'Romanticism Comes of Age' centers on the question; What is the creative imagination and in what way is it true? Owen Barfield insightfully explores the role of imagination in Romantic philosophy and literature, particularly in the work of Coleridge and of Goethe. Barfield also traces the evolving nature of the creative imagination from primordial times to the present, drawing on a wide array of examples including the language of ancient Greece, Dante's 'Commedia', and Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'. The book brilliantly demonstrates that the Romantic Movement's core elements and aspirations have "com... View More...
The Rose on the Ash-Heap is the epilogue from 'English People' - Barfield's ambitious unpublished novel of English life between the First and Second World Wars. At once fairy tale, societal critique, romance and apocalyptic vision, it discloses the redemptive powers of love and imagination. Sultan, Lord of all the Asias, falls passionately in love with a beautiful and elusive temple dancer. He pursues her across continents, all the way to Albion, where the Lord of Albion - guardian of all that is good in the English spirit - confronts the overwhelming threat of Abdol and the forces of material... View More...
In light of Barfield's central place in the life of the Inklings, his fundamentally influential friendship with C.S. Lewis, and his reputation among literary lights as diverse as W.H. Auden, Howard Nemerov, and Saul Bellow as one of the most profound thinkers of the twentieth-century-it is curious and unfortunate that so much of Barfield's work has become so scarce. This Reader is a little bulwark against this trend. It includes selections from books by Barfield still in print, such as Poetic Diction, Saving the Appearances, and History in English Words, but also valuable excerpts from those... View More...
'Only by imagination can the world be known,' writes Owen Barfield. 'And what is needed is.that the human mind should become increasingly aware of its own creative activity.' With the intent to consider the point where life and imagination meet (Barfield calls this intersection 'perception'), Barfield focuses the crux of Poetic Diction on the study 'of poetry and the poetic element in all meaningful language.' Borrowing terminology from Coleridge, he divides the imagination into 'primary' and 'secondary' categories. The secondary imagination is at work on the making of meaning, the primary on ... View More...
