E.M.W. Tillyard: A Catalyst for Lewis’s 'Preface'

When C.S. Lewis read E. M. W. Tillyard’s book Milton (1930), he engaged with the text through markings and annotations, particularly in the inside cover of the book. In this book, Lewis wrote an extended paragraph in direct response to Tillyard’s claim that it is necessary to understand the state of mind of a poet in order to analyze his or her work. Lewis’ notes focus on John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost (1667) and bear immense similarity to the themes found in his work A Preface to Paradise Lost (1942). When Lewis and Tillyard debated various aspects of poetry in the 1930s, their articles were collected and published together as The Personal Heresy (1939). Due to the notes found in Lewis’ personal copy of Milton, the claims made in the articles, and the striking similarities seen in Preface, Tillyard’s impact on Lewis cannot be ignored and he must be viewed as a direct influence for Lewis’ Preface.