A Christmas Poem
A Christmas Poem, by Christian Hale. For countless years, the Dragon roared And men would fight in vain with sword. Though many sought with might to slay, The Serpent’s strength grew day by day. In darker days, this Dragon’s breath Enslaved our fathers unto death. They thought to worship stones and beasts While on their souls the Dragon feasts. A Greater Might, a Hero bold, Came thundering down the halls of gold. He came with shouts as soft as cries. He came with virgin’s lullabies. He fought with weapons yet unknown. The Dragon scoffed to see this Foe. A MAN? … Continue Reading “A Christmas Poem”
Women of the West: True Femininity in C. S. Lewis’s That Hideous Strength
Perhaps one of the most striking things about That Hideous Strength in comparison with the other two books of C. S. Lewis’s Ransom Trilogy is the large number of female characters. There are none in the first book (excepting poor Harry’s mother) and only the Green Lady in the second. But we have a long list of female characters who appear in the final installment. Jane Studdock, Mrs. Dimble, Camilla Denniston, Ivy Maggs, Grace Ironwood, Fairy Hardcastle-this list is just a few of the more prominent female characters we encounter. Why is this? Is there any significance to the sudden … Continue Reading “Women of the West: True Femininity in C. S. Lewis’s That Hideous Strength”
A Debt Owed to Love | Communication & Gift-Giving
[dropcap]C[/dropcap]ommunicating accurately and well is an act of love. We have to love both the object that is being communicated as well as the recipient of that object. Communicating means giving and not taking. We need to care about the person to whom we are writing or speaking—in every instance. We all have read certain writers who appear to write in order to see themselves on the page. They write as if they are constantly looking in a mirror. They are the obsessive selfie-takers. They are the ones who walk down the sidewalk with their headphones in so that they … Continue Reading “A Debt Owed to Love | Communication & Gift-Giving”
DESTROYING the TEMPLE: C.S. Lewis on Distorted Love
But love, in the Christian sense, does not mean an emotion. It is a state not of the emotions but of the will; that state of the will which we have naturally about ourselves, and must learn to have about other people. – C.S. Lewis [1] [dropcap]I[/dropcap]n just two short sentences, C.S. Lewis strikes a hard blow against the understanding of love that runs wild in our current popular culture. Words like “will” and “learn” are words that rarely, if ever, crop up in any discussions about love. They sound so contrary to the spontaneous eruption of emotion and infatuation that … Continue Reading “DESTROYING the TEMPLE: C.S. Lewis on Distorted Love”
Arteries of ink and veins of gold
Arteries of ink and veins of gold, Blue and scarlet threads Stitching stories on paper, Words of God and man. Hours in silent sunlight, Hunched back, cramped fingers, Planting words in rows, Seeding centuries. Hide of beast, kitchen rags, Carved by blue and red and gold – Holdfast of hope and the world’s wisdom In a smudged hand. See also: Three Ways Dante Influenced C.S. Lewis, by Christiana Hale. More articles by Christiana Hale. Christiana Hale graduated from New Saint Andrew’s College with a B.A. in Liberal Arts and Culture (Cum Laude, 2015) and with an M.A. in Theology & Letters (Summa … Continue Reading “Arteries of ink and veins of gold”
3 More Ways Dante Influenced Lewis | Part II
If you read my last post and are ready for more specifics on the ways in which C.S. Lewis was influenced by Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy in the writing of his Ransom Trilogy, you have come to the right place. The first part of this post can be found here and I do recommend reading that first by way of introduction. And off we go! 1 | Devils in Disguise: Hell on Malacandra As I said in part 1 of this post, there is a sense in which the trajectory of the Ransom Trilogy both parallels and contrasts that of … Continue Reading “3 More Ways Dante Influenced Lewis | Part II”
3 Ways Dante Influenced C.S. Lewis | Part I
C.S. Lewis’s love for Dante Alighieri and The Divine Comedy was no great secret. Lewis first read Dante’s Inferno in the original Italian when he was in his teens and later read Purgatorio while he was in the hospital recovering from wounds received in World War I. He finally read Paradiso for the first time in 1930, before he became a Christian, but after he had reluctantly decided that there was a God. At this point, he was still very much conflicted as to the nature of God and whether or not there was an afterlife. After finishing Paradiso, he told … Continue Reading “3 Ways Dante Influenced C.S. Lewis | Part I”