Taliessin through Logres, The Region of the Summer Stars, and Arthurian Torso

Description

First published more than thirty years ago, the Arthurian poems included in these two collections have enjoyed critical acclaim-but not wide popularity. "Like the Blake of the Prophetic Books,"W. H. Auden wrote, "Charles Williams has his own mythology which a reader must master." To the thoughtful and discerning reader, however, the effort required is eminently worthwhile. C. S. Lewis has suggested that Williams might be the greatest poet of his time, and Auden added that "the more I read Taliessin Through Logres and The Region of the Summer Stars , the more rewarding I find them." Here, in this one unusual volume, the lyric cycle represented by Taliessin and Summer Stars is brought together with two other works, both indispensable to an understanding of the poems. In The Figure of Arthur , his prose study of the Arthurian legend, Williams provides valuable background information on the ancient legends of King Arthur and the Holy Grail. Lewis's commentary Williams and the Arthuriad , suggests an order for reading the poems that establishes a narrative continuity, and draws on notes from Williams himself to help clarify the meaning of the cycle. The Arthurian poems of Charles Williams-complex, sometimes obscure, always challenging-are now available to the wider audience they have so long deserved.