the tower: major poems and plays

by Owen Barfield

Owen Barfield is known primarily for his many publications on the evolution of consciousness and the essential reframing of cultural history that results from this theory. At the center of his philosophy is a deep analysis of mythology and poetics that draws from Coleridge, Steiner, and others to reveal the noetic role of the poetic principle and its salient shifts that map the evolution of conscious experience. A member of the Oxford Inklings group, Barfield's first published book , The Silver Trumpet (1925), is the first märchen , or fantasy story, published by any of them.
Despite the influence Barfield exerted on contemporary authors such as Howard Nemerov and Saul Bellow, the biggest gaps in the published corpus of the Philosopher of Poetry are most of the major poems and poetic dramas he wrote according to his theories that place poetics at the core of conscious experience itself. This current publication remedies this absence by presenting five striking literary pieces composed throughout Barfield's lifetime. The Tower , an introspective narrative poem, is the 'great work' of Barfield's youth; Medea , a mythopoeic drama, is seemingly his last major poetic and dramatic work. Between these two are the mythopoeic narrative poem Riders on Pegasus , a trilogy of Anthroposophical mystery plays Angels at Bay , and the light-hearted extended poem The Unicorn . Readers of Barfield's philosophical works and Inklings enthusiasts will find much to admire and enjoy in this volume.
About the Author Owen Barfield (1898-1997) is one of the twentieth century's most original and influential literary figures. 
As an author and philosopher, he rallied against 'positivism' and was instrumental in bringing about a new awareness of the spiritual world that would eventually result in the "New Age" movement. He lived to see with satisfaction how alternative ways of thinking have begun to transform the limited positivist mindset.
Early on, Barfield developed his theory of 'The Evolution of Consciousness', based on an understanding of imagination as the highest human ability, " as a vessel by which divinity passes down into humanity. "
His fellow Inklings C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien are among the leading figures influenced by Barfield's work. Tolkien's linguistic and literary philosophy were influenced by Barfield's theories. For Lewis, he was a life-long friend and creative partner. Indeed, Owen Barfield was 'Romanticism' personified.
About the Editors Leslie A. Taylor (PhD, Southern Illinois University, 1997) is an independent scholar who specializes in Classical and Renaissance Literature. She has published on the Greek and Hebrew translations of Boethius's De consolatione philosophiae and has co-authored with Jefferey H. Taylor a book on the influence of Boethius on Milton's Paradise Lost . 
Jefferey H. Taylor (PhD, Southern Illinois University, 1994) is a Professor of English at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He is author of Four Levels of Meaning in the York Cycle of Mystery Plays and has published on the Dutch and Hebrew translations of Boethius. Dr. Taylor is recipient of the 2016 Owen Barfield Award for Excellence.

330 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2021

About the author

Arthur Owen Barfield was a British philosopher, author, poet, and critic.

Barfield was born in London. He was educated at Highgate School and Wadham College, Oxford and in 1920 received a first class degree in English language and literature. After finishing his B. Litt., which became his third book Poetic Diction, he was a dedicated poet and author for over ten years. After 1934 his profession was as a solicitor in London, from which he retired in 1959 aged 60. Thereafter he had many guest appointments as Visiting Professor in North America. Barfield published numerous essays, books, and articles. His primary focus was on what he called the "evolution of consciousness," which is an idea which occurs frequently in his writings. He is best known as a founding father of Anthroposophy in the English speaking world.

Barfield has been known as "the first and last Inkling". He had a profound influence on C. S. Lewis, and through his books The Silver Trumpet and Poetic Diction (dedicated to C.S. Lewis), an appreciable effect on J. R. R. Tolkien. Lewis was a good friend of Barfield since 1919, and termed Barfield "the best and wisest of my unofficial teachers". That Barfield did not consider philosophy merely intellectually is illustrated by a well-known interchange that took place between Lewis and Barfield. Lewis one day made the mistake of referring to philosophy as "a subject." "It wasn't a subject to Plato," said Barfield, "It was a way." Lewis refers to Barfield as the "Second Friend" in Surprised by Joy:

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?

Barfield and C. S. Lewis met in 1919 and were close friends for 44 years. Barfield was instrumental in converting Lewis to theism during the early period of their friendship which they affectionately called 'The Great War'. Maud also guided Lewis. As well as being friend and teacher to Lewis, Barfield was his legal adviser and trustee. Lewis dedicated his 1936 book Allegory of Love to Barfield. Lewis wrote his 1949 book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for Lucy Barfield and he dedicated The Voyage of the Dawn Treader to Geoffrey in 1952.