Adam Fox

Canon Adam Fox (1883 – 1977) was the Dean of Divinity at C.S. Lewis's Magdalen College, Oxford. He was one of the first members of the Inklings literary group headed by Lewis. Between 1938 and 1942 he was Professor of Poetry. Later he became Canon of Westminster Abbey and he is buried there in the Poet's Corner. He was also Warden (Headmaster) of the famous Radley College

During his time at Oxford, he wrote his long poem in four books "Old King Coel". It gets its name from the legendary British father of the Empress Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine. As Professor of Poetry, Fox called for a poetry which is accessible to the reader, and gives enough pleasure to be read again. This was very important to him because poetry which is not reread will not be understood, and will therefore be irrelevant. This call can be understood as a criticism against some forms of modern poetry.

Adam Fox surely did not belong to the most important Inklings. Yet he is of interest. He has published in the field between Christianity and Platonism. In Plato for Pleasure, he tried to introduce the general public to Plato. Fox aimed to give Plato a place among the English classics again and hoped that people would know the platonic dialogues as well as the plays of Shakespeare. His biography of William Ralph Inge, the famous theologian, philosopher and Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral is still regarded as a key text on the individual and was awarded the 1960 James Tait Black Memorial Prize shortly after its publication.

Books

• Dean Inge. Murray, London 1960
• Old King Coel. A rhymed tale in 4 books. OUP, London 1937
• Plato for Pleasure. Murray, London 1962
• Plato and the Christians. Passages from the writings of Plato. SCM Press, London 1957
• Poetry for Pleasure. Clarendon, Oxford 1938

Further reading

• Gerold, Thomas, Adam Fox (1883–1977). Dichter und Christlicher Platoniker. In Inklings-Jahrbuch für Literatur und Ästhetik 19 (2001), 201–214.

• Glyer, Diana (2007). The Company They Keep: C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien as Writers in Community. ISBN-13: 978-0873388900.

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