For much of the period of Barfield’s post-legal
career he lived in Kent, first in South Darenth, later and chiefly at the house
named Orchard View, not far from Dartford, looking out upon a wold that had
long since lost its orchard bur retained a certain enchantment lent by the
sense of unfolding distance. It was a peculiarly English setting, comforting,
mannerly, harmonious, as though to confirm Barfield’s own assessment of himself
as being “very English.” At the same time, the scene evoked a sense of Sehnsucht
or longing (the concept that Barfield taught C.S. Lewis) with its undulating
hills meeting the sky at an almost but not quite unreachable remove. This too
corresponds to an essential dimension of Barfield that is not so much English
as Romantic, and German Romantic at that. It is that aspect of his work that
ponders and leads the reader to ponder the mystery and wonder of being, and it
lies at the heart of his philosophy…
… Barfield as Sage – of Orchard View or of
Forest Row – instead demonstrated those qualities of gentle but intellectually
rigorous guidance that made C.S. Lewis call him “the wisest and best of my
unofficial teachers”
Owen Barfield: A Life of Thought
A Barfield Reader (Wesleyan) 1999
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