C.S. Lewis*

C.S. Lewis (1898—1963) is one of the most influential Christian writers of all time. He taught English at Oxford (1925—1954) and then at Cambridge (1954—1963), and was a close friend and significant encourager to J.R.R. Tolkien.

Known to his friends as Jack, Lewis published more than thirty works, which have been translated into more than thirty languages, and have sold millions of copies. Ten years ago, this month, on the anniversary of his death, a memorial stone honouring him was unveiled in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.

As we approach November 29th (this Wednesday), his birthday, the podcast Pints with Jack, along with “over thirty Lewis societies and content creators” will be marking for the first time “C.S. Lewis Reading Day.” Watch the promotional video, and then, if you are so inclined, listen to the Pints With Jack podcast from when they interviewed me about my book Conspiracy of Light: Poems Inspired by the Legacy of C.S. Lewis. (Poiema/Cascade).

The following poem is available in his book Poems (1964, Harcourt, Inc.)

Footnote to All Prayers

He whom I bow to only knows to whom I bow
When I attempt the ineffable Name, murmuring Thou,
And dream of Pheidian fancies and embrace in heart
Symbols (I know) which cannot be the thing Thou art.
Thus always, taken at their word, all prayers blaspheme
Worshiping with frail images a folk-lore dream,
And all men in their praying, self-deceived, address
The coinage of their own unquiet thoughts, unless
Thou in magnetic mercy to Thyself divert
Our arrows, aimed unskilfully, beyond desert;
And all men are idolaters, crying unheard
To a deaf idol, if Thou take them at their word.
Take not, O Lord, our literal sense. Lord, in thy great
Unbroken speech our limping metaphor translate.

*This is the third Kingdom Poets post about C.S. Lewis: first post, second post.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. He is the author of five poetry collections including Angelicus (2021, Cascade) ― a book of poems written from the point-of-view of angels. His books are available through Wipf & Stock.

Marly Youmans

Marly Youmans has written sixteen books of poetry and fiction ― which is a good way to put it, since some of her books straddle the divide between genres.

Her most recent book is Seren of the Wildwood (2023, Wiseblood) ― an epic poem written within the strict limitations Marly Youmans has placed upon herself. Its 61 chapters each consist of 21 lines of blank verse (iambic pentameter):
----------Never speak of your passions by the wildwood—
----------The needfulness that might have saved their lives…
followed by five lines of rhyming verse:
----------And trees
----------May shelter eyes and ears
----------That do not care to please—
----------The shade where something hears,
----------The dark where something sees.
It tells the story of a girl, born after the death of her brothers, seemingly because her father had said,
----------“I wish I had a daughter, not you boys
----------Who shut your ears and are no help to me!”
Be careful what you wish for, indeed!

Earlier poetry collections include Claire: poems (2003, LSU Press), and The Book of the Red King (2019, Phoenicia Publishing). She lives in New York State.

The following poem appeared in [A New] Decameron.

The Hand

I found a hand, half-buried in a field—
Like light, it held all colors in itself,
A sparkling white, perhaps alabaster
Or moonlight pooled and then solidified.
I bought the field. I dug around the hand,
Hired men to drag it from the hiding place.
They marveled at the size; I crossed their palms
With silver, bribing them to tell no one.
I scrubbed the dirt, the lichen flourishes
And stains until the hand was luminous
By day or night. It shone below the moon
As if it were the glove to catch that ball.
In summer, I lay naked in its curl,
The coolness of the skin against my skin.
In fall, leaves settled in the fingers’ bowl.
In snow, the hand was lost beneath the stars.
One night I dreamed the fingers held three keys.
The first was silvery, a key of rain.
The second, bronze, unlocking a great chest
Where all the souls of those to be were stored.
The third was golden, notched and nicked with signs,
But what it meant, or why the angels flew
Backwards and forwards, hunting the bright key,
I didn’t know. I reached to them in sleep.
Stories say that God could make a mountain
With just one hand. To make a man took two.
All I know is story. I called and woke,
And dew was on my face like chilly tears.

Posted with permission of the poet.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. He is the author of five poetry collections including Angelicus (2021, Cascade) ― a book of poems written from the point-of-view of angels. His books are available through Wipf & Stock.

Elizabeth Melville

Elizabeth Melville (c.1578―c.1640), also known as Lady Culross, is a Scottish poet. The first edition of her Ane Godlie Dreame appeared in 1603, making her the first known woman in Scotland to have her poetry published. Her father, Sir James Melville of Halhill, served in the courts of Mary Queen of Scots, and King James VI (who became England’s James I in 1603).

She described her 60-stanza, 480-line poem as an account of a dream she had had when in deep spiritual anguish. It has been suggested that John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress was influenced by Ane Godlie Dreame.

Elizabeth Melville was active among those resisting English attempts to bring the Presbyterian Kirk under the authority and influence of the Church of England. She wrote the following sonnet for the Calvinist preacher John Welsh, when ― for holding a General Assembly at Aberdeen in July, 1605 ― he was imprisoned in Blackness Castle.

A Sonnet Sent to Blackness
To Mr. John Welsh by the Lady Culross

My Dear Brother with courage bear the cross.
---Joy shall be joined with all your sorrow here;
High is your Hope. Disdain this worldly dross:
---Anew shall you for this wished day appear.

Though it is dark, the sky cannot be clear.
---After the cloud, it shall be calm anon.
Wait on his will who with Blood hath bought you dear
---Extol his name though outward joys be gone.

Look to the Lord: you are not left alone.
---Since he is yours, oft pleasure can you take.
He is at hand and hears your every groan
---End out your fight and suffer for his sake.

---A sight most bright your soul shall shortly see
---When show of glore your rich reward shall be.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. He is the author of five poetry collections including Angelicus (2021, Cascade) ― a book of poems written from the point-of-view of angels. His books are available through Wipf & Stock.

William Shakespeare*

William Shakespeare (1564―1616) is considered by many to be the greatest writer this world has ever known. All hype aside, he is easily one of the most influential.

His personal religious views can only be determined by things voiced by the characters in his plays, by what the persona of his sonnets expressed, and by his religious practice. According to the latter he would be seen as an Anglican Christian, although regular attendance at Church of England services was compulsory.

He would have heard the Bishop’s Bible regularly read in church, but based on the language of his plays he was also familiar with the Geneva Bible, a personal Bible not used in the church, but owned by individuals for devotional study. Shakespeare clearly spent much time reading this translation.

Being an Englishman of his age, he would certainly have seen himself as Christian. The following sonnet could only have been written by someone who did.

Sonnet 146

Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth,
[......] these rebel powers that thee array,
Why dost thou pine within and suffer dearth,
Painting thy outward walls so costly gay?
Why so large cost, having so short a lease,
Dost thou upon thy fading mansion spend?
Shall worms, inheritors of this excess,
Eat up thy charge? Is this thy body's end?
Then soul, live thou upon thy servant's loss
And let that pine to aggravate thy store;
Buy terms divine in selling hours of dross;
Within be fed, without be rich no more.
So shalt thou feed on Death, that feeds on men,
And, Death once dead, there's no more dying then.

*This is the second Kingdom Poets post about William Shakespeare: first post.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. He is the author of five poetry collections including Angelicus (2021, Cascade) ― a book of poems written from the point-of-view of angels. His books are available through Wipf & Stock.