Williams, Charles (Walter Stansby) (1886–1945)

English poet, novelist, and critic. The Silver Star, a sonnet sequence, was published in 1912. Of several allegorical fantasies, The Place of the Lion (1931) had an influence on C S Lewis, whom, with J R R Tolkien, Williams met regularly during World War II in Oxford, where he moved to work and where he gave university lectures. He wrote two poetic sequences based on Arthurian legend, Taliessin Through Logres (1938) and The Region of the Summer Stars (1943).

Williams was born in Holloway, London. Having won a county scholarship to University College, he had to withdraw because of lack of funds. In 1908 he joined the London staff of Oxford University Press as a proofreader, from which he progressed to editor and literary adviser. Lectures for the City of London Literary Institute became The English Poetic Mind (1932) and Reason and Beauty in the Poetic Mind (1932). His most lasting work of criticism is of Dante, The Figure of Beatrice (1943). As a theologian, he is classed as a Christian mystic. Collected Plays was published in 1963.