C. S. Lewis quote about moving lips while reading poetry

March 2, 2016 1:59 AM

I have a faint recollection of reading an essay by C. S. Lewis, in which he discusses reading poetry, and suggests moving one's lips while reading. Does this ring any bells?

In may not have been an essay - perhaps it was in one of his letters. And he may not have been referring to poetry, but to literature in general. And I'm pretty sure it was Lewis, although there's an outside chance it was someone else. But I'm pretty sure it was Lewis.

posted by paleyellowwithorange to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

I think you may possibly mean a passage in Letters to Malcolm, when he's talking about how everyone read aloud in the ancient world and how astonished St Augustine was to see St Ambrose reading silently? It isn't about poetry or literature, though, so you may be thinking of something else. The context of the St Ambrose passage is Lewis talking about the prayer in Gethsemane and how the disciples would have heard it, even though they kept falling asleep: "we may be sure He prayed aloud. People did everything aloud in those days. [anecdote about St Ambrose]."
posted by Aravis76 at 4:38 AM on March 2, 2016 [2 favorites]

I think Aravis76 has it - I remember *that* passage, but I do not remember any passage where he actually suggests it as a contemporary practice, and I've read a lot of CSL.
posted by randomkeystrike at 6:32 AM on March 2, 2016

Best answer: A faint possibility: I have a hazy memory somewhere of a reference to something like "the mouth (lips?) sharing the banquet". Maybe in the Letters (not the Letters to Malcolm). As I said, hazy, and at the moment I have no access to any of the likely sources. But maybe it will trigger a memory?
posted by Logophiliac at 6:46 AM on March 2, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Uh huh. A google search for "Lewis poetry banquet" produced Google Books, C. S. Lewis, Poet: The Legacy of His Poetic Impulse, by Don W. King, which gives the source as Letters (i.e. Letters of C. S. Lewis, edited by W. H. Lewis, 1966), letter to Warren Lewis on 8 April 1932. The reference is indeed to the lips being invited to share the banquet.
posted by Logophiliac at 6:55 AM on March 2, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I looked up that passage in the letters. It goes, "By the way, I most fully agree with you about ‘the lips being invited to share the banquet’ in poetry, and always ‘mouth’ it while I read, though not in a way that would be audible to other people in the room. ... I look upon this ‘mouthing’ as an infallible mark of those who really like poetry. Depend upon it, the man who reads verses in any other way, is after ‘noble thoughts’ or ‘philosophy’ (in the revolting sense given to that word by Browning societies and Aunt Lily) or social history, or something of the kind, not poetry."
posted by Aravis76 at 7:23 AM on March 2, 2016 [3 favorites]

That's it. I own a copy of the book, but it's 3000 miles away at the moment. I'll shut up now.
posted by Logophiliac at 7:42 AM on March 2, 2016

Response by poster: Ah, wonderful, you guys found it! And I have that volume of his letters here in my collection, and now open to 8 April 1932. Thank you.
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 1:17 PM on March 2, 2016