Department of English
Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
2202232 Introduction to the Study of English Fiction
T. F. Powys, "Lie Thee Down, Oddity"
Notes
heath:
an area of land that is not farmed, where grass and other small plants grow, but where there are few trees or bushes (Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
1 a: a tract of wasteland b: an extensive area of rather level open uncultivated land usually with poor coarse soil, inferior drainage, and a surface rich in peat or peaty humus (Merriam-Webster Online)
Sample Student Reading Responses to T. F. Powys's "Lie Thee Down, Oddity"
1:
Review Sheet
Characters
Mr. Cronch
George Bullman
Jane Cronch - Mr. Cronch's wife
Robert - Mr. Bullman's under-gardener
Mrs. Tibby
John Tibby
police officer
Places
Green Gate House
Stonebridge
London
Plot
Discussion
Study Guide for T. F. Powys's "Lie Thee Down, Oddity"
Other topics that you can think about:
Oddity: How is Oddity personified in the story? What rules does Oddity obey and what not? When does Oddity become aggressive and when is he dormant?
The Wind: Follow the image of the wind throughout the story. What does it do? When does it appear? How is it described at different points? What sense can you make of the role of the wind in "Lie Thee Down, Oddity"?
Key Terms to Date
setting
imagery
irony
symbolism
point of view
plot
story
conflict, internal conflict, external conflict, clash of actions, clash of ideas, clash of desires, clash of wills
man v. self
man v. man
man v. society
man v. nature
protagonist
antagonist
suspense
mystery
dilemma
surprise
ending
happy ending
unhappy ending
indeterminate ending
artistic unity
time sequence
exposition
complication
rising action
crisis
climax
conclusion
resolution
denouement
flashback
foreshadowing
character
direct presentation of character
indirect presentation of character
show v. tell
consistency in character behavior
motivation
plausibility of character
flat character
round character
static character
developing character
Links
The Powys Society (see also their Links page)
Powys Notes (website of now discontinued literary journal)
Primary Works
1923 Black Bryony
1923 The Left Leg
1924 Mark Only
1924 Mr Tasker's Gods
1926 Innocent Birds
1927 Mr Weston's Good Wine
1929 Fables (collection of
short stories)
1931 Unclay
T. F. Powys's Other Writings
Powys, Theodore Francis.
“The Mullet and the Swans. A fable.” The New Coterie 1. November 1925. pp. 67-70.
Powys, Theodore Francis. “A
Stubborn Tree.” The New Coterie 2. Spring 1926. pp. 57-62. (First published as a limited edition in January 1926 by E. Archer, the publisher of The New Coterie.)
Powys, Theodore Francis. “Feed
My Swine.” The New Coterie 3. Summer 1926. pp. 69-77. (First published as a limited edition in May 1926 by E. Archer, the publisher of The New Coterie, and was later included in The white paternoster, 1930.)
Powys, Theodore Francis. “The
Bride.” The New Coterie 4. Autumn 1926. pp. 79-82. (The frontispiece is a portrait of T.F.Powys by William Roberts.)
Powys, Theodore Francis. “Mr. Toller’s
New Clothes.” The Bermondsey Book 5.4 September, October, November, 1928. pp. 72-77.
Powys, Theodore Francis. “Jane Mollet’s.”
The Bookman. Christmas Number Vol. LXXXV, No. 507, December 1933. pp. 177-179.
Powys, Theodore Francis. “Another Godiva.” Argosy 5.1. February, 1944. pp. 25-29.
Reference and Further Reading
Binding, Paul. “Revaluation: Leavis, Lawrence and the
Reverence for Life.” The Times Literary Supplement, No. 5219, 11th April, 2003. p. 14-15.
( Mentions Leavis’s opinion that T. F. Powys was an important writer. Unfortunately, the author describes
T. F. Powys as a rural Anglican clergyman, which is incorrect.)
Cavaliero, Glen. The Rural Tradition in the English Novel,
1900-1939. Macmillan, 1977.
Coggrave, John. “Letters to the editor.” The Times Literary Supplement, No. 5220, 18th April. p. 17. ( Responding to Paul Binding’s article in TLS, 11th April, 2003, saying that “T. F. Powys was certainly rural but never an Anglican clergyman.”)
Coward, David. Powysland. The Times Literary
Supplement. No. 4827, 6th October, 1995. p. 26. ( A review of Mock’s curse by T.F. Powys.)
Dictionary of Literary Biography: British Novelists,
1890-1929, Volume 36, Gale, 1985
Dictionary of Literary Biography: British Short-Fiction Writers,
1915-1945, Volume 136, Gale, 1996.
“Elf-light.” [The Times Literary Supplement?], [1960?]. p. 354. (A review of T. F. Powys by H. Coombes. Press cutting.)
Encyclopedia of World Literature in the Twentieth
Century. 3rd ed. St. James Press, 1999.
Hopkins, Kenneth. The Powys Brothers: A Biographical
Appreciation. Phoenix House, 1967.
Humphrey, Belinda, ed. Recollections of the Powys Brothers: Llewelyn, Theodore, and John
Cowper. 1980.
Hutchinson, Cecil G. “T.F.Powys.” The Bookman. Vol. LXXXIII, No. 496. January, 1933. pp. 396-397. (Note: A check-list of Powys’s work is on p. 416.)
“Literary Criticism in Brief.” The Times Literary Supplement No. 4947. 23rd January, 1998. p. 27. ( A review of The sixpenny strumpet by T.F. Powys, published by Brynmill Press.)
Powys, Francis. “Hermit of `The
House in the Pasture.’” Everybody’s Weekly. 2 January 1954. p. 31.
St. James Guide to Fantasy Writers.
St. James Press, 1996.
Sewall, Father Brocard, ed. Theodore: Essays on T. F. Powys. Saint Albert Press, 1964.
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