C. Day-Lewis: The Golden Bridle: Selected Prose [Hardcover]

C. Day-Lewis was a major figure in British poetry and culture from the 1930s until his death in 1972.The Golden Bridle: Selected Prosetakes its title from the myth of Bellerophon and the golden bridle of Pegasus, which Day-Lewis invoked on several occasions as a metaphor for the creative process. Day-Lewis as poet is, then, the organizing idea of this anthology, and the selections indicate the scope and range of his vital engagement with English life and letters.

Organised into four parts, the volume illustrates Day-Lewis's reflections on the role and function of poetry in society and culture; the creative process and the workings of the imagination as well as the nature of poetic truth and its relation to science; poets who were of particular importance to Day-Lewis; and the poetic process in relation to the composition of several of his own poems. The notes indicate the particular source, circumstances, and central issues of each piece, to provide a brief intellectual biography and critical account of this eminent poet's development and standing.

Introduction
Poetry, Politics, and Society
Preface toOxford Poetry 1927(with W. H. Auden)
fromA Hope for Poetry(1934)
'Revolutionaries and Poetry'(1935)
from 'The Poet's Task' (1951)
Poetry and Poetics
fromThe Poetic Image(1947)
'The Colloquial Element in English Poetry' (1947)
'The Poet's Way of Knowledge' (1956)
fromThe Lyric Impulse(1965)
Poets
'Gerard Manley Hopkins' (1934)
'Introduction' to George Meredith'sModern Love(1948)
'The Lyrical Poetry of Thomas Hardy' (1951)
'Introduction' to Robert Frost'sSelected Poems(1955)
'Introduction' to Wilfred Owen'sCollected Poems(1963)
Autobiographical Reflections
fromThe Buried Day(1960)
from 'Making a Poem' (mid-1960s)
from 'The Golden Bridle' (1965)
from l³¶