Patterns of Glory: Studies in Charles Williams

‘The word glory, to English ears, usually means no more than a kind of mazy bright blur. But the maze should be, though it generally is not, exact, and the brightness should be that of a geometrical pattern.’ —Charles Williams

Charles Williams was one of the most versatile writers of his time, being a poet, novelist, dramatist, theologian and biographer. As a member of the Inklings group in Oxford during the Second World War he was friends with C. S. Lewis and Tolkien. Enthusiasts for his work have included T. S. Eliot, Dorothy L. Sayers, W. H. Auden, and many others. He has always attracted admirers, though he is often seen as being off the beaten track. Perhaps his most remarkable gift was his ability to see the spiritual side of everyday life and to understand and interpret the strange experiences that many people have.

Stephen Barber has been reading and studying Williams for many years and was also treasurer of the Charles Williams Society. He edited Williams’s The Celian Moment and Other Essays. Here he has gathered his scattered articles and reviews into a single convenient volume. There are articles on several aspects of Willams’s work. He has a particular interest in the Taliessin poems, which many people find both beautiful and obscure, and several essays illuminate both the general plan and the ideas behind them but also elucidate some specific difficulties.