Nov 9th: born in north London, youngest child of four. Named Arthur Owen Barfield.

• Sept: Highgate School, London until Apr 1917.
• Meets Alfred Cecil Harwood in 1910: his “first friend.”

Wadham College, Oxford University with scholarship (war-time disruption, starts Michaelmas term 1919) until July 1921. Harwood also at Oxford, Christ Church College.

WW1 service, officer Royal Engineers Signal Service. Learns French.

Nov: Meets C.S. Lewis, his “second friend” (introduced by Leo Baker).

First essays published: “The Reader’s Eye” (in Cornhill Magazine) and “Form in Poetry” (in The New Statesman).

Summer dance tours in Cornwall, with Maud Douie and Cecil Harwood.

• Graduates with First Class Honors B.A. degree in English Language and Literature.
• Lives at Bee Cottage, in the village of Beckley (nr. Oxford) with Harwood.
• Part-time work as editor for the periodicals Truth and The Beacon until 1923.
• Holiday in Switzerland, a moment of epiphany, inspires Nine Poems pub. 1922 (in London Mercury).

• Starts writing Poetic Diction, pub. 1928.
• The ‘Great War’ with C.S. Lewis (then a firm atheist) begins. Barfield converts CSL first to theism; and then, with others, onward to Christianity (in 1931).

• Living in the Baker Street area of London. Visits by C.S. Lewis.
• April: Marries Maud Douie (b. 1885; most senior naval officer in WW1, theatre producer, choreographer) at St Cyprian’s, Clarence Gate, nr. Baker St. London.
• Writes The Silver Trumpet, pub. 1925: The first Inkling fairy-tale.

• Starts residing in the village of Long Crendon (nr. Oxford), purchase of Air Hill, then lived at The Elms. CSL is a regular visitor.
• Writes long narrative poem “The Tower,” pub. 2020.
• Jan: Joins the Anthroposophic Society of Great Britain (founding member).
• Feb: Joins the London Library, member until March 1996.
• Aug: Attends lecture by Rudolf Steiner in London.

Purchase of Westfield, house and smallholding in the village of Hartley, Kent. Home-move there for less than a year. Returning in 1955 to live in the vicinity until 1986.

History in English Words published, in which the phrase “Evolution of Consciousness” is first coined.

Meets J.R.R. Tolkien (introduced by C.S. Lewis).

• B. Litt thesis accepted (becomes Poetic Diction pub. 1928).
• Purchase of Croft House in the village of Long Crendon, near Oxford, to live in. Kept until late-1950s for its proximity to The City of Dreaming Spires.

Writes English People, unpublished long novel. Includes The Rose on the Ash-Heap.

• Jan: adopted son Alexander born (d. 2014).
• Jan–June: tour of Germany, learns German.

Awarded B.C.L. (law degree) from Oxford Uni.

Visit to the Goetheanum, Switzerland. (Schism of ASinGB Soc from the Goetheanum, until reconciliation in 1970.)

Edits and translates World Economy by R. Steiner, published.

• Adopts daughter Lucy, born 1935 (d. 2003). CSL, her Godfather, dedicated The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to her in 1950.
• Writes play Orpheus: A Poetic Drama, pub. 1983.

Outbreak of WW2. The family returns to Air Hill in the village of Long Crendon (nr. Oxford). Pre-war they had lived in north London (Buckland Crescent NW3) and Caterham-on-the-Hill (Surrey); post-war they moved to Uckfield (East Sussex) and again north London (Menelik Road NW2).

(Circa) writes play “Lady, Be Careful!”, pub. 2023.

(Circa) writes play “Angels at Bay,” pub. 2020.

• (Circa) writes play-in-verse Medea, pub. 2020.
• Romanticism Comes of Age published.
• Writes play-in-verse Medea, pub. 2020.

Fosters Jeffrey (né Geoffrey Corbett, born 1940). CS Lewis involved; dedicated The Voyage of the Dawn Treader to him in 1952.

Edits and translates Behind the Scenes of External Happenings by R. Steiner, published.

First performance of “Orpheus” in Sheffield, Yorkshire.

• Joins the Anglican Communion (in Uckfield parish Church) with CSL in attendance.
• Journey to Lake Geneva (Montreux) and Swiss mountains with family.
• Oct: BBC Radio talk: “Aspects of Goethe.”

• (Circa) writes long narrative poem “Riders on Pegasus,” pub. 2020.
• This Ever Diverse Pair published.

(Circa) writes long narrative poem “Riders on Pegasus,” pub. 2020.

Jan: BBC Radio talk: “The Influence of Language on Thought: The Poetic Approach.”

(Circa) writes long narrative poem “The Unicorn,” pub. 2020.

• Edits and translates Anthroposophy: An Introduction by R. Steiner, published.
• Essay “The Rediscovery of Meaning” published in the Saturday Evening Post (USA) with a photo feature.

• Worlds Apart published.
• Edits and translates Wonders of the World, Ordeals of the Soul, and Revelations of the Spirit by R. Steiner, published.
• Oct: Journey to Santiago de Compostela, Spain, for the marriage of his son Alexander to Margarita Ribas Barcelo.
• Nov: C.S. Lewis dies; Barfield is appointed CSL’s Literary Executor (with Harwood, d.1975) until circa 1983.

Oct: First of seven lectures given at Wheaton College, IL. (Also in Apr ‘69, Apr ‘72, Nov ‘77).

Visiting Professor of Philosophy and Religion, Drew University.

Unancestral Voice published.

Visiting Professor of English Literature, Brandeis University.

• Speaker’s Meaning published.
• Fall: Visiting Professor of Philosophy and Religion, Drew University.

Visiting Professor of Philosophy, Hamilton College, honoris causa: Doctor of Humane Letters.

• Spring: Visiting Professor of English Literature, State University of Missouri.
• Sep: Birth of Owen A. Barfield (grandson), London.

Edits and translates Case for Anthroposophy by R. Steiner, published.

What Coleridge Thought published.

• Edits and translates Guidance in Esoteric Training by R. Steiner, published.
• Spring : Aquinas Visiting Professor, Drew University, honoris causa: Doctor of Letters.

(Circa) Family home-move to Orchard View, near Hartley, Kent.

Fall: visiting Professor of Religious Studies, State University of New York.

Writes Night Operation, pub. 2008.

The Rediscovery of Meaning published.

Fall: visiting Professor, University of British Columbia.

• History, Guilt and Habit published.
• Edits The Voice of Cecil Harwood, published.

• Widowed; Maud dies aged 96.
• Spring: visiting Scholar, California State University, Fullerton.

Journey to Egypt.

Edits and translates Calendar of the Soul by R. Steiner, published.

Home-move to live in The Walhatch, Forest Row, East Sussex.

Writes Eager Spring, pub. 2008.

Documentary film: “Owen Barfield: Man and Meaning.”

A Barfield Sampler published.

Christianity and Literature Lifetime Achievement Award, received in person in San Diego.

Dec 14th: Dies aged 99 at home in Forest Row.

The Owen Barfield Society founded.

A Barfield Reader published.