The Personal HeresyThe Personal HeresyA Controversy

E. M. W. Tillyard

C. S. Lewis

Introduction & Chapter IIntroduction & Chapter IWhat is the personal heresy and

why do both Lewis and Tillyard split time in the book?

What is poetry? The poet? (xiv)What is the importance of this

argument?How would you rate Lewis’s

courtesy toward Tillyard in Chapter One?

Wikipedia

Chapter I Outline, “The Chapter I Outline, “The Personal Heresy,” LewisPersonal Heresy,” LewisExample 1: “young soldier poets”Example 2: His Majesty’s Stationery

Office (Sir Henry John Newbolt)Example 3: Tillyard’s MiltonExample 4: Kingsmill’s Matthew ArnoldExample 5: T. S. EliotExample 6: H. W. Garrod’s

WordsworthCSL Counter-Example 1: Robert

Herrick’s “Upon Julia’s Clothes” on the question, “What is it that I see?”

Chapter I Outline, “The Chapter I Outline, “The Personal Heresy,” LewisPersonal Heresy,” LewisCSL Counter-Example 2: Walter De

la Mare’s “Very old are …”CSL Counter-Example 3:

Wordsworth’s PreludeCSL Counter-Example 4: Isa. 13:19-

22 on the question, “What is the nature of this consciousness?” (12)

CSL Counter-Example 5: Keats’ Hyperion on the question, “What now remains of the personal dogma?” (17)

Chapter I QuestionsChapter I Questions How is the personality of the author twice

removed from the poetical experience (7)? What is the topic of this poem by Walter De la

Mare? Comment: “It is, in fact, these things, not as they

are, but as they seem to be, which poetry represents to me, or so I shall be told” (11).

In what sense does the reader come in contact with the poet?

Does Lewis think that a poet is a person who sees things in a special way? (20)

How important is context? (20) What is the point Lewis makes in regard to the

position of the window? (23) How are the materialist and the spiritual theories

both fatal to the personal heresy? (24ff.)

Chapter II Outline, Chapter II Outline, “Rejoinder,” Tillyard“Rejoinder,” TillyardFirst Preliminary: “slightly shop-soiled”Second Preliminary: no line drawn

between lyric and dramatic poetry (drama)

Main Argument: the meaning of “personal” and “personality”◦Lewis includes trivial details in personality◦For Lewis, not the poet’s normal personality◦Tillyard means “some mental pattern”◦Tillyard: personality functions in style◦Example: T. S. Eliot’s The Rock

Chapter II Outline, Chapter II Outline, “Rejoinder,” Tillyard“Rejoinder,” TillyardContinued

◦The passage from Isaiah shows the personality of the translator, though not of the author

◦The paradox: ipsissimus cum minime ipse◦Tillyard: Lewis assumes that what is true of

communication is also true of the experience

◦A distinction: fluid (Shakespeare, Flaubert, Keats) and rigid natures (Milton, Wordsworth)

◦Art vs. Life—connected or disconnected?◦Don’t use biography as a shortcut (37), but

it can reveal “the mental pattern” (as with William Morris and John Milton)

Chapter II Outline, Chapter II Outline, “Rejoinder,” Tillyard“Rejoinder,” TillyardContinued

◦What is poetry about?◦Two Observations:

First, Tillyard does not limit the value of poetry to the contact with an important personality.

Second, Lewis is “too rigidly concerned with things and too little heedful of states of mind”

◦We learn about the poet’s excited state of mind in “Upon Julia’s Clothes.” He is excited, satisfied, and captivated.

Chapter II QuestionsChapter II QuestionsWhat is the tone of Tillyard’s essay? (27)Who is the first to be a gentleman? Why?What is implied by making the statement

on page 38, line 2, “It may be fairer …:”What is “personality” according to Tillyard

and Lewis?Are there examples in the life of Lewis

where biographical study could have prevented a critic from making a mistake? (37)

Is poetry the result of “the superior penetration of poetic genius”? (38) So what?

Chapter II QuestionsChapter II QuestionsDoes Tillyard make any unproven

assumptions?Which of the two writers would suggest

that the poet’s Art is separated from his Life, and which would suggest that they are connected?

What interesting historical note does Tillyard suggest for the translator of Isaiah? (33)

The Gunpowder Plot: 1605, Guy Fawkes’ failed attempt to blow up Parliament and assassinate King James I of England and King James VI of Scotland (now celebrated on Guy Fawkes Night, November 5)

What is poetry about?

Chapter III VocabularyChapter III VocabularyHyperuranian (44): a place where only gods

can go, non-materialPetitio (46): short for petitio principii

(“assuming the initial point”), begging the question, e.g., “God exists.” “How do you know?” “Because the Bible says so.” “Why should I believe the Bible?” “Because the Bible was written by God.”

The law of Occam’s razor (47): make as few assumptions as possible

“willing suspension of disbelief” (51): from Coleridge, suspending judgment that what we are reading could not have happened

Common room (56): shared lounge (British term)

Chapter III Outline, “Open Chapter III Outline, “Open Letter,” LewisLetter,” LewisHungry for “rational opposition”Graciousness in the opening

paragraphRecantation: (1) positions on Tillyard

and Eliot; (2) that it is a new heresy; (3) Lewis’s interpretation of the Isaiah passage

Four Main Heads◦A distinction in the definition of personality◦The paradox of poetic creation◦Confusing the means of communication

with that which is communicated◦Preference of things to people

Things He SkipsThings He SkipsLewis will not pursue Tillyard’s

distinction between fluid and rigid personalities (42)

Lewis will not develop his presuppositions about the material world and the spiritual world (43)

First Main HeadFirst Main HeadA distinction in the definition of

personality (44-45)◦Personality needs to stay in its right place◦Personality includes little things, trivial

things◦Personality includes warmth, humanity,

intimacy, the real rough and tumble of lifeBut are these things valuable because

they are certain patterns or because of the things seen through them?

Second Main HeadSecond Main HeadThe paradox of poetic creation (46-48)◦ Great art is unique◦ So is every moment of time◦ This begs the question (Great art is

unique. Because it’s unique, therefore it’s great.)

◦ Don’t confuse individuality with personality

Third Main HeadThird Main HeadConfusing the means of

communication with that which is communicated (49)

◦ Lewis says that he based “that which is communicated” on a separate argument from “the means of communication,” and he blames himself for not making that clear.

Fourth Main HeadFourth Main HeadPreference of things to people (49-56)◦ The claim is false, but Lewis blames

himself again.◦ “To think of literature is to think first

and foremost” of people (49).◦ Lewis focused on silk to make the

argument simple. He doesn’t think it’s this simple.

◦ Lewis grants that Herrick is interested in Julia, not just silk. But also not his own reactions to Julia in silk.

Fourth Main Head Fourth Main Head (continued)(continued)Preference of things to people (49-56)◦ Not about art in general, but about

imaginative literature ◦ Private letters and some essays are

about the writer’s personality◦ The poet’s personality intrudes into an

imagined world.◦ We don’t owe a poet an aesthetic

response, but we do owe it to his poetry.◦ Lewis likes Dryden’s poetry, but not

Dryden.

Fourth Main Head Fourth Main Head (continued)(continued)Three Dilemmas, or, Three Ways of

Offending against Personality (part of the preference of things to people)◦Logic vs. imagination: Personality forces

us out of the world of poetry and into the world of logic and ethics.

◦It is uncivil to think about the person instead of what he says.

◦Poetolatry: the idolatry of poetry (loving poets rather than appreciating their poetry)

Chapter III QuestionsChapter III QuestionsHow would you characterize Lewis’s

opening and closing paragraphs?What is “the proper pleasure of

personality” (52, top)? So what?What is poetolatry? Why is it an

issue? How does it surface?How many times does Lewis use the

word “Sir,” and what does this mean?What startling prediction did Matthew

Arnold make about poetry?Is beauty really in the eye of the

beholder?

Chapter III QuestionsChapter III QuestionsIs personality a mental pattern or

various details?What is personality according to Lewis?What is absurd about the triad Christ,

Shakespeare, and Keats?What is Lewis echoing on p. 56 when he

writes about “an emotion whose true object is our neighbor”?

Is there a difference between something that is an expression of personality and something that expresses personality?

Is Lewis or Tillyard more likely to be described as an elitist? So what?

Chapter IV VocabularyChapter IV Vocabularyenisle = “to make an island of,”

“to isolate” (67)

Chapter IV Outline, No Title, Chapter IV Outline, No Title, TillyardTillyard I. Clarifications: “personal” is not equivalent

to the “concrete”; Tillyard did not think Lewis oblivious to Julia◦ But Tillyard thinks the poet’s reaction still possibly

“the poet’s main concern” (60).◦ Tillyard illustrates this with “The Mower to the

Glow-worms” II. Apologies: (1) Tillyard’s accusation about

seeing only half of a paradox was merely accusing Lewis of not agreeing with him (the poet is most himself when surrendering self) (61, bottom); (2) Tillyard withdraws the charge that Lewis confused communication with the thing communicated; (3) Tillyard pleads guilty of vagueness over the uniqueness of the Delphic Charioteer.

Chapter IV Outline, No Title, Chapter IV Outline, No Title, TillyardTillyardIII. Different Senses

of Uniqueness◦ Something not likely

to recur (63)◦ A sense of unity and

individuality (63)◦ A sense of kinship

and sharing (64)IV. The Distinction

between Life and Art

A personal impression: Romanesque churches in Auvergne, France

Auvergne = 16; Paris = 6

Chapter IV Outline, No Title, Chapter IV Outline, No Title, TillyardTillyardThis personal impression is an example

of sharing, much like one sees things differently, in heightened apprehension, when one views a sunset in company vs. in solitaire.

V. The Value of Personality in Literature◦ First, the flow of sympathy between author

and reader (67), as in Wordsworth, “a superior person”

◦ Footnote on two classes of trivial details, the essential stammer (CSL and EMWT agree on this) and the unessential stammer

◦ Second, mental pattern in both life and art, governed by predispositions that affect both life and art, as in Keats’ Hyperion

Chapter IV Outline, No Title, Chapter IV Outline, No Title, TillyardTillyardVI. More on Life and ArtThe dead poet can do something for

us (73f.); he or she can set an example, which brings comfort and courage.

The dead poet is also “one who has inhabited heavens and hells unbearable by the ordinary man” (Examples: Shakespeare, Baudelaire, Marvell, & Herrick)

In some poets, this counts for little (Tennyson, 77).

Chapter IV Outline, No Title, Chapter IV Outline, No Title, TillyardTillyardSummary: The two functions of

personality in literature are (1) a kind of sharing and (2) setting an example.

Can our differences be “resolved into no more than a matter of terminology”? (78)

A question from Tillyard to Lewis: What does the author’s personality express, i.e. what is literature?

Chapter IV QuestionsChapter IV QuestionsWhat evidence do you find of Tillyard’s

graciousness?Did Tillyard truly share something with the

man who designed that Romanesque church? What evidence can you give for your answer?

Is the poet “a cut above” or one of the common people? (see “a superior person,” 68, top)

What does Tillyard say personality is good for in literature? What do you think Lewis will say to this?

What difference does this issue make? Is it impossible for an agricultural laborer

saved from will-o’-the-wisps by glow-worms to help us appreciate rural life (61, middle)?

Chapter IV QuestionsChapter IV QuestionsMight the difference between Tillyard and

Lewis simply be a preference for feelings by Tillyard and objective things by Lewis?

What is meant by “the formidable battery of Mr. Lewis’s dialectic” (62, top)? Why do you think Tillyard says this and in this way?

What is the point of talking about the distinction between life and art (65, bottom)?

What do you think Lewis will say about Tillyard seeing value in the idea of sharing an experience with the poet? (67f.)

Chapter V VocabularyChapter V Vocabularyqua = insofar as“making shift” = to manage by

expedience (82)“the apple of discord” = Chapter

I, which was written in 1933 and published in a 1934 issue of Essays and Studies (82)

jejune = dull

Chapter V Outline, No Title, Chapter V Outline, No Title, LewisLewisI. Three Senses of Unique (79)II. Two Agreements: The Poet’s Example

and SharingIII. Two Kinds of Poetry

◦ Common experiences that all people have.◦ A new and nameless sensation, or experiences

that enrich one.IV. Lewis’s Theory of Poetry: a trained habit

(art or skill) of using certain instruments (the extra-logical features of language, 85, 89) to certain ends (the concrete reality of experiences, 89) and doing it well (90): definition and content of poetry

Chapter V Outline, No Title, Chapter V Outline, No Title, LewisLewisV. Lewis on Naturalism

(interspersed with IV)V.I Two Types of Language (89)

◦Scientific or philosophical language◦Poetic language

VII. The Content of Poetry (92)◦Not about proving anything◦Not about a practical purpose◦Otherwise, about anything and

everything

Chapter V Outline, No Title, Chapter V Outline, No Title, LewisLewisVIII. The Great Poet (94): Is he or

she . . .◦A great man who is also a poet, or◦A man highly skilled in poetry (CSL here?)

IX. The Value of Poetry?X. Qualifications of the Right Judges:

none (96)XI. What Poetry Requires to be

Understood by the Average Reader◦Pleasure◦Profit

Chapter V QuestionsChapter V QuestionsWhat is Lewis referring to, which we

have read earlier, when he writes of “some want within” (79, bottom)?

What do Lewis and Tillyard think of “common things and common men” (80), at least in the opinion of Lewis? Why?

Comment: “trailing clouds of glory” (80)How does Lewis define poetry? A poem?Is poetry the creation of something new

or the expression of common experience?

Chapter V QuestionsChapter V QuestionsOf the two definitions offered,

what is Lewis’ preferred definition of a great poet? So what?

Whom does Lewis prefer, Mr A or Mr. B (97)? Why? Whom do you prefer?

Is reading poetry like the sharing of two lovers or the sharing of two friends? Why? So what?

Chapter V QuestionsChapter V QuestionsWhat is Lewis seeing in the second

type of poetry that is not part of the essence of poetry, but illustrates much of Lewis’ writing (85)?

What does Lewis think of the courage of some poets (88)?

What evidence is there in this work that Lewis had a Christian sub-text?

Do we have a tendency to inflate the importance of what we do?

Chapter V QuestionsChapter V QuestionsOn page 87, Lewis writes, “What

man, after forty years in the world, has not experienced enough (if that were all that was needed) to be raw material for all the tragedies of Shakespeare?”

What do terms such as “insincere,” “spurious,” “bogus,” and “sham” suggest about a reviewer (98)?

How can one read this chapter and commit the personal heresy?

How can one read this chapter and not commit the personal heresy?

Chapter VI VocabularyChapter VI Vocabularykestrel = falconchimerical = imaginaryCarl Jung = author of the

collective unconscious, where archetypes resided (116)

Archetypes = a universally recognized symbol, pattern, or example

Chapter VI Outline, No Title, Chapter VI Outline, No Title, TillyardTillyard I. Two Kinds of Sharing (sharing with

authors vs. sharing with nature) II. The Exemplary Function (Agreement) III. Two Kinds of Poetry (Agreement) IV. Poetolatry (Agreement, but …)V. Definition of Poetry (Agreement, but…)VI. What Poetry is About (108ff.)

◦ Rendering personality (113f.)◦ General states of mind (114)◦ Feelings (and history) (114)◦ Something new (115)◦ Something old (115)

VII. An Agreement: Plea for the Common Reader

Chapter VI QuestionsChapter VI QuestionsDoes Tillyard say anything to suggest

that poets are “a class apart”?Is there any “harm in paying respect to

those qualities they possess in an eminent degree”? (107)

How are both Tillyard and Lewis correct in stating that the poet is separate (Tillyard) or not separate (Lewis) from the common person? (104)

How does the exchange between Lewis and Tillyard compare to the current political discourse in the United States?

Chapter VI QuestionsChapter VI QuestionsHow does Tillyard quote Somerset

Maugham in his favor?What percentage (Tillyard declines to

hazard a guess) of a piece of poetry do think that Tillyard would say has to do with personality? (see last paragraph on p. 113 continuing onto p. 114)

So whose case on personality in poetry is stronger and why? So what?

The EndThe End