Poetry of Love (Part 1)

Lewis tells us his view of Song of Songs in the 12th chapter of Reflection on Psalms. He first insists that the author of this work was writing love poetry and had no idea that it would be transformed into a parable for the relationship between and individual and God (or Israel and God, or, for Christians, the Church and God). While Lewis appears to maintain this view, he argues that Song of Songs (or something like it) must be the primary parable of this individual-God relationship and the book was therefore canonized. 

Traditional Judaism disagrees and maintains that Song of Songs was written by King Solomon himself. He, as the wisest of men, knew that love poetry was the proper way to concretize into human terms the relationship between man and God. 

Lewis wrote his own love story, Till We Have Faces (TWHF). On its surface, TWHF is the novelized form of his work The Four Loves. All four types of loves discussed in the latter work, speak to Orual's failed loves of family/acquaintance, friend, eros, and the gods. However, as we've discussed, my contention is that the overarching goal of TWHF is to demonstrate how the the gods were made beautiful. Glome, transformed by Orual into a modern, Greek-like society, has a new, more beautiful, vision and understanding of the gods. Lewis' overarching goal in writing TWHF is then to teach readers our need to, and perhaps how, to make our religion beautiful. On the societal level it requires just laws, a working economy, and an open approach to God all of which is engineered by Orual. On the personal level it requires properly understand the natural loves and applying them (transpositioning) to godly love and the love of God (Lewis doesn't explicitly take this last step, that's my thesis here).

Lacking from Lewis' story is God Himself. There are hints and sightings, conversations about and physical descriptions of Ungit/Aphrodite and her son. But very little explicit description of God, His love, and how he relates to His people.  

But what Lewis adapts into a novel, Song of Songs transforms into a poetry of dreams. And what Lewis leaves out is front and center in the Song of Songs. The natural loves are already elevated as expressions of love between God and Israel: 

• Eros: "Give me of the kisses of your mouth..." (1:2)
• Family: "If only it could be as with a brother..." (8:1) 
• Friend: "O you who linger in the gardens, friend who hear my voice..." (8:13) 

This needs further thought but I'm going to post this unfinished since it's been way too long...