What was C.S. Lewis’s first published book, a 1919 collection of poems?

C.S. Lewis’s first published book was Spirits in Bondage, a 1919 collection of poems.

Lewis published the volume under the pseudonym Clive Hamilton. The book’s subtitle was A Cycle of Lyrics, and its poems reflect themes including war, suffering, nature, and spiritual doubt. Lewis was 20 when it appeared.

Spirits in Bondage came before Dymer, Lewis’s second major poetry collection, which was published in 1926 under the same pseudonym. Lewis later became far better known for Christian apologetics, literary criticism, and fiction, especially The Chronicles of Narnia.

A common mix-up is to identify The Pilgrim’s Regress as Lewis’s first book. That 1933 work was his first published prose book, whereas Spirits in Bondage was his debut publication overall and was written in verse.