Abstract
In his essay on Edmund Spenser C. S. Lewis distinguishes between two different types of writer. Donne, he points out, ‘wrote from his vivid consciousness of his own situation at a particular moment. He knew what he was putting into his poem, and we cannot get out of it more than he knew he was putting in. But Spenser, with his conscious mind, knew only the least part of what he was doing, and we are never sure what we have got to the end of his significance. The water is very clear, but we cannot see to the bottom.’
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© 1987 Gwen Watkins
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Watkins, G. (1987). Introduction. In: Dickens in Search of Himself. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08550-7_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08550-7_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-08552-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-08550-7
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