What was the pen name C.S. Lewis used for Spirits in Bondage?

C.S. Lewis used the pen name Clive Hamilton for Spirits in Bondage. The poetry collection was published in 1919, while Lewis was still a young man, and it appeared before he became famous as a Christian writer and children’s novelist.

The book’s full title was Spirits in Bondage: A Cycle of Lyrics. Its poems reflect the influence of Lewis’s experiences during and after the First World War, as well as themes of suffering, nature, doubt, and confinement. Lewis served in the British Army and was wounded in France in 1918.

Using a pseudonym allowed Lewis to publish poetry without presenting the work under the name by which he was known privately. The name Clive Hamilton combined his own first name with a family name associated with his mother’s side.

The collection is sometimes overlooked because Lewis later became better known for prose. It nevertheless provides an early record of his poetic voice and predates his 1926 collection Dymer, which he published as Lewis.