| At nine years of age, C.S. Lewis experienced severe emotional trauma upon the death of mother; however, he used this devastating, life-altering event to assist generations of children and adults. He experimented with poetry, prose, and children's stories, which currently have become his greatest financial success. Lewis was successful at imbuing his stories with his love of religion, myth and nature. In The Chronicles of Narnia, he used a pastiche of several elements to create the array of "animal wizards," almost prophet-like guides. Searching for a hero, he selected a lion that is heavily permeated with these qualities. Lewis wrote about themes that caught his imagination, which the observant reader finds played out on the pages of his fairy tales, including Aesop's fables, medieval knights, and Biblical stories. Writers who expanded these themes also influenced him such as: George McDonald, Spenser, Milton and Dante, leave their mark on his work. He ultimately makes the reader a beneficiary of a gracious gift that reflects his earlier ability to cull from narrative myth, religion and personal experience characters, settings and themes that are still significant today. |
