In 1934, C. S. Lewis contributed an article on The Personal Heresy in Criticism to Essays and Studies. In this he expressed disquiet at and disapproval of the then fairly widely held belief that poetry is or should be the expression of a poet’s personality. In the course of this he referred to a book by E. M. W. Tillyard on Milton in which, according to Lewis, Tillyard stated the premise that all poetry is about the poet’s state of mind. Tillyard ‘replied’ to this in an essay.Lewis ‘replied’ to that. The two men then decided to publish their three essays apiece in one volume (publ. 1939). The Personal Heresy, erudite, urbane, courteous, and continuously stimulating, is, in its way, a model of how people should agree to differ in their search after truth.
Also read; Discuss the concept of ‘Constellation’ by Walter Benjamin
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