Milton, Spenser and The Chronicles of Narnia: Literary Sources for the C.S. Lewis NovelsIn 1950, Clive Staples Lewis published the first in a series of children's stories that became The Chronicles of Narnia. The now vastly popular Chronicles are a widely known testament to the religious and moral principles that Lewis embraced in his later life. What many readers and viewers do not know about the Chronicles is that a close reading of the seven-book series reveals the strikingly effective influences of literary sources as diverse as George MacDonald's fantastic fiction and the courtly love poetry of the High Middle Ages. Arguably the two most influential sources for the series are Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queen and John Milton's Paradise Lost. Lewis was so personally intrigued by these two particular pieces of literature that he became renowned for his scholarly studies of both Milton and Spenser. This book examines the important ways in which Lewis so clearly echoes The Faerie Queen and Paradise Lost, and how the elements of each work together to convey similar meanings. Most specifically, the chapters focus on the telling interweavings that can be seen in the depiction of evil, female characters, fantastic and symbolic landscapes and settings, and the spiritual concepts so personally important to C.S. Lewis. |
From inside the book
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... Edmund, ¡552?–¡599—Influence. 3. Spenser, Edmund, ¡552?–¡599. Faerie queene. 4. Milton, John, ¡608– ¡674—Influence. 5. Milton, John, ¡608–¡674. Paradise lost. 6. Lewis, C. S. (Clive Staples), ¡898–¡963. Settings. 7. Christian literature ...
... Edmund Spenser. I had met both before, albeit in abbreviated form. As Lewis himself suggested was best, I had first come to know The Faerie Queene in a beautifully illustrated children's book, forever making Trina Schart Hyman's St ...
... Edmund. “I am,” said Aslan. “But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This is the very reason you were brought into Narnia, that knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there” [VDT 2¡5–2¡6] ...
... Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene and John Milton's Paradise Lost. Although he certainly thought that everyone should read and appreciate Spenser and Milton, Lewis did not include material from these classic works of Western literature ...
... Edmund Spenser with John Milton. In a letter to his friend Arthur Greeves, Lewis uses Milton and Spenser rather as ends of a spectrum for placing a recently read poem's di‡culty and style. The Faerie Queene, the first three books of ...
Contents
17 | |
The Depiction of Evil Men Mortals Monsters and Misled Protagonists | 51 |
Girls Whose Heads Have Something Inside Them The Characterization of Women | 77 |
An Inside Bigger Than Its Outside Setting and Geography | 107 |
Knowing Him Better There Spirituality and Belief | 135 |
Conclusion | 159 |
Chapter Notes | 163 |
Bibliography | 177 |
Index | 183 |