Editing C. S. Lewis (section)

===Childhood===
[[File:Little Lea.JPG|thumb|Little Lea, home of the Lewis family from 1905 to 1930]]
Clive Staples Lewis was born in [[Belfast]] in [[Ulster]], Ireland (before [[Partition of Ireland|partition]])<!-- not "Northern Ireland, because Northern Ireland did not exist at the time -->, on 29 November 1898.<ref>{{cite ODNB|id=34512|title=Lewis, Clive Staples (1898–1963)|orig-year=2004|year=2008|last=Bennett|first=Jack Arthur Walter|last2=Plaskitt|first2=Emma Lisa}}</ref> His father was Albert James Lewis (1863–1929), a solicitor whose father Richard Lewis had come to Ireland from [[Wales]] during the mid-19th century. Lewis's mother was Florence Augusta Lewis {{nee}} Hamilton (1862–1908), known as Flora, the daughter of Thomas Hamilton, a [[Church of Ireland]] priest, and the great-granddaughter of both Bishop [[Hugh Hamilton (bishop)|Hugh Hamilton]] and [[John Staples]]. She was the first female mathematics graduate to study at [[Queen’s College Belfast]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=McCartney |first=Mark |title=The Lion, the Witch and the Graduate |journal=Mathematics Today |publication-date=2024 |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=58–60}}</ref> Lewis had an elder brother, [[Warren Lewis|Warren Hamilton Lewis]] (known as "Warnie").<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cslewis.org/resource/chronocsl/ |title=The Life of C.S. Lewis Timeline |work=C.S. Lewis Foundation |access-date=11 March 2017 |archive-date=16 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180516172911/http://www.cslewis.org/resource/chronocsl/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He was baptized on 29 January 1899 by his maternal grandfather in [[St Mark's Church, Dundela]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.patrickcomerford.com/2014/02/a-personalised-tour-of-church-and.html|title=A personalised tour of the church and rectory that inspired CS Lewis and Aslan the Lion|access-date=28 February 2020|archive-date=28 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200228051352/http://www.patrickcomerford.com/2014/02/a-personalised-tour-of-church-and.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

When his dog Jacksie was fatally struck by a horse-drawn carriage,<ref>{{cite book |last=Gresham |first=Douglas |title=Jack's Life: The Life of C.S. Lewis |publisher=Broadman & Holman Publishers |year=2005 |isbn=0-8054-3246-9 |location=Nashville, Tennessee |pages=2}}</ref> the four-year-old Lewis adopted the name Jacksie. At first, he would answer to no other name, but later accepted Jack, the name by which he was known to friends and family for the rest of his life.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ten Boys Who Used Their Talents |last=Howat |first=Irene |publisher=Christian Focus Publications Ltd |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-84550-146-4 |location=Great Britain |page=22}}</ref> When he was seven, his family moved into "Little Lea", the family home of his childhood, in the [[Strandtown]] area of [[Belfast|East Belfast]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cslewisinstitute.org/Surprised_by_Belfast_Significant_Sites_in_the_Land_and_Life_of_CS_Lewis_Part_I_Little_Lea_FullArticle |title=Surprised by Belfast: Significant Sites in the Land and Life of C.S. Lewis, Part 1, Little Lea |last=Smith |first=Sandy |date=18 February 2016 |website=C.S. Lewis Institute |access-date=7 March 2017 |archive-date=1 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701145722/http://www.cslewisinstitute.org/Surprised_by_Belfast_Significant_Sites_in_the_Land_and_Life_of_CS_Lewis_Part_I_Little_Lea_FullArticle |url-status=live }}</ref>

As a boy, Lewis was fascinated with [[anthropomorphic]] animals; he fell in love with [[Beatrix Potter]]'s stories and often wrote and illustrated his own animal tales. Along with his brother Warnie, he created the world of [[Boxen (C. S. Lewis)|Boxen]], a fantasy land inhabited and run by animals. Lewis loved to read from an early age. His father's house was filled with books; he later wrote that finding something to read was as easy as walking into a field and "finding a new blade of grass".{{sfn|Lewis|1966b|p=10}}

{{Quote box|align=right|quote=<poem>
The New House is almost a major character in my story.
I am the product of long corridors, empty sunlit rooms,
upstair indoor silences, attics explored in solitude,
distant noises of gurgling cisterns and pipes,
and the noise of wind under the tiles. Also, of endless books.</poem>
|source=—''[[Surprised by Joy]]''}}

Lewis was schooled by private tutors until age nine, when his mother died in 1908 from cancer. His father then sent him to England to live and study at [[Wynyard School]] in [[Watford]], [[Hertfordshire]]. Lewis's brother had enrolled there three years previously. Not long after, the school was closed due to a lack of pupils. Lewis then attended [[Campbell College]] in the east of Belfast about a mile from his home, but left after a few months due to [[Respiratory disease|respiratory problems]].

He was then sent back to England to the health-resort town of [[Malvern, Worcestershire|Malvern]], [[Worcestershire]], where he attended the [[Preparatory school (United Kingdom)|preparatory school]] Cherbourg House, which Lewis referred to as "[[Chartres]]" in his [[autobiography]]. It was during this time that he abandoned the Christianity he was taught as a child and became an [[Atheism|atheist]]. During this time he also developed a fascination with European [[myth]]ology and the [[occult]].{{sfn|Lewis|1966b|p=56}}

In September 1913, Lewis enrolled at [[Malvern College]], where he remained until the following June. He found the school socially competitive,{{sfn|Lewis|1966a|p=107}} and some of the fellow pupils of his house, such as [[Donald Hardman]], had mixed feelings about him.  Hardman later recalled: 

<blockquote>He was a bit of a rebel; he had a wonderful sense of humour and was a past master of mimicry. I think he took his work seriously, but nothing else; never took any interest in games and never played any so for as I can remember unless he had to. ... I met him in Oxford after the war and noticed he had changed, but was staggered to find him the author of ''The Screwtape Letters''.  When I knew him I can only describe him as a riotously amusing atheist.  He really was pretty foul mouthed about it.<ref name="Sayer1">{{cite book |last=Sayer|first=George |author-link=George Sayer (biographer) |date=1988 |title=Jack: C. S. Lewis and His Times |url= |location=San Francisco |publisher=[[Harper & Row]] |page=42 |isbn=0-06-067072-X}}</ref></blockquote>  

After leaving Malvern, he studied privately with [[William T. Kirkpatrick]], his father's old tutor and former headmaster of [[Lurgan College]].<ref name="Lewis">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/surprisedbyjoysh00lewi/page/128 |title=Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life |last=Lewis |first=C.S. |date=1955 |publisher=[[Harcourt Brace Jovanovich]] |isbn=978-0-15-687011-5 |location=New York City |pages=[https://archive.org/details/surprisedbyjoysh00lewi/page/128 128–186]}}</ref>

As a teenager, Lewis was wonderstruck by the songs and legends of what he called ''Northernness'', the [[Norse mythology|ancient literature of Scandinavia]] preserved in the [[Icelandic sagas]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=C. S. Lewis |last=Bloom |first=Harold |publisher=Chelsea House Publishers |year=2006 |isbn=978-0791093191 |location=New York |page=196}}</ref> These legends intensified an inner longing that he would later call "joy". He also grew to love nature; its beauty reminded him of the stories of the North, and the stories of the North reminded him of the beauties of nature. His teenage writings moved away from the tales of Boxen, and he began experimenting with different art forms such as [[epic poetry]] and [[opera]] to try to capture his new-found interest in [[Norse mythology]] and the natural world.

Studying with Kirkpatrick ("The Great Knock", as Lewis afterward called him) instilled in him a love of [[Greek literature]] and [[Greek mythology|mythology]] and sharpened his debate and reasoning skills. In 1916, Lewis was awarded a scholarship at [[University College, Oxford]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.cslewis.com/us/about-cs-lewis |title=About C.S. Lewis |publisher=CSLewis.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160406171245/https://www.cslewis.com/us/about-cs-lewis |archive-date=6 April 2016 |access-date=4 February 2016}}</ref>