C. S. Lewis the astrologer
AJA
think?
Best,
Ann
Planet Narnia
Michael Ward
23/04/2003
C. S. Lewis the astrologer
In 1937, C. S. Lewis, reviewing Tolkien's The Hobbit for The Times
Literary Supplement , noted how it resembled Alice in being the work
of "a professor at play". Thirteen years later Lewis added his own
contribution to the shelf of playful professorial tales when he
published The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe , the first of his
seven Chronicles of Narnia. Their Christian symbolism has often been
remarked on and sometimes objected to - most notably
of late by Philip Pullman. What no one has noticed before is that
Lewis intended the Chronicles as an embodiment of medieval astrology.
Lewis was a medieval specialist. His posthumous work, The Discarded
Image , which presents an introduction to the medieval world-view, was
the fruit of his many courses of
lectures on the subject, first at Oxford, where he was Fellow and
Tutor at Magdalen College for twenty-nine years, and then at
Cambridge, where he was the first occupant of the Chair of Medieval
and Renaissance Literature. A central part of the medieval world-view
(at least for Lewis) was an understanding of the heavens. The seven
planets of their astrology (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn) were held to influence people and events and
even the metals in the earth in seven distinct ways. Lewis wrote this
about Jupiter: Jupiter, the King . . . . The character he produces in
men would now be very imperfectly
expressed by the word "jovial", and is not very easy to grasp; it is
no longer, like the saturnine character, one of our archetypes. We may
say it is Kingly ; but we must think of a King at peace, enthroned,
taking his leisure, serene. The Jovial character is cheerful, festive,
yet temperate, tranquil, magnanimous. When this planet dominates we
may expect halcyon days and prosperity. In Dante wise and just princes
go to his sphere when they die.
He is the best planet, and is called The Greater Fortune, Fortuna
Major . ( The Discarded Image , 1964.)
Lewis had not only an academic interest in this cosmology; he
responded to it imaginatively and wove "baptised astrology", as he
called it, into much of his fiction and poetry. Hence his chapter
entitled "The Descent of the Gods" in That Hideous Strength (1945), in
which five planetary intelligences (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and
Jupiter) come to earth to help bring about the denouement of the
story. Hence also his alliterative poem, "The Planets", published in
1935, which he introduced with these words: the characters of the
planets, as conceived by medieval astrology, seem to me to have a
permanent value as spiritual symbols - to provide a Phänomenologie des
Geistes which is specially worth while in our own generation. Of
Saturn we know more than enough. But who does not need to be reminded
of Jove?
("The Alliterative Metre", Selected Literary Essays , 1969.)
If we examine this poem with one eye on Lewis's most successful
imaginative work - Narnia - we discover something very interesting.
Take, for example, the lines dealing with Jove (or Jupiter):
It is JOVE'S orbit,
Filled and festal, faster turning
With arc ampler . . . .
Of wrath ended
And woes mended, of winter passed
And guilt forgiven, and good fortune
Jove is master; and of jocund revel,
Laughter of ladies. The lion-hearted,
The myriad-minded, men like the gods,
Helps and heroes, helms of nations
Just and gentle, are Jove's children,
Work his wonders. On his wide forehead
Calm and kingly, no care darkens
Nor wrath wrinkles . . .
What these lines contain, essentially, is a plot summary of The Lion,
the Witch and the Wardrobe , which is a tale of "winter passed / And
guilt forgiven". In that story, the first of the Narnia Chronicles, we
find a White Witch who is confronted by the "lion-hearted" Aslan, and
witness the passing of her perpetual winter ("always winter but never
Christmas"). The "guilt forgiven" is that of the traitorous Edmund
whose dream of becoming King of Narnia is shipwrecked on the rocks of
the primogenitive High Kingship of his brother, Peter, and on Aslan's
pre-eminent and sacrificial kingliness. Upon his resurrection, Aslan
romps with Susan and Lucy in "jocund revel, / Laughter of ladies". The
four Pevensies ("Jove's children") show themselves to be "helps and
heroes" in the final battle with the Witch, and are eventually crowned
as joint sovereigns ("helms of nations"), with Edmund earning the
title "King Edmund the Just" and Susan the title "Queen Susan the
Gentle". Altogether, the story tells the tale "of wrath ended / And
woes mended", for "Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight, /
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more".
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe , we may safely conclude, is
Lewis's Jupiter. The jovial influence permeating the story is an
example of what Lewis called "the kappa element in Romance" - its
hidden element, its quality or atmosphere - which is what Lewis
chiefly valued in narrative fiction.
A brief summary follows of how the other six Narnia books embody the
remaining medieval planets:
The Silver Chair - the Moon
(The clue is in the title , for the Moon's metal is silver; Rilian and
the Headmistress of Experiment House are both described as "lunatic";
the Moon gives rise to doubt - hence the Witch's attempt to persuade
the adventurers that the Overworld does not exist.)
The Horse and His Boy - Mercury
(The reunited twins, Cor and Corin, are an example of what the 1935
poem calls "meeting selves, / Same but sundered"; mercurial,
"rocket"-like Narnian poetry is opposed to slow-spoken Calormene
"jargon"; Mercury is "patron of pilf'rers" and Shasta several times
goes "raiding"; he is also the fleet-footed messenger to Archenland.)
The Magician's Nephew - Venus
(Her beautiful and maternal influence is evident in the fecund birth
of Narnia and in the story of Digory's revivified mother, Mrs Kirke;
Venus's "breasts and brow, and her breath's sweetness / Bewitch the
worlds", rather as Jadis does; Fledge's wings are "copper".)
The Voyage of the "Dawn Treader" - the Sun
(The clue is again in the title - a story about a journey towards the
sunrise; the Sun's metal, gold, tempts Eustace and he is transformed
into a dragon, and on Deathwater Island Lord Restimar is turned into a
golden statue.)
Prince Caspian - Mars
( Reepicheep is a "martial" mouse; Miraz frets over his "martial"
policy; Caspian convenes a "Council of War"; events in Narnia are
likened to "the Wars of the Roses".)
The Last Battle - Saturn
(Saturnine features here include ill-chance in Shift's discovery of
the lionskin, treachery by the dwarfs, the appearance of Father Time
who, according to The Discarded Image , is "derived from earlier
pictures of Saturn"; and, ultimately, the death of Narnia, "a perilous
draught / That the lip loves not".)
In his 1937 TLS review, Lewis concluded by saying that Tolkien's
Hobbit "will be funniest to its youngest readers, and only years
later, at a tenth or twentieth reading, will they begin to realise
what deft scholarship and profound reflection have gone to make
everything in it so ripe ...".
In a similar way, the Narnia Chronicles have yielded up their secret
to this reader only after many years and many readings. The Narnian
septet has often been criticized by
those who object to its Christian symbolism. Now it may be the turn of
the religious fundamentalists to raise their own cry of foul. Narnia
is a work of astrology.
April 28th Times Literary Supplement
http://www.the-tls.co.uk/this_week/story.asp?story_id=26169
Sam Wilson
<ahne...@microdsi.net> wrote:
> An interesting article that was posted on another list. What do you
> think?
Ingenious and plausible, but without going back over the Chronicles to
check my first thought is it feels a little selective and revisionist.
Sam
Nicholas Young
news:pj2tavk7fkv6kcgmr...@4ax.com...
>
> Planet Narnia
> Michael Ward
> 23/04/2003
> C. S. Lewis the astrologer
>
> imaginative work - Narnia - we discover something very interesting.
Only interesting to those who like seeing how they can twist books to fit
preconceived agendas. The whole thing seems to me just so much nonsense. For
instance:
> The Silver Chair - the Moon
> (The clue is in the title , for the Moon's metal is silver; Rilian and
> the Headmistress of Experiment House are both described as "lunatic";
> the Moon gives rise to doubt - hence the Witch's attempt to persuade
> the adventurers that the Overworld does not exist.)
I wonder if the word "tenuous" means anything to the author?
> Prince Caspian - Mars
> ( Reepicheep is a "martial" mouse; Miraz frets over his "martial"
> policy; Caspian convenes a "Council of War"; events in Narnia are
> likened to "the Wars of the Roses".)
As if this were the only Narnia book with councils of war, martial events and
martial characters!
> Now it may be the turn of
> the religious fundamentalists to raise their own cry of foul. Narnia
> is a work of astrology.
No, I think we can just not bother with this sort of nonsense - except that it
was quite entertaining. I rather suspect the author didn't believe it any
more than I do.
There is this much truth in it: Narnia deals to a large extent in archetypes,
and the planets in the astrological sense are also archetypes. They both
cover the major aspects of human life. Lewis was clearly interested in the
mediaeval view of the universe (pace recent threads about astrology).
Therefore it's not surprising that there's a good deal of overlap - but that's
true of anything that attempts to deal with the large themes of Life, the
Universe and Everything.
Nicholas.
--
"Macbeth" is a play written by a man who, at least on this occasion,
if he had had the talent, ought to have written a fairy-tale. - JRRT.
To email me, use nicholasAinchbare-yDfsnetDcoDuk,
replacing A by the at-symbol and D by the dot-symbol.
m...@mooreeffoc.com
wrote:
>"AJA" <ahne...@microdsi.net> wrote in message
>news:pj2tavk7fkv6kcgmr...@4ax.com...
>>
>> Planet Narnia
>> Michael Ward
>> 23/04/2003
>> C. S. Lewis the astrologer
/snip/
>> The Silver Chair - the Moon
>> (The clue is in the title , for the Moon's metal is silver; Rilian and
>> the Headmistress of Experiment House are both described as "lunatic";
>> the Moon gives rise to doubt - hence the Witch's attempt to persuade
>> the adventurers that the Overworld does not exist.)
>
>I wonder if the word "tenuous" means anything to the author?
Does 'put-on' or 'send-up' mean anything to you? :-)
/snip/
> I rather suspect the author didn't believe it any more than I do.
Ah, good.
>There is this much truth in it: Narnia deals to a large extent in archetypes,
>and the planets in the astrological sense are also archetypes. They both
>cover the major aspects of human life. Lewis was clearly interested in the
>mediaeval view of the universe (pace recent threads about astrology).
Pace or vide? Videt, something, pacit?
Sounds to me like a send-up of fundamentalists who try to map every
Narnian character to a Bible character or something. There are some
real parallels to medieval astrology (good refs to /Discarded Image/)
and some real parallels to Christian motifs, etc etc. But imo no one
single map explains it all, and it's not that consistent.
See what L said about FAERIE QUEEN in OHEL.
Mary
Chris Friel
> On Tue, 29 Apr 2003 17:57:33 +0100, "Nicholas Young" <fr...@spam.trap>
> wrote:
>
> >"AJA" <ahne...@microdsi.net> wrote in message
> >news:pj2tavk7fkv6kcgmr...@4ax.com...
> >>
> >> Planet Narnia
> >> Michael Ward
> >> 23/04/2003
> >> C. S. Lewis the astrologer
> /snip/
> >> The Silver Chair - the Moon
> >> (The clue is in the title , for the Moon's metal is silver; Rilian and
> >> the Headmistress of Experiment House are both described as "lunatic";
> >> the Moon gives rise to doubt - hence the Witch's attempt to persuade
> >> the adventurers that the Overworld does not exist.)
> >
> >I wonder if the word "tenuous" means anything to the author?
This would solve the problem of the reading order:
Sunday - TVoDT
Monday - TSC
Tuesday - PC
Wednesday -THaHB
Thursday -TLTWaTW
Friday -TMN
Saturday -TLB
Chris
Andrew Rilstone
<fr...@spam.trap> writes
>Only interesting to those who like seeing how they can twist books to fit
>preconceived agendas
"Pressing an interesting point to a far-fetched extreme", yes, but
"preconceived agenda"....?
--
Andrew Rilstone and...@aslan.demon.co.uk http://www.aslan.demon.co.uk/
************************************************************************
'Tis the time's plague when madmen lead the blind
************************************************************************
Nicholas Young
news:uDFReaBI...@aslan.demon.co.uk...
> In message <b8mb0r$n3t$1...@newsg4.svr.pol.co.uk>, Nicholas Young
> <fr...@spam.trap> writes
> >Only interesting to those who like seeing how they can twist books to fit
> >preconceived agendas
>
> "Pressing an interesting point to a far-fetched extreme", yes, but
> "preconceived agenda"....?
Simply responding in the same style as the original ;-)
Nicholas Young
> wrote:
>
> >There is this much truth in it: Narnia deals to a large extent in
archetypes,
> >and the planets in the astrological sense are also archetypes. They both
> >cover the major aspects of human life. Lewis was clearly interested in the
> >mediaeval view of the universe (pace recent threads about astrology).
>
> Pace or vide? Videt, something, pacit?
No, _pace_ means (quoting Webster, which I had to look up just to be sure I
meant what I said ;-) ) "with the permission of, used to express courteous
disagreement", though I perhaps meant more "with a nod in the direction of".
Anyway, it's shorthand for a brief cross-reference or comparison to something
related that's going on.
I really must get OHEL and _Discarded Image_ - I can't imagine why I've never
read the latter in particular.
AJA
wrote:
>I really must get OHEL and _Discarded Image_ - I can't imagine why I've never
>read the latter in particular.
>
>Nicholas.
OHEL is huge and costly. Better to read at the library. But do buy
_Discarded Image_. Oh, those were times when there wasn't such a
clear line between the symbolic and the real. Quite a wonderful
outlook, really.
All the best,
Ann
David R L Porter
from AJA <ahne...@microdsi.net> contains these words:
> OHEL is huge and costly. Better to read at the library.
Yes, Ann, but the hardback is luscious, with heavy boards, thick creamy
paper and elegant typography, old-style fonts, the lot. Worth saving up
for, IMO!
Mind you the aforegoing rapture is the exact opposite of how Lewis said
we should value books :((
But hey, what would an Oxbridge don know about books?
--
Best wishes,
David
david....@zetnet.co.uk
Visit us at www.porterfolio.com
m...@mooreeffoc.com
<david....@zetnet.co.uk> wrote:
>The message <src0bvc424jslud6q...@4ax.com>
>from AJA <ahne...@microdsi.net> contains these words:
>
>> OHEL is huge and costly. Better to read at the library.
But so nice to dip into, for civilized moments.
>Yes, Ann, but the hardback is luscious, with heavy boards, thick creamy
>paper and elegant typography, old-style fonts, the lot. Worth saving up
>for, IMO!
Look for one second-hand, already broken in. Otherwise I couldn't bear
to open it.
>
>Mind you the aforegoing rapture is the exact opposite of how Lewis said
>we should value books :((
:-)))))
Mary