The Personal Heresy: A Controversy

In his brilliant essay on "The Personal Heresy in Criticism" C.S. Lewis attacked the widely held belief that poetry is, or should be, the expression of the poet's personality. His attempt to supplant this assumption with an objective or impersonal theory of poetry was challenged by Dr. E. M. W. Tillyard whose interpretation of "Paradise Lost" he had called in question. So began a courteous but searching series of exchanges between two of the most learned and original scholar-critics of the day. This controversy sheds invaluable light on a problem as complex as it is central to the understanding and appreciation of poetry.