C. S. Lewis gave some thought to the Coronation. He wrote a letter to an American correspondent, Mary Shelburne:
-----You know, over here people did
not get that fairy-tale feeling about the coronation. What impressed most who saw it was the fact that the Queen herself appeared to be quite overwhelmed by the sacramental side of it. Hence, in the spectators, a feeling of (one hardly knows how to describe it) — awe — pity — pathos — mystery.
The pressing of that huge, heavy crown on that small, young head becomes a sort of symbol of the situation of
humanity itself: humanity called by God to be his vice-regent and high priest on earth, yet feeling so inadequate. As if he said, “In my inexorable love I shall lay upon the dust that you are glories and dangers and responsibilities beyond your understanding.”
Do you see what I mean? One has missed the whole point unless one feels that we have all been crowned and that coronation is somehow, if splendid, a tragic splendor.-----
Possibly of related interest:
“The Terror” (1917) stands out as Arthur Machen’s longest horror story, but its plot is simple. During the cataclysm that was the Great Wa...
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