Studies in Words - C. S. Lewis

Readers of English literature especially before the seventeenth century often realize that words like 'nature' are being used in senses other than the present ones: that these words have a great accumulation of references and overtones which are either lost or hard to recover. What is not so often realized is that this is true of other words in later periods- and that authors often use these key words in private senses as well. This is a barrier to understanding, and the more difficult to overcome because it is often unnoticed.

Professor Lewis takes some of these words, or word-complexes, and teases out their various senses and uses.They are:

Nature, Sad, Wit, Free, Sense itself, Simple, Conscious and Conscience.

Many people will read and enjoy this lively discussion. For students of English it is essential that they should have this kind of information if they are to understand what they are reading. But the book will entertain anyone who thinks he says what he means and understands others.