Literary Links & Landmarks

“That sweet city with her dreaming spires” – from Thyrsis by Matthew Arnold, who Writers who have studied or taught at Oxford includes such varied and illustrious names as John Donne, Samuel Johnson, P.B. Shelley, Tom Hughes, T.S. Eliot, T. E. Lawrence, W.H. Auden, Stephen Spender, Louis MacNeice, Gerard Manley Hopkins, C. Day Lewis, John Galsworthy, John Buchan, Dorothy Sayers, Philip Larkin, John Betjeman, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, William Golding, Anthony Powell, John Fowles, Iris Murdoch, John Updike, Richard Adams, Kingsley Amis, John Le Carré, Brian Aldiss ….. and many, many more.

Visitors to Oxford are particularly keen to trace links with the following writers:

Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)

Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) came to Christ Church as an undergraduate in 1851 and stayed for 47 years, during which time he taught mathematics, was ordained deacon and finally became Curator of the Common Room. He created the famous Alice stories for Alice Liddell, daughter of the Dean of Christ Church, and her sisters Edith and Lorina. The story-telling began on idyllic rowing trips along the Thames and developed on regular

excursions around the city, weaving in characters and locations encountered along the way. Oxford River Cruises run luxurious cruises in an Edwardian style craft along the Thames from Christ Church Meadow to Godstow, retracing the favourite rowing route taken by Dodgson and the girls. The Tudor Hall at Christ Church, and its gardens, have many visible links with the Alice stories. Opposite the visitor entrance, in St Aldate’s, is Alice’s Shop; the sweet shop frequented by Alice Liddell is now dedicated to Alice gifts. Its exact mirror image appears as The Old Sheep Shop in Alice through the Looking Glass.

C. S. Lewis

Clive Staples Lewis (or “Jack” as he was known) won a scholarship to University College and came up in 1917. Like fellow undergraduates he left Oxford to fight in WWI, returning as a war veteran in stark contrast to the new intake of fresh-faced undergraduates which prompted him to comment: “The young men up from school think we have come to clean the windows”. Despite this, he took a triple first in Classics, Philosophy & English, became a fellow of Magdalen where his lectures drew crowds that left standing room only. A group of literary academics known as The Inklings grew up around him, which included Lewis’s close friend, Tolkien. The Inklings met regularly in Lewis’s rooms and in the Eagle & Child pub in St Giles, to discuss literature and their own work. A plaque, and a letter signed by both Lewis and Tolkien, mark their favourite nook.

Throughout his professorship at Cambridge, Lewis maintained his home at The Kilns on the outskirts of Oxford, which he shared with his brother elder Warnie. He lived here first with Mrs Moore and then with his wife Joy – the relationship portrayed in the 1993 film Shadowlands. In 1939, a group of children came to the Kilns as evacuees. It is said that one of the children was fascinated by an old wardrobe in the house and asked Lewis what was behind it. To entertain them, Lewis wove a story about the land which lay beyond it and this became the inspiration for the first of the Chronicles of Narnia which was published in 1950. The Kilns is now owned by the C S Lewis Foundation and is used for student accommodation. It is not open to the public.

Near the Kilns is Holy Trinity Church at Headington Quarry, where Lewis worshipped for 30 years. A plaque beside the pillar to St George marks the pew which he shared with Warnie. Close to the pew is the Narnia Window, installed in 1991 as a memorial to choir boy William Howe. The design depicts Aslan, Cair Paravel, Fledge the flying horse and other features from the Chronicles. The church is kept locked, but the key may be obtained by calling the Vicarage (01865 762931). Lewis died at the Kilns on 22nd November, 1963, the day that Kennedy was assassinated. He is buried in Holy Trinity churchyard. Warnie chose the words for his tombstone, taken from King Lear: “Men must endure their going hence” – the quotation that had been on the calendar the day their mother had died.

Magdalen College is open to visitors in the afternoons. The Eagle & Child at 39 St Giles is popular for pub lunches and supper. Blackwell’s Bookshop in Broad Street runs The Inklings Walking Tour (Tel: 01865 333606) which leaves from the shop every Wednesday at 11.45. Oxford’s Blue Badge Guides (Tel: 01865 250551) also specialize in C. S. Lewis tours for pre-booked groups. In addition, daily motorized tours lasting 3 ½ hours are run by Ron Brind, a boyhood friend of Lewis’s step-son, Dougie Gresham (see www.cslewistours.com). His accompanying book – A Guide to the C S Lewis Tours in Oxford – was published by Janus in November 2005.

Sources of further information on C S Lewis include www.cslewis.org

J. R. R. Tolkien

Tolkien first studied classics at Exeter College before changing to English and specialising in philology, teaching himself several languages including Welsh, Finnish and Old Norse. After gaining first class honours in 1915 he served in WWI, returning to Oxford as an assistant lexicographer. After a spell as professor at Leeds University he served as Professor of Anglo Saxon at Oxford for 20 years, after which he was elected professor of English language and literature. A devout Roman Catholic, Tolkien was influential in converting his great friend, C. S. Lewis to Christianity. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy was written in Oxford; he loved to sit beneath in large black pine in the University of Oxford Botanic Garden, which has long been known as Tolkien’s Tree. Fans also visit the Eagle & Child, where Tolkien met other members of the Inklings (see above) and can visit his grave at Wolvercote church. Further details of Tolkien’s Oxford links can be found on www.jrrtolkien.org.uk.

Philip Pullman

Philip Pullman read English at Exeter college and chose Oxford as a background in his best selling trilogy, His Dark Materials. So much so, that he published Lyra’s Oxford, a guide to the settings woven into the books which serves as “a stepping stone between the trilogy and the next book”. The most revered spot for Pullman fans is once again the University of Oxford Botanic Garden. At the end of the Amber Spyglass, Will and Lyra say their final goodbye at the bench in the Lower Garden, which they pledge to visit in their separate worlds each midsummer's evening and imagine that they are together again. For further information see www.philip-pullman.com

Oxford’s other popular literary links include:

Oscar Wilde

Obtained a first in Greats at Magdalen, where he wore extravagant clothes and held beautiful parties in his rooms, which he decorated with peacock feathers and objets d’art. His languid pose would permit of no eagerness to learn the results of his final examinations. He is said to have read them in the Times, over breakfast at The Mitre in the High. The Old Parsonage Hotel in Banbury Road offers The Oscar Wilde room as a tribute to the time when Wilde stayed in the building.

Kenneth Grahame

Attended St Edwards school in Oxford and his son, for whom he wrote The Wind in the Willows, was a student at Christ Church. Both Grahame and his son – who was tragically killed in a train accident – are buried in Oxford at St Cross Church.

Max Beerbohm

Studied at Balliol and set his irreverently humorous novel Zuleika Dobson in Oxford. Original paintings by Osbert Lancaster, which illustrated the book, are displayed in The Randolph Hotel.

Colin Dexter

Last but by no means least, the creator of Inspector Morse still lives in Oxford. Colin appeared in every episode of the series and has collaborated fully in the creation of the successful Inspector Lewis series. Inspector Morse walking tours leave the Oxford Information Centre in Broad Street at 13.30 on Saturdays. Advance booking is advisable on 01865 252200 or email tic@oxford.gov.uk.