# XIV: The Witch explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by C. S. Lewis.

## What happens

A witch is captured and brought to execution in a crowded square. Despite the bishop's rites and the mob's jeers, she remains impenitent, lost in meditation on mysterious, starry wonders she has known in the wildwood. As the flames rise, the burghers lament the death of her evil loveliness.

## Themes in this chapter

### The Divine and the Demonic

The witch is condemned by the bishop's Christian rites, yet she is described as having communion with 'demons or gods of old,' blurring the line between sacred and profane.

### Illusion vs. Reality

The witch's serene meditation amid the brutal reality of her execution suggests a disconnect between her inner vision and the outer world's judgment.

## Character check-ins

### Despoina

The witch, captured after seven months of pursuit, remains proud and contemplative even at the stake.

## Key lines

> Trapped amid the woods with guile They’ve led her hound in fetters vile To death, a deadlier sorceress Than any born for earth’s distress Since first the winner of the fleece Bore home the Colchian witch to Greece

They have cunningly trapped her in the woods and killed her dog, capturing a sorceress more dangerous than any since Medea was brought from Colchis.

_Compares the witch to Medea, emphasizing her legendary power and the hunters' deceit._

> The bishop’s brought her strongest spell To naught with candle, book, and bell; With holy water splashed upon her, She goes to burning and dishonour

The bishop has nullified her magic using Christian rituals, and she is now led to be burned in disgrace.

_Describes the ecclesiastical counter-magic used to overpower the witch's spells._

> Too deeply damned to feel her shame, For, though beneath her hair of flame Her thoughtful head be lowly bowed It droops for meditation proud Impenitent, and pondering yet Things no memory can forget

She is so thoroughly condemned that she feels no shame; her bowed head is not from humility but from proud meditation on unforgettable mysteries.

_Highlights her unrepentant, contemplative state even in the face of death._

> For who can say In what strange crew she loved to play, What demons or what gods of old Deep mysteries unto her have told At dead of night in worship bent At ruined shrines magnificent

No one knows what strange company she kept, what ancient gods or demons revealed deep secrets to her as she worshipped at magnificent ruined shrines in the dead of night.

_Suggests her secret, possibly heretical, spiritual experiences in the wilderness._

> Now she is set upon the pile, The mob grows still a little while, Till lo! before the eager folk Up curls a thin, blue line of smoke. “Alas!” the full-fed burghers cry, “That evil loveliness must die!”

As she is placed on the pyre, the crowd falls silent until a thin blue smoke rises. The well-fed townspeople lament that such evil beauty must perish.

_Captures the moment of execution and the conflicted admiration of the onlookers._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_3_se/chapters/xiv-the-witch
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_3_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_3_se/chapters