As someone who got to see the manuscript of The Chapel of the Thorn: A Dramatic Poem but not to read it, I was thrilled with Sørina Higgins’ transcription and introduction of this early Charles Williams poems. I wasn’t surprised when it was nominated for a Mythopoeic Award. James at the Tolkienist blog has a review that is worth reading.
Get Pilgrim Posts in Your Inbox
Join 5,302 other subscribersConnect & Follow!
Like us on Facebook
-
Recent Posts
- “To rail is the sad privilege of the loser”: C.S. Lewis and the Future of our Words
- The New York C.S. Lewis Society Student Essay Contest
- Shadowy Steps through Hellish Fog: Amy Baik Lee’s Refreshing Invitation in This Homeward Ache
- C.S. Lewis and the Total Eclipse of the Heavens, with An Unauthorized Book-Jacket Description of The Great Divorce
- “The Hateful Feeling of Breathlessness I Have Had for Years”: A Personal Note on the One-Thing-After-Anotherness of Life
- Wyrdhoard Workshop #1: Layering Significance (Writing Workshop Announcement)
- A Brace of Tolkien Posts for his 132nd Birthday (#TolkienBirthdayToast)
- 2023: My Year in Books: The Infographic
Most Popular Posts
Archives
- April 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- March 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
Tags
- Anne of Green Gables
- art
- books
- C.S. Lewis
- Charles Williams
- children's literature
- Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis
- Death
- Dorothy L. Sayers
- fantasy
- film adaptation
- George MacDonald
- Harry Potter
- Inklings
- J.K. Rowling
- J.R.R. Tolkien
- Joy Davidman
- L.M. Montgomery
- letters
- lion the witch and the wardrobe
- literature
- Lord of the Rings
- Lucy Maud Montgomery
- Madeleine L'Engle
- myth
- Narnia
- On Writing
- owen barfield
- Oxford
- Peter Jackson
- Poetry
- Prince Edward Island
- Ransom Trilogy
- Reading
- research
- Science Fiction
- Signum University
- Stephen King
- Surprised by Joy
- Teaching
- That Hideous Strength
- The Great Divorce
- The Hobbit
- theology
- Theology of Culture
- The Screwtape Letters
- Walter Hooper
- writing
- WWI
- WWII
Meta
Categories
- 10 Minute Book Talk
- 5 Books Series
- Blogging the Hugos
- Canadian literature
- Creative Writing
- Feature Friday
- Fictional Worlds
- Guest Blogs
- Inklings and Arthur
- L.M. Montgomery
- Letters
- Lewis Biography
- Lewis' Essays
- Memorable Quotes
- News & Links
- On Writing
- Original Research
- Reflections
- Reviews
- Studies in Words
- The C.S. Lewis Studies Series
- The MaudCast
- Thoughtful Essays
- Throwback Thursdays
Goodreads
Blog Stats
- 1,966,078 visitors to A Pilgrim in Narnia
Thanks for bringing this to our attention! (And good to make the acquaintance of another interesting-looking Inklings blog in this way!)
I expect a lot of us first read one of Williams’s novels, but James convincingly suggests here that The Chapel of the Thorn is a good and likely place to start, too!
For me it was The Place of the Lion, but Chapel of the Thorn wasn’t that far after. I got to read it in draft form, prepping for publication. It is far more stable than the Arthurian poetry, but less approachable than, say, War in Heaven.
Yes, well said! It’s more like the first novel Williams wrote – except we don’t know exactly how much that was revised when it was eventually published as Shadows of Ecstasy – but I think The Chapel is more approachable than that first-and-fifth novel, too. It’s curious and interesting that that novel is the first big imaginative work that is a whole (rather than a collection of shorter poems), after The Chapel (and about 13 years after – and just after Williams was working on a revision of The Chapel)! It is fascinating that there is such a great step in approachability from the first novel (even in its revised form as Shadows of Ecstasy) to the second novel, War in Heaven (which was the first published).
(Hope I have not said all that note of agreement in too complicated and confusing a way!)
Oops, missed this! 1st & 5th novel, yes, precisely–inaccessible but cool story. War of Heaven is a great romp so I hope people start there!
Pingback: C.S. Lewis, Sexology, and the OED | A Pilgrim in Narnia
Pingback: The Grand Miracle: Daily Reflections for the Season of Advent (Friday Feature) | A Pilgrim in Narnia
Pingback: More Relevant Than Ever: Why the Wade Center Authors Like Lewis and Tolkien Still Matter (Friday Feature) | A Pilgrim in Narnia
Pingback: Charles Williams’ Descent Into Hell: A 10 Minute Book Talk | A Pilgrim in Narnia
Pingback: Share with Me a Woman’s Voice on Shakespeare, with Thoughts on The Merchant of Venice | A Pilgrim in Narnia