Clive Staples Lewis: The Lost Poet Of Narnia

CS Lewis's biographer A.N. Wilson goes in search of the man behind Narnia - best-selling children's author and famous Christian writer, but an under-appreciated Oxford academic and an aspiring poet who never achieved the same success in writing verse as he did prose.
It's like Netflix for history... Sign up to History Hit, the world's best history documentary service, at a huge discount using the code 'TIMELINE' ---ᐳ bit.ly/3a7ambu
You can find more from us on:
/ timelinewh
/ timelinewh
This channel is part of the History Hit Network. Any queries, please contact [e-mail]

[@melindalemmon2149]

The narrator is as warm and casual as can be, quite wonderful really. There are gems of revelation in this short documentary. Thank you very very much for sharing!

[@inkyguy]

It’s an interesting perception. I can imagine people who would be so put off by his accent and affect that they wouldn’t even bother to watch the program, which would, of course, be their own self-imposed loss.

[@SecretSquirrelFun]

I’m a big fan of Andrew Wilson, such a great biographer.

[@MsStack42]

@@SecretSquirrelFun Me too ! I find him very quirky and charming !

[@TheTsar1918]

Indeed. But I couldn’t help notice that he looks so uncomfortable when he’s sitting and chatting with folks.

[@sierrastanley3109]

I watched the whole thing and I must say that I love C.S.Lewis all over again.

[@saskoilersfan]

Your gonna hate me after the Kennedy Oz enigmas ..

[@Psalm--uu7mh]

Some of us are adults, who still love the wonderful world of fantasy, especially those stories from C.S. Lewis and J. R. Tolkien!❤️

[@casperdog777]

excellent documentary - one of the best recent documentaries on Lewis. Honest and insightful. 10 out of 10 from me.

[@saskoilersfan]

Wow ..remind me to never ask you for input ...

[@josuegarcias.9041]

C. S. Lewis has been my favorite author since I was a kid. Thank you for doing this documentary, really enjoyed it.

[@peterplotts1238]

I didn't know anything about Lewis until I was nearly thirty and introduced to him by my new wife and then again by a non-believer who recommended what became perhaps my favorite book: "The Great Divorce". When I began to read him for the first time I was confronted by and began to understand what Christianity was all about and I have never looked back.

[@eliotreader8220]

so he used his memories from the Trenches of WW1 as references to the battles that take place in the stories?

[@paulharvey2396]

Thank you A. N. Wilson for this moving sensitive presentation it has inspired me to read his work thank you, God bless you amen

[@elky360]

What a bitter ending for someone who touched so many people's lives.

[@EveWilliamsMusic]

In defence of Lewis' poetry. 'What the Bird Said Early in the Year' is very beautiful.

[@johnpaul5474]

Once or twice the music was too loud, but I found this documentary an excellent brief introduction to Lewis.

[@Char......]

The music goes well with the story and I can tell the commentator is very enthusiastic and genuinely interested in what he's talking about. Maybe turn the music down a bit just so people will stop whining.

[@chronicstitcher7933]

Mere Christianity. A truly great work.

[@btsplaylist3911]

i was just starting to read his works out of curiosity. This really gives a glimpse of background for some of his famous books, so thank you for this meaningful documentary ❤️

[@roelfjanwentholt]

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful documentary.

[@portuguese-translator]

A fascinating documentary that I am saving to watch again sometime soon. Can't understand the complains about the sound. The whole video sounds great to me. Love it.

[@PS-xf3me]

As someone who mixes and masters audio: the sound is awful. The different recording locations are not balanced and the music is louder than narrater during any studio-recorded (or at least, non-interview, I don't know where they recorded) audio bits. It's a shame really, since the information presented is much grander than the production. The issues the audio causes will be more prominent for people with headphones or good audio monitors. If you are on a phone, laptop or even TV it won't matter as much.

[@charlesdavis7087]

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This bio. of CS Lewis is excellent. However, the sound quality needs to be correct immediately.

[@yowwwwie]

I think that Jack Lewis was a far more complicated soul than anyone can explain in an hour. Y

[@saskoilersfan]

Jack ....you get it ? All the jacks ? Four of a kind in JFK... Jack Kennedy ) Jackie Kennedy , jack Ruby , jack of diamonds, The best and foremost lie in JFK is jack ...his name was john.

[@drusilladelp5162]

I have no problem with audio at all. This is a fascinating piece.

[@anthonykent9387]

Captivating! Thank you!

[@piratetanker]

Personally, I find the audio to be just fine, and the presenter very apt to the subject. I rather wish this explored more into the personal/professional relationship between Lewis and J.R.R.Tolkien.

[@jansumi]

A new play about that was done in Vancouver recently. Would've liked a bit more info on Lewis in it - worth tweaking & developing for future - but immensely enjoyable. Here's the search page for reviews etc: www.google.com/search?q=Lewis+Tolkien+%22pacific+theatre%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b

[@evelynbaron2004]

The Inklings are very well documented indeed. They all had Christian convictions and feelings about imminence and mystical experiences but they were who they were at the time; tweedy guys smoking pipes, more academics than anything one can postulate as exotic or esoteric. Tolkien, the lover of Scandinavian lore, was bound to write as he did, as did the other two. C.S. Lewis had no other professional relationship with Tolkien. Oxbridge is like that. It`s where I was educated.

[@sebastianverney7851]

Excellent documentary, with little for your comfort.

[@damonwilliams7899]

An enjoyable and insightful documentary.The programme makers even went to the trouble of using a vintage 1950s bus on the correct route that Lewis would have taken up Headington Hill to his home.

[@inkyguy]

Trust the Brits to treat historic topics and incidents as accurately as they can.

[@shubbagin49]

He was taken early by the Fairies,a legend of a story teller, forever looking.

[@Wopenga]

An excellent documentary, except that many parts of it are spoiled by music so loud that Andrew Wilson has to shout to make himself heard and at times his words are completely lost.

[@PeaceOfGrace]

I agree, because I had to focus my hearing, in a few spots…I am also getting older.

[@mygreenfroggy]

This is a good video, but the sound is seriously uneven. I kept having to turn the sound up and down.

[@smm275]

Ruth Beaty Yes. Experiencing the same, sadly.

[@stevenwiederholt7000]

Thank you!

[@TheGonnabesomebody]

Same

[@egparis18]

Once again, it's impossible most of the time to hear the commentary above the music. The rest of the time the commentary comes up very very loud. Can't you do anything about this?

[@hannahbe8262]

There's a better upload of this doc (with something like the original sound mix) on Daily Motion

[@TJ-mm8fx]

Hannah BE Thank you!!

[@pepehaydn7039]

One of the happiest days in my life, when I visited Wolvercote cementery and Eagle and Child.

[@australiacomicsedge2697]

One of the greatest writes of this generation 🎉 1:03

[@eliotreader8220]

I didn't realise how much of his memories from his boy hood left their mark. never realised how much his time in the trenches during WW1 influenced the battles that take place in the books. especially the darkness of the White queen' court yard.

[@dragonfly686868]

just learnt about him last weekend. i'm inspired to read his book now but don't know which one to start from!!!

[@olgacarvalho4811]

Excellent. Thank you

[@jessicasparkle]

Why is the music so damn loud?

[@tessw9744]

The narrator "clicks" when he talks...I had to take off my earphones.😂😂😂

[@isaiahceasarbie5318]

What a man!

[@EyreEver]

He thought he was beaten by that argument in the debate -- but it actually proved his apologetical point.

[@andrewcrowder4958]

Agreed. The talking scale did not build itself; any capability it had was built by a human.

[@pierremoreau986]

Excellent despite the sound balance issues, thank you.

[@inkyguy]

The irony is, of course, that many of the churches that preach the orthodoxy that Lewis advocated wouldn’t allow him to be a member were C.S. Lewis to apply today.

[@seanmoran6510]

I’d agree with that

[@iodainsoneoficial]

Beautiful, beautiful documentary!

[@erosfreestyle18]

Great Narnian documentary!!

[@matthewstokes1608]

Excellent... Thanks so much.

[@judyannstreich7499]

Sound editing, people-----please.

[@hannahbe8262]

There's a better upload of this doc (with something like the original sound mix) on Daily Motion

[@lauren4434]

it was terribly distracting.......

[@anairenemartinez165]

I grew up in Cuba, never heard of him, I knew of Jane Austin, the Bronte sister, Virginia Wolfe but not him. I somehow even have Shadowlands DVD and the love story is very touching.

[@steveradanovich4962]

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Jeremiah 17

[@inkyguy]

That’s one perspective. I have learned to trust it and allow it to guide me. A heart need be no more deceitful than you allow it to be or become.

[@miltrol3d77]

@@inkyguy the heart is deceitful hence…

[@jinunushi7269]

He failed his driving test 17 times 😂😂

[@Bonnenouvellesjonny]

An odd comment I know but the music selection and audio mixing in this documentary is absolutely awful.

[@evelynbaron2004]

Not an odd comment at all. It`s so disappointing but eventually one does give up. I confess I recently watched another Timeline production about Lewis Carroll and found it shallow and disappointing. When I was vr young I thought the Narnia books were a kind of history to which I didn`t have the key. Later I understood and regretted that our Gerald Durrell like household would not produce a single talking beast. I`m grateful for this attempt to adapt this profoundly complex man`s life into a tv series, but it`s doomed. I think as a Christian apologist he enjoyed vr much the debate with his equally celebrated adversaries. I thought he was the supreme English Renaissance scholar and an ostensible series of books for children is strewn with the most extraordinary and erudite references. I think the Harry Potter series has the same arc in its over-arching narrative. Terrible pun aside, I remember really enjoying every thing he wrote critically; his essays were always stimulating. I don`t think he wanted everyone to agree with him; I always thought of him as a divided man. He was constantly searching for what he called Joy, a kind of mystical experience that his prodigious intellect couldn`t account for. And therein lies the mystery of CS Lewis, I suppose. His brother was indeed an alcoholic, as am I and many other people; I was so lucky to seize the moment to stop. But having a sister whom I`ve reclaimed, I`m so deeply moved by Lewis` unswerving loyalty to his brother, shell-shocked and home from war with a monkey on his back. I know he was characterized as uneasy around women, indeed outside his ivory tower, possibly true. My favorite prof, Northrop Frye used to lecture half the time with his back turned to the auditorium. But if you had a really good and pressing question he was extraordinarily present. Sorry for rabbiting on, tx for posting Bonnenouvellesjonny. Salut, merci bien!

[@hannahbe8262]

There's a better upload of this doc (with something like the original sound mix) on Daily Motion

[@pamelamyers9613]

I agree. It is horrid--the worst I have ever heard.

[@squirehaggard4749]

@@hannahbe8262 Thank you. I just looked, and yes, it is much easier to listen too.

[@saskoilersfan]

I agree ..

[@NightlightSir]

Thank you for sharing this!

[@mariamavandy5352]

Excellent documentary

[@missm8067]

I was listening to this documentary without really paying attention to it and when the host said “and meets a beautiful woman” an ad came on with sirens at 18:01 and it was just perfect since that lady turned out to be a monster 😂😂😂

[@billdicarlo1340]

After reading the comments I must say I enjoyed the music.

[@LEGASItv]

Beautiful 💐

[@giovannim2170]

I believe that the message CS Lewis was sharing is that unless you come the knowledge of God and what he has done for humanity by giving his only begotten Son Jesus Christ to be sacrificed for our sins...that we should humble ourselves and repent Ask Jesus today to be your Lord and Saviour , it never to late. His word is come as you are know matter how much you have sinned, he is a Loving and Forgiving God.

[@984francis]

Extraordinary.

[@judithtordoir]

Thank you so much for this, but would appreciate the background music not drown the narrator, please? Thank you.

[@juanvelez8564]

One more comment about the audio---30 minutes in, and there is no Wagner (not that I miss it). Most of what we hear is the sublime Funeral March from Beethoven's Third symphony. Sublime.

[@therealinformalmusic]

Elizabeth Anscombe herself did not regard her debating victory as particularly humiliating; she wrote: “The fact that Lewis rewrote that chapter [of •Miracles•], and rewrote it so that it now has those qualities, shows his honesty and seriousness. The meeting of the Socratic Club at which I read my paper has been described by several of his friends as a horrible and shocking experience which upset him very much. Neither Dr Harvard (who had Lewis and me to dinner a few weeks later) nor Professor Jack Bennet remembered any such feelings on Lewis’s part […]. My own recollection is that it was an occasion of sober discussion of certain quite definite criticisms, which Lewis’s rethinking and rewriting showed he thought was accurate. I am inclined to construe the odd accounts of the matter by some of his friends - who seem not to have been interested in the actual arguments of the subject-matter - as an interesting example of the phenomenon called projection.”

[@MarkEvanWhite]

But the answer was so simple, man created the talking weight machine and the measuring process therefore it still means nothing without an inner truth that comes from God🎼

[@系哦諾嫑]

The music is too loud. Other than that, it's an enjoyable program.

[@sandra15606]

Does anyone know the name of the piano tune played in Return to Betjemanland in the segment at Oxford University.

[@martinweiss3054]

“And that’s (Aslan)the perfect symbol of Christ’s sacrifice in the Middle Ages”- NO!!! For ALL ages, and for eternity!

[@charlesdavis7087]

This is the eternal gnosis. It is eternal, everlasting, ever present and yet, it functions only as guide, an archetypal guide to what we can be individually and collectively. His legacy... is a reminder... to all of us of our Christ-like potentials.

[@m35926]

Strefanasha Aslan's sacrifice is analogous to Christ. Every analogy breaks down at some level. Chill out.

[@designedtoworship]

He did not die to placate the White Witch. He died to satisfy the law which had been given by the Emperor Over the Sea. The White Witch only served to remind Aslan that Edmund must die for his treachery (much as Satan accuses humanity before God). Aslan took Edmund's place to satisfy the law. The analogy doesn't break down nearly as early as you think.

[@evelynbaron2004]

I respect your theological enthusiasm but it`s not germane to the topic.

[@jansumi]

The comments about the sound problems are dissuading me. Hope it can be fixed and re-posted.

[@dabedwards]

An excellent doco, beautifully presented by A.N. Wilson, despite his "old fogey" manner! Couple of points: (1) Why use Beethoven's Eroica while specifically talking about Wagner's Ring Cycle? (2) On the sound track issue.....here's my theory. Docos generally have a "fully mixed" stereo track in the file/tape, and a separate Music & Effects track, produced for the convenience of foreign language buyers, so they can add their own narrator. You're supposed to use one or the other, but I suspect many uploads like this have unwittingly mixed the two tracks, thereby doubling the volume level of all sound except the narration. Any sound engineers care to comment?

[@jaden_bricker]

When you’re commentating a documentary but have to literally shout to be heard over the music

[@ConfessionGang]

What is the music at 28:10??

[@margueritamclean6158]

And JESUS said.."My KINGDOM is not of this world"..

[@geoffreynhill2833]

Oh dear. Tinkly piano, jokey strings and dramatic percussion to help us along...

[@parkviewmo]

Music is so loud I can't hear the narrator. Just a very poor sound mix. Fascinating topic.

[@LULUCLARKE06]

I like the content of these documentaries. I really wanted to listen to this one. The background music is so very loud, it distracts from the presenters words. You might as well not have a presenter, but show the pictures and backgrounds with the music. That is what the loudness is conveying. The music is more important than the content of the documentary. Please tone down the music. They are always very well organized. Please fix this problem. I really want to learn about C. S. Lewis as a poet. Thank you.

[@hannahbe8262]

There's a better upload of this doc (with something like the original sound mix) on Daily Motion

[@saskoilersfan]

Why is a raven like a writing desk? They both have caws for thought. They both have cause forethought.

[@nosystem1098]

A good biography, and well worth watching, but the sound mixing was terrible. The music frequently drowned out the narrator.

[@GottaWannaDance]

The audio is really quiet, so I max out the volume, then it's incredibly loud, so I run back to bring it down and then it fades to almost silence. I'll have to watch this in some deep woods away from anyone,

[@JohnDoe-101]

The music is distracting and too loud.

[@shadowl3gion641]

Timeline - World History Documentaries have you made a Tolkien document

[@tsundzukashipalana8870]

Lewis was a good poet. Got the sense that the presenter hates Lewis

[@chasriner]

Why the loud background music? It is VERY distracting!

[@Diane-mf5tr]

If it wasnt for the loud music all the way i would have listened to it.Narrstor is good image superb tho.

[@susanmurray4176]

,just want to see it but it doesn't seem to turn on.

[@markhughes7927]

1:10 Whose telling the story? - the narrator? - or bad music? Was this actually edited?

[@hannahbe8262]

There's a better upload of this doc (with something like the original sound mix) on Daily Motion

[@1deviousmama333]

This is the same documentary on the absolute history channel.

[@bayreuth79]

When talking about Wagner's music why not have that music actually playing, instead of Beethoven's Third Symphony (the Funeral March)?

[@Troy_nov1965]

Music needs to be louder i can still hear the narrator somewhat.

[@BrettBorovic]

🤣👍

[@missOhdrey]

Honestly 9 ads for a 55 min documentary is a bit extreme..

[@elizabethwalters7741]

there were so many ads interrupting I got nothing from this documentary

[@SueG35]

Here is a trick to avoid ads. Fast-forward the video till the very end, and then hit replay. There will be no ads. Another way to avoid ads is to download the video. There are no ads in a downloaded video. Hope this helps🙂

[@saskoilersfan]

I'm not lost , I'm right here working on the Kennedy Oz enigmas...

[@chrisrobinson34]

Too much musical background. Ruins it.

[@justjohn2011]

Whats the song at 3:00???

[@bsastarfire250]

Piano music too loud and annoying !

[@justjohn2011]

Can somebody name me the scores in this documentary?

[@HartKent]

I find the music a hot too loud to hear all the narrator is saying

[@richard7crowley]

Did the wrong version get released? This has not had the final audio mix and mastering. Worst audio mix I have ever heard in a "broadcast quality" production. Bad enough to discourage me from finishing even though the subject (CSL) is of great interest. Can you upload the version with the proper mix?

[@omfug7148]

I honestly think that they do this to avoid copyright infringement, how it works I have no idea.

[@voraciousreader3341]

The music track completely covers the narration far too often, and it doesn’t matter if I have my AirPods Pro in,or nothing at all.

[@shadowl3gion641]

Have they done Tolkien documents

[@igorcatarino]

subtitles please

[@steveradanovich4962]

The music rudely interferes with the dialogue.

[@r.blakehole932]

Other commentators are right. Sound is horrible in this.

[@charlesblount6858]

Why do people always need to complain to think they will be heard?

[@jamesbunch8932]

Elisabeth Anscomb's argument (as presented here) wasn't that difficult to refute though... It certainly doesn't sound like it was an argument against anything Lewis actually believed... I'm confused...

[@cslcojoco]

Elizabeth Anscombe’s argument seems rather stupid. Why didn’t Lewis just say something like, “Yes, but it’s not the machine all on its own telling the truth. It’s the intelligence that designed the machine telling the truth through the machine.” Her illustration was a bad one because, in fact, there are no good ones to demonstrate that truth-telling intelligence can be produced by naturalistic means. Unless one accepts on faith that the universe produced our intelligences by purely naturalistic means. If it happened, it was the only time it has because there’s never been any other demonstrable instance of intelligible information coming from non-intelligence.

[@saskoilersfan]

cslcojoco hi...can we chat . I dont see how a macine thats not invented by a liar can catch a liar... I see lies every day... I am lied to everyday.. I dont allow the lies to bother me until they effect me personally. I recognise usa as a society of lies now .. The kennedy oz enigma... The assassination by Oz.. The assassination of Os.. The wedding of O's... Smart people who are masters of perceptions can catch liars... How come usa has president Donald? Disney medias take over usa now? How come usa had vice president Mickey...or mike...? Usa medias rule usa in disneys images...ergo...Disney medias rigged an election for donald and mickey.... Intelligent lies mock your perceptions ... Democracy is an illusion of a peoples government..

[@jonathanellis5811]

The argument that Elizabeth Armstrong made is hardly a counter to what Lewis said. If anything, it actually proves his point! Lewis' argument states that if everything is "justified" by mechanical processes, then there is no right or wrong. Her response was to step on a machine that says "you weigh 15 stones." Yes, I DO weigh 15 stones, but how heavy are those stones? You've told me absolutely nothing, as no two stones are naturally identical, so the answer that the mechanical machine gave is both right and wrong. If something is both of those at the same time, then it is contradicting itself, which thereby proves Lewis' statement to be true! Perhaps I am misunderstanding... or perhaps Lewis didn't think on this? I dunno - what do you think?

[@5kehhn]

Not bad documentary, but the sound mixing is bad: music overpowers the narration; periodically, the volume jumps up causing me to have to turn my volume up/down.

[@davidyang8550]

엄청 재밌네요