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Spenser's Images of Life
This 1967 book was compiled by Alastair Fowler from notes left by C. S. Lewis at his death. It is Lewis longest piece of literary criticism, as distinct from literary history. It approaches The Faerie Queene as a majestic pageant of the universe and nature, celebrating God as 'the glad creator', and argues that conventional views of epic and allegory must be modified if the poem is to be fully enjoyed and understood.
158 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1967
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249 people want to read
About the author
C.S. Lewis
1,032 books48k followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Clive Staples Lewis was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954. He was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. He wrote more than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. His most distinguished and popular accomplishments include Mere Christianity, Out of the Silent Planet, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and the universally acknowledged classics The Chronicles of Narnia. To date, the Narnia books have sold over 100 million copies and been transformed into three major motion pictures.
Lewis was married to poet Joy Davidman.
W.H. Lewis was his elder brother]
Clive Staples Lewis was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954. He was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. He wrote more than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. His most distinguished and popular accomplishments include Mere Christianity, Out of the Silent Planet, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and the universally acknowledged classics The Chronicles of Narnia. To date, the Narnia books have sold over 100 million copies and been transformed into three major motion pictures.
Lewis was married to poet Joy Davidman.
W.H. Lewis was his elder brother]
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 17, 2018
Okay, you cannot actually read this book before you read the Faerie Queene and even then you probably should Lewis' chapter on Spenser in The Allegory of Love. Lewis only wrote notes on this and died before he could really finish the book. Alastair Fowler thus had to piece a lot together. Thankfully he did a good job, because this is some of my favorite C.S. Lewis.
While Lewis is famous for his fiction and theology, he was better as an apologist and as a literary critic. This book is Lewis talking about one of his favorite books and explaining the little details with great care and nuance. His chapters on images of goodness and images of evil are alone worth the price of admission, but if you like classic literature, you need to read Spenser, read Lewis here and elsewhere on the Faerie Queene, and then go back to the originals to better appreciate them.
This book also reminded me that I'm incredibly uneducated and at this age (25) I cannot even begin to untangle all the depths found within the great western tradition. It's really sad that so much is probably getting thrown out the window and lost and forgotten, since so much of it is implicit and we do such a bad job of reading classics. Lewis gives in this specific book one of the most important arguments for reading literature: don't expect of a book something that it is not trying to give. The knights in Faerie Queene are faceless. That is on purpose, because Lewis emphasizes they are external characters. What they do matters more than their insides (and the idea of developing insides is a thoroughly modern experiment, a successful one, but not one that should make us throw out the rest).
At any rate, don't miss out on this book. It's a real gem I'll have to re-read when I'm better educated. Lewis knows what the common mistakes are in interpreting Spenser.
While Lewis is famous for his fiction and theology, he was better as an apologist and as a literary critic. This book is Lewis talking about one of his favorite books and explaining the little details with great care and nuance. His chapters on images of goodness and images of evil are alone worth the price of admission, but if you like classic literature, you need to read Spenser, read Lewis here and elsewhere on the Faerie Queene, and then go back to the originals to better appreciate them.
This book also reminded me that I'm incredibly uneducated and at this age (25) I cannot even begin to untangle all the depths found within the great western tradition. It's really sad that so much is probably getting thrown out the window and lost and forgotten, since so much of it is implicit and we do such a bad job of reading classics. Lewis gives in this specific book one of the most important arguments for reading literature: don't expect of a book something that it is not trying to give. The knights in Faerie Queene are faceless. That is on purpose, because Lewis emphasizes they are external characters. What they do matters more than their insides (and the idea of developing insides is a thoroughly modern experiment, a successful one, but not one that should make us throw out the rest).
At any rate, don't miss out on this book. It's a real gem I'll have to re-read when I'm better educated. Lewis knows what the common mistakes are in interpreting Spenser.
April 8, 2023
Of the few Spenser-studies I've read thus far, this has proven -- for my tastes, at any rate -- the consistently most delightful as well as the consistently most illuminating. This was a pleasant surprise, since I went into it with lowered expectations: the book is not a complete, fully-formed study, but rather put together from Lewis' lectures by a former student after Lewis' death. The shape of the book-that-might-have-been is discernable, and I do find myself keenly feeling the loss of it (what a book it would have been to lose oneself in!). Still, the book-that-is consists of more than just assembled notes and observations -- if not fully fleshed-out, it's at least more than a skeleton. And though the style is not quite so brilliant or enjoyable as a "full Lewis" book, I was again pleasantly surprised at how often the Lewisian voice shone through.
I found the exploration of Spenser's contrasting depictions of good and evil in The Faerie Queene especially enriching: as he summarizes, evil "is pompous and flashy and expensive," good "is humble, unconscious, and spontaneous"; the one is "maimed, diseased, and tormented," the other signalled by "vitality," "the rapturous embrace," the "countless images of plenitude." (As a side benefit, all of this is very much a window into the mind of the author of the Narnia chronicles, isn't it?)
Evil is solemn, good is gay...Evil imprisons, good sets free. Evil is tired, good is full of vigour. The one says, Let go, lie down, sleep, die; the other, All aboard! kill the dragon, marry the girl, blow the pipes and beat the drum, let the dance begin. This is writing, this is literary study, that sends you back to the text with anticipation and joy, that shows you what is to be delighted in. Maybe my favorite observation in the book comes when Lewis (with characteristic originality and chutzpah) asserts that Spenser's central allegorization of the twelve virtues "is quite an unimportant aspect of the poem." Instead, says Lewis, "what Spenser has done is to make an image of the whole of life, a hymn to the universe that he and his contemporaries believed themselves to inhabit." That is really something.
I found the exploration of Spenser's contrasting depictions of good and evil in The Faerie Queene especially enriching: as he summarizes, evil "is pompous and flashy and expensive," good "is humble, unconscious, and spontaneous"; the one is "maimed, diseased, and tormented," the other signalled by "vitality," "the rapturous embrace," the "countless images of plenitude." (As a side benefit, all of this is very much a window into the mind of the author of the Narnia chronicles, isn't it?)
Evil is solemn, good is gay...Evil imprisons, good sets free. Evil is tired, good is full of vigour. The one says, Let go, lie down, sleep, die; the other, All aboard! kill the dragon, marry the girl, blow the pipes and beat the drum, let the dance begin. This is writing, this is literary study, that sends you back to the text with anticipation and joy, that shows you what is to be delighted in. Maybe my favorite observation in the book comes when Lewis (with characteristic originality and chutzpah) asserts that Spenser's central allegorization of the twelve virtues "is quite an unimportant aspect of the poem." Instead, says Lewis, "what Spenser has done is to make an image of the whole of life, a hymn to the universe that he and his contemporaries believed themselves to inhabit." That is really something.
December 13, 2015
Lots of great Lewis horse sense in here, a welcome antidote to the piles of nonsense that exist as Spenserian commentary. Most of the book is based on a collection of lecture notes that Lewis never had a chance to clean up and publish, so the book is spare and a little scattered. It's funny how you can tell when you come across a passage that Lewis actually wrote out, as opposed to one that the editor wrote based on Lewis's outline.
Incidentally, this is where Lewis coined the term Donegality, which Michael Ward used in his book Planet Narnia.
Incidentally, this is where Lewis coined the term Donegality, which Michael Ward used in his book Planet Narnia.
May 1, 2018
This is a posthumous work, collected from Lewis's lecture notes by a friend. It's pretty good, but it won't be super interesting unless you're a big fan of Spenser, and if you are, you've already got your ideas on that particular topic.
The part that seemed best to me was the mix in analysis of broad range images or types with close reading of specific passages, and how the two are mutually reinforcing. This gives a nice picture of what a Lewis-taught class would look and perhaps feel like (it would have been fun but exhausting).
The part that seemed best to me was the mix in analysis of broad range images or types with close reading of specific passages, and how the two are mutually reinforcing. This gives a nice picture of what a Lewis-taught class would look and perhaps feel like (it would have been fun but exhausting).
Want to read
March 12, 2016Read the introduction on March 11, 2016. Vintage Lewis. Need to read the whole thing.
December 1, 2024
It’s been a long time since I desperately manage to find at least one original literary work by C. S. Lewis that would delight me in every way. Yet, none so far.
On the other hand, Lewis’ geniality, expressed throughout his philological essays, criticism and lectures are quite a gems which always amuse me. This book is among them, and these essays are a golden thread, yet to those, I would say, who have already read “The Faerie Queene”, for Lewis does not elaborate, in a companion and guide manner, every detail in every book or canto. Instead, he spotlights the certain scene and what is there to take heed of on re-reading them. As with many other literary works of similar quality (e.g. Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, Dante’s Commedia, Goethe’s Faust, Tolkien’s The Silmarillion etc.), "The Faerie Queene" is not "designed" for a single reading."
Apart from interesting theses and exegeses, one of the most interesting parts for me was the lecture of properly accession to this kind of literary works, lest to avoid false loadings:
Adverse criticism of the stories in The Faerie Queene is usually based on a false expectation. Both the complaints against ‘faceless knights’ and those against ‘characters with no insides’ come alike from readers who are looking for a novelistic interest. But it is quite wrong to approach the poem with this demand; for Spenser never meant to supply it.
We should never concentrate, however, on passages such as these. It is always a great mistake to value a work of one kind for its occasional slight approximations to some other kind which happens to be preferred. If we can’t learn to like a work of art for what it is, we had best give it up. There is no point in trying to twist it or force it into a form it was never meant to have. And certainly to read The Faerie Queene as a novel is perverse and unrewarding enough. It is like going to a Mozart opera just for the spoken bits.
Now if character is undeveloped in them, what is their point? What do we go to them for? Certainly not for mere excitement, i.e. the alternate tension and relaxation of suspense and curiosity. If it were only for that, we would seldom reread them. But when such stories are loved at all, they are re-read perhaps more than any others. Re-reading them is like going back to a fruit for its taste; to an air for.. . what? for itself; to a region for its whole atmosphere.
The Romance differs from the Novel in one very important respect, that it has no need to explain its images away. For its world is the world in which such images are native. With the novel it is very different. There each image has to be carefully accounted for in naturalistic terms and provided with its causal pedigree.
Just as a lobster wears its skeleton outside, so the characters in Romance wear their character outside. For it is their story that is their character.
The book is my cordial recommendation for those who wish to return to Spenser or those who have recently read “The Faerie Queene”, and would like to enrich their perspective on possibly overlooked aspects.
On the other hand, Lewis’ geniality, expressed throughout his philological essays, criticism and lectures are quite a gems which always amuse me. This book is among them, and these essays are a golden thread, yet to those, I would say, who have already read “The Faerie Queene”, for Lewis does not elaborate, in a companion and guide manner, every detail in every book or canto. Instead, he spotlights the certain scene and what is there to take heed of on re-reading them. As with many other literary works of similar quality (e.g. Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, Dante’s Commedia, Goethe’s Faust, Tolkien’s The Silmarillion etc.), "The Faerie Queene" is not "designed" for a single reading."
Apart from interesting theses and exegeses, one of the most interesting parts for me was the lecture of properly accession to this kind of literary works, lest to avoid false loadings:
Adverse criticism of the stories in The Faerie Queene is usually based on a false expectation. Both the complaints against ‘faceless knights’ and those against ‘characters with no insides’ come alike from readers who are looking for a novelistic interest. But it is quite wrong to approach the poem with this demand; for Spenser never meant to supply it.
We should never concentrate, however, on passages such as these. It is always a great mistake to value a work of one kind for its occasional slight approximations to some other kind which happens to be preferred. If we can’t learn to like a work of art for what it is, we had best give it up. There is no point in trying to twist it or force it into a form it was never meant to have. And certainly to read The Faerie Queene as a novel is perverse and unrewarding enough. It is like going to a Mozart opera just for the spoken bits.
Now if character is undeveloped in them, what is their point? What do we go to them for? Certainly not for mere excitement, i.e. the alternate tension and relaxation of suspense and curiosity. If it were only for that, we would seldom reread them. But when such stories are loved at all, they are re-read perhaps more than any others. Re-reading them is like going back to a fruit for its taste; to an air for.. . what? for itself; to a region for its whole atmosphere.
The Romance differs from the Novel in one very important respect, that it has no need to explain its images away. For its world is the world in which such images are native. With the novel it is very different. There each image has to be carefully accounted for in naturalistic terms and provided with its causal pedigree.
Just as a lobster wears its skeleton outside, so the characters in Romance wear their character outside. For it is their story that is their character.
The book is my cordial recommendation for those who wish to return to Spenser or those who have recently read “The Faerie Queene”, and would like to enrich their perspective on possibly overlooked aspects.
January 5, 2022
I dove into Spenser's Images of Life having not read the Faerie Queene, which, as another reviewer mentioned, is important to understand what Lewis is discussing. Having skimmed through other works by Lewis, including academic pieces and letters to his friend Arthur Greeves, I was familiar with his great affinity for Spenser's epic poem, and glad to read more of his thoughts on the allegories, themes, and characters. I especially liked Lewis's analysis on Spenser's conceptualization of good and evil.
Considering that this literary criticism was assembled from notes after his death, I thought it well-organized, and imagine that I would have benefited even more from reading it had I possessed personal knowledge of the Faerie Queene's content. Lewis's work on the epic has certainly piqued my interest in the original
Considering that this literary criticism was assembled from notes after his death, I thought it well-organized, and imagine that I would have benefited even more from reading it had I possessed personal knowledge of the Faerie Queene's content. Lewis's work on the epic has certainly piqued my interest in the original
May 22, 2023
The book was published posthumously from Lewis' notes, and it shows. The language doesn't have the usual sparkle. Still, it is a good intro, and like all Lewis' literary work, it draws you to the original.
"It is, as we say, a comment on life. But it is still more a celebration of life: of order, fertility, spontaneity, and jocundity. It is, if you like, Spenser's Hymn to Life. Perhaps this is why The Faerie Queene never loses a reader it has once gained. Once you have become an inhabitant of its world, being tired of it is like being tired of London, or of life.
"It is, as we say, a comment on life. But it is still more a celebration of life: of order, fertility, spontaneity, and jocundity. It is, if you like, Spenser's Hymn to Life. Perhaps this is why The Faerie Queene never loses a reader it has once gained. Once you have become an inhabitant of its world, being tired of it is like being tired of London, or of life.
June 15, 2023
Lewis is a big, big fan of A Fairie Queen. It is amazing how he unfolds the allegory.
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June 22, 2021
Dec 2019. Since I just finished reading the FQ, this short book is a welcome review and exposition and interpretation. It is not at all the equivalent of Lewis's polished Preface to Paradise Lost. My most important "takeaway" is that I've trusted the teller (the Letter to Raleigh) at the expense of the tale (the FQ itself). I am grateful for the correction of my perspective.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews