George Herbert

In 2014 Winged Lion Press published the first of my three volume work entitled, C. S. Lewis' Top Ten. Each chapter in this series focuses on a different writer and book that Lewis said were among his top ten influences in terms of vocation and philosophy of life. The first volume covered:

George Macdonald's Phantastes
G. K. Chesterton's The Everlasting Man
Virgil's Aeneid

Each chapter is broken into three sections dealing with:

Lewis' reading of that particular author.
A brief biography of the author.
A synopsis of the book in question.

For the past several months I have been working on Volume 3 in this series. This volume will cover:

George Herbert's The Temple
William Wordsworth's The Prelude
Rudolf Otto's Idea of the Holy

I am happy to say that I accomplished my goal of finishing the first draft of the first chapter of Volume 2 before the end of 2014. I spent about a day thinking and writing about each of the some 170 poems in Herbert's collection. Perhaps my favourite poem comes towards the end. It is Herbert's third poem in the collection on the subject of love....

Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,
                      Guiltie of dust and sinne.
But quick-ey’d Love, observing me grow slack
                      From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,
                      If I lack’d any thing.

A guest, I answer’d, worthy to be here:
                      Love said, You shall be he.
I the unkinde, ungratefull?  Ah my deare,
                      I cannot look on thee.
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
                      Who made the eyes but I?

Truth Lord, but I have marr’d them: let my shame
                      Go where it doth deserve.
And know you not, sayes Love, who bore the blame?
                      My deare, then I will serve.
You must sit down, sayes Love, and taste my meat:
                      So I did sit and eat.

Now I move on to editing the first chapter before going on to write the chapter on Wordsworth. So much to look forward to in 2014. Happy new year!

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Will Vaus

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