Impenitence
All the world's wiseacres in arms against themShan't detach my heart for a single moment
From the man-like beasts of the earthy stories--
Badger or Moly.
Rat the oarsman, neat Mrs. Tiggy Winkle,
Benjamin, pert Nutkin, or (ages older)
Henryson's shrill Mouse, or the Mice the Frogs once
Fought with in Homer.
Not that I'm so craz'd as to think the creatures
Do behave that way, nor at all deluded
By some half-false sweetness of early childhood
Sharply remembered.
Look again. Look well at the beasts, the true ones.
Can't you see?...cool primness of cats, or coney's
Half indignant stare of amazement, mouse's
Twinkling adroitness,
Tipsy bear's rotundity, toad's complacence...
Why! they all cry out to be used as symbols,
Masks for Man, cartoons, parodies by Nature
Formed to reveal us
Each to each, not fiercely but in her gentlest
Vein of household laughter. And if the love so
Raised--it will, no doubt--splashes over on the
Actual archtypes,
Who's the worse for that? Marry, gup! Begone, you
Fusty kill-joys, new Manichaeans! Here's a
Health to Toad Hall, here's to the Beaver doing
Sums with the Butcher!
~C.S. Lewis, Poems, "Impenitence" (1st pub. July 1953 in Punch)
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On this day:
1952 Mere Christianity, a revised and amplified edition of Lewis's Broadcast Talks, Christian Behavior, and Beyond Personality, is published by Geoffrey Bles, London.
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Well, Benjamin, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Nutkin are from Beatrix Potter. I don't know about the reference to the mice or Henryson.
You really should read The Wind in the Willows! I read it recently after reading it as a child and enjoyed it very much. It's a quick read, and there's a great chapter in there about the experience of the Numinous. The animals in that story are the 'humans' too. Also, Lewis's boyhood story "Boxen" features animals that are human.
I'll bet he'd like Redwall--especially all the descriptions of the food. ;)
A Lewis blog is an excellent idea. What do you make of the upcoming film?
Hi Ariel, thanks for stopping by The Window. I'm excited about the upcoming movie--a lot of familiar faces from LOTR will be working on it. Hope they do a nice job!
I loved it to on a recent re-read, much more than when I read it as a child! But I did sort of wish at the end that Toad would break out and remain his wild and crazy self. I was a little sad that Toad was tamed.
Thanks for defining Manichaeans, by the way. I've been remiss in checking comments lately.
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