. I really must get a copy of “Poetic Diction”, Barfield’s other most famous book.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Language. Meaning. Softcover.

A Barfield Reader: Selections from the Writings of Owen Barfield, Edited and with an Introduction by G. B. Tennyson.

A sampler from Barfield’s works on language and literature, on philosophy and meaning, and from his own fiction. This book is dense, dense in the sense of packed like a fruitcake, and dense in the sense of the daunting blocks of print on each page. I have sampled it and found it too rich for wholesale immediate consumption; I must take it a slice at a time. In the meantime, it is the closest I can get to certain of the man’s works.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Reader. Sampler. Softcover.

The Silver Trumpet, by Owen Barfield.

Edited with an Afterword by Marjorie Lamp Mead. Illustrated by Josephine Spence. I can’t say much for the illustrations, though apparently Barfield chose the artist himself (from his friend’s children). To me, they look like something scratched into a high school notebook. I can’t say I’ve read it: the print is terrible, the size of the book is awkward, and the binding makes it hard to hold open for fear of it cracking. I must try to read it someday, nevertheless. Apparently, Lewis and Tolkien had high opinions of it (at least Tolkien’s children did). “In this delightful fantasy of kings and queens, a magical Silver Trumpet, a jester dwarf, and castle intrigues, English author Owen Barfield has created an enduring tale to captivate the imaginations of all readers. This beautifully illustrated edition of The Silver Trumpet, a story which first appeared in print in 1925, contains a helpful biographical note on Barfield by Marjorie Lamp Mead.” – Goodreads. The first fantasy novel ever published by an Inkling, and Barfield’s only piece of fiction.

Ranking: Essential, I suppose.

File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Softcover.

Smoke on the Mountain, by Joy Davidman. Foreword by C. S. Lewis.

“An Interpretation of the Ten Commandments”. “Lacking belief in the promises and commandments of God, one must fall back on a "man-centred" philosophy--something called humanism or materialism, which accepts this life and its immediate desires as the basis of all conduct. But you can't get a moral law out of materialism. There is no logical reason why a materialist shouldn't poison his nagging wife, if he can get away with it.
The essential amorality of all atheist doctrines is often hidden from us by an irrelevant personal argument. We see that many articulate secularists are well-meaning and law-abiding men; we see them go into righteous indignation over injustice and often devote their lives to good works. So we conclude that "he can't be wrong whose life is in the right"--that their philosophies are just as good guides to action as Christianity. What we don't see is that they are not acting on their philosophies. They are acting, out of habit or sentiment, on an inherited Christian ethic which they still take for granted though they have rejected the creed from which it sprang. Their children will inherit somewhat less of it.” So good I quoted it three times on Power of Babel. A look in turn at each commandment and finding surprising applications for them in modern life, beyond the plainest barest sense (who today covets their neighbor’s ox?). Lewis called Davidman’s intellect “straight, bright, and tempered like a sword”; here I see a demonstration of that.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Religion. Softcover.

Out of My Bone: The Letters of Joy Davidman, Edited by Don W. King.

“Although best known as Lewis's wife, Joy Davidman was an accomplished writer in her own right, with several published works to her credit. Out of My Bone tells Davidman's life story in her own words through her numerous letters -- most never published before -- and her autobiographical essay "The Longest Way Round." Gathered and expertly introduced by Don W. King, these letters reveal Davidman's persistent search for truth, her curious, incisive mind ("lithe and quick and muscular as a leopard," Lewis later said), and her arresting, sharply penetrating voice. They chronicle her journey from secular Judaism to atheism to Communism to Christianity and offer insightful glimpses into life -- both literary and everyday -- in the America and England of her time. Davidman also writes about the struggles of her earlier marriage to William Lindsay Gresham and of trying to reconcile her career goals with her life as mother of two sons. Most poignantly, perhaps, these letters expose Davidman's mental, emotional, and spiritual state as she confronted the cancer that eventually took her life at age 45.” – Amazon. Joy Davidman enters the Lewis story as someone whom most people saw as intruding on their image of what they saw him as being: basically, a crusty old bachelor uncle. They didn’t want to think of him as having emotions and needs (especially at his age), or to think of him as being taken advantage of by some predatory woman on the make. But the more one learns of her the more you can see what he saw in her; he was, after all, no fool. Even the suspicious Warnie, smarting after the years of ‘domestic tyranny’ under Mrs. Moore, came to appreciate her. “Incredibly, Dr. Johnson seems to have actually loved his wife.”

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Letters. Biography. Hardback.

Items from the Wish List: Around and About C. S. Lewis

The Magical World of the Inklings New and Expanded Edition

by Gareth Knight  (Author), Owen Barfield (Foreword)

"Because of the combination of information, understanding and insight on which it is founded, The Magical World of the Inklings is more than outstanding. It is not in the same league with anything else I have come across." - Owen Barfield The works of J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams and Owen Barfield have had a profound impact on the contemporary world. Together they were The Inklings, a small literary group of friends who set out to explore the 'mythopoeic' or myth-making element in imaginative fiction. The Magical World of the Inklings reveals how each of these writers created a 'magical world' which initiated the reader into hidden and powerful realms of the creative imagination. – Amazon.

This Ever Diverse Pair by Owen Barfield  (Author)

This Ever Diverse Pair was first published in 1950, when Barfield was practising as a solicitor in London. A humorous portrayal of everyday life in a lawyer's office, the novel's true subject is what C.S. Lewis described as "the rift in every life between the human person and his public persona - between, say, the man and the bus conductor or the man and the king..." Owen Barfield is one of the twentieth century's most significant writers and philosophers. Widely renowned for his insight and literary artistry, Barfield addresses key concerns of the sciences, humanities, social sciences, and arts in our time. His fellow Inklings, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, are among the leading figures influenced by Barfield's work. "A work of art and more original than anything I have read for a long time" - C.S. Lewis. – Amazon.

The Land of the Lord High Tiger by Roger Lancelyn Green (Author)

The Personal Heresy: A Controversy, by C. S. Lewis and E. M. W. Tillyard

Companion to Narnia, Revised Edition: A Complete Guide to the Magical World of C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia by Paul F. Ford  (Author)

Step into the Wardrobe.

This peerless companion has served as an adventurer's passport to the land of Narnia for twenty-five years and was used by the cast and crew of the major motion picture The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. From Aslan, the Great Lion, to Zardeenah, the mysterious lady of the night, this comprehensive, accessible book contains hundreds of alphabetically arranged and indexed entries covering all the characters, events, places, and themes that Lewis brilliantly wove into his timeless and magical world.

For readers of all ages, this is the perfect guide for the enchanted world of C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia. – Amazon.

The Golden String: An Autobiography by Bede Griffiths  (Author)

Sheldon Vanauken: The Man Who Received "A Severe Mercy" by Will Vaus  (Author)

The life story of Sheldon Vanauken is one of adventure, romance, conversion, grief, and recovery. Much of this was chronicled in the autobiographical bestseller, A Severe Mercy.However, a good deal of Vanauken's fascinating life remained shrouded in secrecy ... until now. Through a process of careful historical research, including interviews with Vanauken's many friends, colleagues, and students, Will Vaus reveals to the reader the numerous facets of a complex character.

In this biography we discover: Vanauken the struggling student, the bon-vivant lover, the sailor who witnessed the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the seeker who returned to faith through C. S. Lewis, the beloved professor of English literature and history, the feminist and anti-war activist who participated in the March on the Pentagon, the bestselling author, and Vanauken the convert to Catholicism. What emerges is the portrait of a man relentlessly in search of beauty, love, and truth, a man who believed that, in the end, he found all three.

"A sympathetic, perceptive and well researched study of one of America's most important recent religious writers. Readers of A Severe Mercy are in Will Vaus' debt for such an illuminating and informative study." Alister McGrath, author of C. S. Lewis: A Life

"Van was a character - a very good one as it happens, and Will Vaus catches the actuality of this intriguing man of many parts. Very illuminating reading." Thomas Howard, author of On Being Catholic

"This is a charming biography about a doubly charming man who wrote a triply charming book. It is a great way to meet the man behind A Severe Mercy." Peter Kreeft, author of Jacob's Ladder: Ten Steps to Truth

"Vaus has masterfully captured the spirit of Vanauken, his deep desire for beauty, his mistakes along the way, and eventually his love of God. Reading this biography takes me back to the same deep emotions I have every time I read A Severe Mercy." Jim Belcher, author of Deep Church

"Sheldon Vanauken's story of C. S. Lewis, Oxford, a passionate love, and a tragic loss captured the imagination of Evangelical Christians thirty years ago. Will Vaus' biography of the author of A Severe Mercy captures the same mixture of a flawed romantic quest driven by a longing for truth, goodness and beauty, that culminates in the fullness of the Catholic faith. Vaus' book is a study in divine providence and a captivating biography of a unique and noble soul." Fr. Dwight Longenecker, author of The Quest for the Creed

"Very well written, thoroughly researched, hard to put down despite many tears - Will Vaus captures the essence of Van in this book." Marion, Davy Vanauken's daughter

Will Vaus is a popular speaker and the author of a variety of books including The Hidden Story of Narnia, Speaking of Jack, and Mere Theology. – Amazon.