C Day Lewis

Home > ... > Literature and the Arts > Literature in English > English Literature, 20th cent. to the Present: Biographies > ...

C. Day Lewis

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

C. Day Lewis (Cecil Day Lewis), 1904-72, English author, b. Ireland. While he was still at Oxford, he became associated with a group of leftist poets led by W. H. Auden . After graduation he taught at various schools until 1935 and then decided to devote himself to writing. He was professor of poetry at Oxford from 1951 to 1956. Included among his volumes of poetry are Collected Poems 1929-1933 (1935), Overtures to Death (1938), Short Is the Time (1945), Collected Poems (1954), Pegasus and Other Poems (1957), and The Whispering Roots and Other Poems (1970). Lewis was a member of the Communist party from 1935 to 1938, and his early poetry is marked by didacticism and a preoccupation with social themes. His later work, however, is more personal and metaphysical. Besides poetry, C. Day Lewis is noted for the collection of essays A Hope for Poetry (1934); for a verse translation of Vergil's Aeneid (1952); and for detective stories written under the pseudonym Nicholas Blake. From 1967 to 1972 he was poet laureate of Great Britain.

Bibliography: See his autobiography, The Buried Day (1960); biography by J. N. Riddel (1971).

Hide all research tools
Print this article Print all entries for this topic Cite this article Link to this article
Link to this article

CloseClose

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/.aspx#1E1-DayLewis" title="Facts and information about C Day Lewis">C Day Lewis</a>

Add this article to Del.icio.usBookmark this article on DiigoShare this article on FacebookSubmit this article to RedditGive this article a thumbs-up on StumbleUpon
Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

"C. Day Lewis." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 9 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"C. Day Lewis." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (November 9, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-DayLewis.html

"C. Day Lewis." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Retrieved November 09, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-DayLewis.html

Learn more about citation styles

Day-Lewis, Cecil

The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature | 2003 | | © The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature 2003, originally published by Oxford University Press 2003. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Day-Lewis, Cecil (1904–72) (who wrote as C. Day Lewis), was educated at Wadham College, Oxford, where he was befriended by Bowra and became associated with a group of young left-wing poets of which Auden was the acknowledged leader, and with whom he edited Oxford Poetry (1927). (The nickname ‘MacSpaunday’ was coined by R. Campbell: see also Pylon school.) He joined the Communist Party in 1936 and edited a socialist symposium, The Mind in Chains (1937), with contributions from Upward, Madge, R. Warner, and others. These preoccupations are not reflected in his earliest verse (e.g. Beechen Vigil, 1925), but became apparent in Transitional Poem (1929), From Feathers to Iron (1931), and The Magnetic Mountain (1933), which have a strong revolutionary flavour. The title poem of A Time to Dance (1935) more ambiguously celebrates the heroic flight of Parer and M'Intosh to Australia. After the poor reception of Noah and the Waters (1936), a verse morality play about the class struggle, his poetry became more pastoral and personal. During the 1930s he also embarked, under the pseudonym of ‘Nicholas Blake’, on a career as a writer of detective fiction; his first book in this genre, A Question of Proof (1935), introducing his Audenesque detective Nigel Strangeways, was followed by some twenty others. The Friendly Tree (1936) was the first of three largely autobiographical novels.

In 1938 he moved to Musbury, Devon; his poetry of this period (Overtures to Death, 1938; Poems in Wartime, 1940) reflects obvious concerns. He also published in 1940 the first of his translations, a version of Virgil's Georgics. From this time he became an increasingly establishment figure, meanwhile consolidating his literary reputation with a translation of Valéry (1946), further translations of Virgil (The Aeneid, 1952; The Eclogues, 1963), and collections of original verse, including An Italian Visit (1953), recording a journey with R. Lehmann. He was professor of poetry at Oxford (1951–6) and became poet lauriate in 1968.

Hide all research tools
Print this article Print all entries for this topic Cite this article Link to this article
Link to this article

CloseClose

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/.aspx#1O54-DayLewisCecil" title="Facts and information about C Day Lewis">C Day Lewis</a>

Add this article to Del.icio.usBookmark this article on DiigoShare this article on FacebookSubmit this article to RedditGive this article a thumbs-up on StumbleUpon
Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Day-Lewis, Cecil." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 9 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Day-Lewis, Cecil." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (November 9, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-DayLewisCecil.html

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Day-Lewis, Cecil." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved November 09, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-DayLewisCecil.html

Learn more about citation styles

Free newspaper and magazine articles

Free Article C. S. Lewis Then and Now.
Magazine article from: The Christian Century; 4/10/2002
Free Article Lewis & Clark: The National Bicentennial Exhibition Is ``Just Around the Bend''.
Business Wire; 11/7/2003
Free Article With Lewis out as BofA chair, is CEO job at risk?
News Wire article from: AP Online; 4/30/2009

Facts and information from other sites

Related topics

  Edit this list

Related articles from newspapers, magazines, and more

Lewis Guilty In Island Drug Trial; Barry's Friend Loses Entrapment Defense In Cocaine Case
Newspaper article from: The Washington Post; 4/26/1989; ; 700+ words ; ...overzealous FBI agents. Lewis, who appeared calm and relaxed throughout the two-day trial, stood expressionless...Brien. Afterward, Lewis smiled and shook hands...this get me down," said Lewis, a friend of D.C. Mayor Marion Barry and...
Rashard Lewis joins Magic as Darko Milicic leaves Magic.
Newspaper article from: Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, FL); 7/11/2007; 700+ words ; ...will sign it in a few days. "We are ecstatic for...out clause for either Lewis or the team. The previous...noon at RDV Sportsplex. Lewis, 27, had agreed in principle...until the league's 11-day moratorium expired before...Other than the money, Lewis said it was Howard who...round pick. ___ ...
C. S. Lewis Then and Now.
Magazine article from: The Christian Century; 4/10/2002; ; 700+ words ; ...to retrieve the thought of C. S. Lewis and make it more readily...reconstructs some ways in which Lewis thought Christianity was...the English culture of his day. Chapter two, "Reenchantment," unpacks Lewis's sense of the world as...
Lewis to make return to hometown.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)
Newspaper article from: Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service; 10/1/2004; ; 700+ words ; ...invest a draft pick on him. Lewis signed with the Eagles and then...seen." From the very start, Lewis did the things necessary to...bright-eyed guy. "After three days, we said, `Let's see him...then showed up at training camp day in and day out, made some plays...Last season as a deep ...
Lewis says Tyson fight will `define my legacy'.
Newspaper article from: The Dallas Morning News (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service); 6/5/2002; 700+ words ; ...he's like night and day." Steward said there...would get into fights. "Lewis surprises me all of the...round knockout in 2001. Lewis avenged both of those...Steward is trying to hide Lewis' fear of Tyson...a gentleman. ___ (c) 2002, The Dallas Morning...
MERIWETHER LEWIS- A BUMBLING SUICIDE OR WAS HE DONE IN?(News)
Newspaper article from: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Seattle, WA); 12/17/1997; 700+ words ; ...theorists say. Some reports say Lewis tried twice to commit suicide...to him by the government, Lewis set out for Washington, D.C., to plead his case. Lewis packed the invaluable diaries...s Inn, near present-day Hohenwald, Tenn. Neelly...
Lewis says Tyson fight will `define my legacy'.(The Dallas Morning News)
Newspaper article from: Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service; 6/6/2002; ; 700+ words ; ...Sometimes he's like night and day." Steward said there is...round knockout in 2001. Lewis avenged both of those losses...Steward is trying to hide Lewis' fear of Tyson. "(Steward...383-6099): Lennox Lewis (c) 2002, The Dallas Morning...
Lewis Says Barry Tried to Hide Drug Use
Newspaper article from: The Washington Post; 6/21/1990; ; 700+ words ; ...directly challenge any of Lewis's key allegations about...it. The 50-year old Lewis, a former D.C. Office of Personnel...Barry. Earlier in the day, under questioning from...Attorney Judith E. Retchin, Lewis said he found out about...
LEWIS' DEATH LEAVES SADNESS AND QUESTIONS.(SPORTS)
Newspaper article from: Albany Times Union (Albany, NY); 7/29/1993; 700+ words ; ...to be announced today. Lewis, a graceful guard with...He spent the next three days at New England Baptist...basketball," Kleine said. Lewis married his college sweetheart...his company," said K.C. Jones, Lewis' coach in his rookie...
Marvin Lewis faces challenge of restoring glory to Bengals.
Newspaper article from: Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH); 1/15/2003; 700+ words ; ...send scribes back to the days of brats and beans. Those...is about hard work," Lewis said Tuesday. "Places...I have a plan." If Lewis can have measurable success...and deserve to stay. Lewis interviewed for head coaching...direction? Up. ___ (c) 2003, Akron Beacon...

Pictures from Google Image Search

Click to see an enlarged picture
Click to see an enlarged picture
Click to see an enlarged picture

For students and teachers!

Encyclopedia.com provides students and teachers facts, information, and biographies from verified, citable sources, including:

Encyclopedia.com provides students and teachers facts, information, and biographies from verified, citable sources, including:

Current C Day Lewis News: