Analysis Of C. S. Lewis's Clich Came Out Of Its Cage

C.S. Lewis is commonly regarded as one of the most influential Christian apologists during his time. While many recognize him as the writer of “The Chronicles of Narnia,” he was also an out-spoken Christian. He commonly wrote pieces of work that challenged Christians in their faith as well as in their lives. He wrote many non-fiction novels that dealt with this sort of behavior, including “Mere Christianity,” “Miracles,” and “The Problem of Pain.” Even in some of his fictional novels, his writing had many Christian themes as well. Despite being well-known for his novels, he also wrote many poems as well. His poetry dealt with many different subject matters, including morals, war, science fiction, and Christianity. Almost all of his poetry

Lewis’s poems that reflects his Christian belief is Cliché Came Out of its Cage. Cliché Came Out of its Cage is a free verse poem since it does not follow a certain foot or meter. In Cliché Came Out of its Cage, C.S. Lewis aggressively attacks the ideas of Paganism. Some of the lines could be seen as dark and gruesome. This is evident in certain lines like: “For the end of man is to partake of their defeat and die” (33). This depicts a darker image of the end of someone’s life. His attitude in this piece of literature is despondent in the sense that he feels like people are moving towards the wrong ideologies for the wrong reasons. Although Pagans believe similarly that there is a need for gods, C.S. Lewis believes their reasoning as well as their choice is misled (Morhan). Throughout the poem, C.S. Lewis addresses that history repeats itself. The title of the poem suggests that it had come out of a cage; this suggests that something so normal and heavily exploited can pertain a new purpose and escape from the foregoing reality. However, it is still the same occurrence as the previous endeavors. The poem is trying to illustrate that the absence of following God can follow up to a disturbance in the events of history. Once paganism is set free, the beast will be set free. C.S. Lewis is trying to relate this to the Devil. As the poem states: “Look in, ready to invade it. The Wolf, admittedly, is bound” (28). This represents C.S. Lewis’s notion that the

Lewis’s poetic creations. It follows the simple rhyme pattern. In On Being Human, C.S. Lewis describes how wonderful it is to be a human being. He compares this to angels. He starts by illustrating the beauties of angels: “Angelic minds, they say, by simple intelligence / Behold the Forms of nature. They discern / Unerringly the Archtypes, all the verities / Which mortals lack or indirectly learn” (1-4). C.S. Lewis describes the differences that make people believe angels are superior. Despite their intelligence, angels do not have the characteristics that humans have (Shaw). These characteristics are skin, noses, or nerves. This represents C.S. Lewis’s belief of theological anthropology. This is the Christian doctrine that refers to the study of humans as it relates to God (Cameron 53). C.S. Lewis’s motive is to construct a situation where being a uniquely created human being is a magnificent trait. As the reader progresses through the poem, C.S. Lewis constantly reminds him or her of the common human traits that angels do not have. C.S. Lewis assiduously delineates humans as wonderful creatures of God’s