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English • Classic • Series 



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KELLOGG'S EDITIONS. 

SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS. 

Bacb IMas In Qnc IDolume. 

Text Carefully Expurgated for Use in Mixed Classes. 

With Portrait^ Notes^ Introdttction to STiakespeare's Ghrammar^ 
Examination Papers^ and Plan of Study, 

(SSLKOTBD.) 

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Professor of the English Language and Literature in the Brooklyn Polytechnic : 

Institute, and author of a " Text-Book on Rhetoric,'^ a " Text-Book on 

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We are confident that teachers who examine these editions will pro- 
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MERCHANT OF VENICE. 

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MACBETH. 

I'EMPEST. 

HAMLET. 

KING HENRY V. 

KING LEAR. 



KING HENRY IV., Part I. 

KING HENRY VIII. 

AS YOU LIKE IT. 

KING RICHARD Kf. 

A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S 

DREAM. 
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The Holy Grail 



FROM 



THE IDYLS OF THE KING 




ALFRED TENNYSON. 



NEW YORK : 

Effingham Maynaud & Co., Publishers, 

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A Complete Course in the Study of EnglishJ 

Spelling, Language, Grammar, Composition, Literature, 

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In the preparation of this series the authors have had one object I 
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Teachers are earnestly invited to examine these books. 

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Copyright, 1891, by 
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Biographical and General Introduction. 



"Alfred Tennyson was born August 5, 1809, at Somersby 
a hamlet in Lincolnshire, England, of which, and of a neigh- 
boring parish, his father. Dr. George Clayton Tennyson, was 
rector. The poet's rnother was Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. 
Stephen Fytche, vicar of Louth. Alfred was the third of seven 
sons — Frederick, Charles, Alfred, Edward, Horatio, Arthur, 
and Septimus. A daughter, Cecilia, became the wife of Edmund 
Law Lushington, long professor of Greek in Glasgow UniA'er- 
sity. Whether there were other daughters, the biographies of 
the poet do not mention. 

Tennyson's career as a poet dates back as far as 1827, in which 
year, he being then but eighteen years of age, he published 
anonymously, in connection with his brother Charles (who was 
only thirteen months his senior, having been born July 4, 1808), 
a small volume, entitled Poems by Two Brothers. The Preface, 
which is dated March, 1827, states that the poems contained in 
the volume ' were written from the ages of fifteen to eighteen, 
not conjointly, but individually; which may account for the 
difference of style and matter.' 

In 1828, or early in 1829, these two brothers entered Trinity 
College, Cambridge, where their eldest brother, Frederick, had 
already entered. At the Cambridge Commencement in 1829, 
Alfred took the Chancellor's gold medal, by his poem entitled 
Timbuctoo. That appears to have been the first year of his ac- 
quaintance, Avhich soon ripened into an ardent friendship, M'ith 
Arthur Henry Hallam ; this friendship, as we learn from tho 
twenty-second section of In Memoriam, having been, at tho 
death of Hallam, of 'four sweet years,' ' duration. It is an in- 
teresting fact that Hallam was one of Tennyson's rival com- 
petitors for the Chancellor's prize. His poem is dated June, 
1829. It is contained in his Litcrar)/ liemains. Among other 
of Tennyson's friends at the University were John Mitchell 

3 



4 BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 

Kemble, the Anglo-Saxon scholar ; William Henry Brookfield, 
long an eloquent preacher in London ; James Spedding, the 
biographer and editor of Lord Bacon ; Henry Alford, Dean of 
Canterbury; Richard Monckton Milnes (afterwards Lord 
Houghton), who united the poet and the politician, and was 
the biographer of Keats; and Richard Chenevix Trench, who 
became Dean of Westminster, in 1856, and Archbishop of Dub- 
lin, in 1864. A brilliant array of college friends ! 

Tennyson's prize poem was published shortly after the Cam- 
bridge Commencement of 1829, and was very favorably noticed 
in The Athenmum of July 22, 1829. In it can already be recog- 
nized much of the real Tennyson. There are, indeed, but vei-y 
few poets whose earliest productions exhibit so much of their 
after selves. The real Byron, the most vigorous in his diction 
of all modern poets, hardly appears at all in his Hours of Idle- 
ness, which was published when he was about the age of Tenny- 
son was when Timhuctoo was published. 

In 1830 appeared Poems, chicflrj Lyrical, by Alfred Tennyson. 
In this volume appeared, among others, the poems entitled 
Ode to Memory, The Poet, The Poefs Mind, The Deserted 
House, and The Sleeping Beauty, which were full of promise, 
and struck key-notes of future Avorks. The reviews of the 
volume mingled praise and blame-the blame perhaps being 
predominant. In 1832 appeared Poems by Alfred Tennyson, 
among which were included The Lady of Shalott, The Miller^ s 
Daughter, The Palace of Art, The Lotos Eaters, and A Dream 
of Fair Women, all showing a great advance in workmanship 
and a more distinctly articulate utterance-^many of the poems 
of the previous volumes being rather artist-studies in vowel 
and melody suggestiveness. It was reviewed, somewhat face- 
tiouslv, in The Quarterly, July, 1833, (vol. 49, pp. 81-96,) by, as ; 
was generally understood, John Gibson Lockhart, the son-in- 
law of Sir Walter Scott, at that time editor of The Quarterly ; 
and in a more earnest and generous vein, by John Stuart Mill, 
in The Westminster, July, 1835. 

A silence of ten years succeeded the 1832 volume, broken 
only by an occasional contribution of a short poem to some 
magazine or collection. In 1842 appeared Poems by Alfred 
Tennyson, in two volumes, containing selections from the 
volumes of 1830 and 1832, and many new poems, among which 
were Ulysses, Love and Duty, The Talking Oak, Godiva, ai^d 
the remarkable poems of The Two Voices, and The Vision of 



BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 5 

Sin. The .volumes Avere most enthusiastically received, and 
Tennyson took at once his place as England's great jjoet. A 
second edition followed in 1843, a third in 1845, a fourth in 184G, 
and a fifth in 1848. Then came The Princess: A Medley, 1847; 
a second edition, 1848 ; In Memoriam, 1850, three editions ap- 
pearing in the same year. 

The poet was married June 13, 1850, to Emily, daughter of 
Henry Sellwood, Esq., and niece of Sir John Franklin, of 
Arctic Expedition fame. Wordsworth had died April 23 of that 
year, and the laureateship was vacant. After some opposition, 
the chief coming from The Athenceuni, which advocated the 
claims of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Tennyson received the 
appointment, his In Memoriam, which had apj)eared a short 
time before, and which at once laid hold of so many hearts, 
contributing much, no doubt, to the final decision. His presen- 
tation to the queen took place at Buckingham Palace, March 6, 
1851, and in the same month appeared the seventh edition of 
the Poems, with, an introductory poem To the Queen, in which 
he pays a high tribute to his predecessor in the laureateship : — 
'Victoria, since your royal grace 

To one of less desert allows 

This laurel greener from the brows 
Of him that uttered nothing base ;' 

To do much more than note the titles of his principal works 
since he became Poet-Laureate, the j^rescribed limit of this 
sketch will not allow. In 1855 appeared Maud, which, though 
it met with great disapprobation and but stinted j) raise, is, i^er- 
haps, one of his greatest poems. In July, 1859, the first of the 
Idyls of the King appeared, namely, Enid, Vivien, Elaine, and 
Guinevere, which were at once great favorites with all readers 
of the poet; in August, 1SG4, Enoch Ar den, with which were 
published ^4 ?/^mer' 5 Field, Sea Dreams, The Grandmother, and 
The Northern Farmer: in December, 1869, four additional 
Idyls, under the title, The Holy Grail and Other Poems, 
namely — The Coming of Arthur, The Holy Grail, Pellcas and 
Ettare, and The Passing of Arthur, of which forty thousand 
copies were ordered in advance; in December, 1871, in The 
Contemporary Peview, The Last Tournament ; in 1872, Gareth 
and Lynette ; in 1875, Queen Mary : A Drama; in 1877, Harold: 
Drama; in 1880, Ballads and Other Poe7ns. 

Tennyson's IMuse has been productive of a body of lyric, 
idyllic, metaphysical, and narrative or descriptive poetry, the 



6 BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENERAL INTRODUCTION. i 

choicest, rarest, daintiest, and of the most exquisite workman- 
shii3 of any that the century has to show. In a strictly dramatic 
direction he can hardly be said to have been successful. His 
Queen Mary is but little short of a failure as a drama, and his 
Harold but a partial success. With action proper he has shown 
but little sympathy, and in the domain of vicarious thinking 
and feeling, in which Robert Browning is so pre-eminent, but 
little ability. But no one who is well acquainted with all the 
best poetry of the nineteenth century, will hesitate to pro- 
nounce him facile 2)i'inccps in the domain of the lyric and 
idyllic ; and in these departments of poetry he has developed 
a style at once individual and, in an artistic point of view, 
almost ' faultily faultless ' — a style which may be traced from 
his earliest efforts up to the most complete perfection of his 
latest poetical works. 

The splendid poetry he has given to the world has been the 
product of the most patient elaboration. No English poet, with 
the exception of Milton, Wordsworth, and the Brownings, ever 
worked w ith a deeper sense of the divine mission of poetry 
than Tennyson has worked. And he has Avorked faithfully, 
earnestly, and conscientiously to realize the ideal with w^hich 
he appears to have been early possessed. To this ideal he gave 
expression in two of his early j^oems, entitled The Poet and 
The PoeVs Mind; and in another of his early poems. The Lady 
of iShalott, is mystically shadowed forth the relations which 
poetic genius should sustain to the world for whose spiritual 
redemption it labors, and the fatal consequences of its being 
seduced by the world's temi)tations— the lust of the flesh, and 
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. 

Great thinkers and writers owe their power among men, not 
necessarily so much to a wide range of ideas, or to the origi- 
nality of their ideas, as to the intense vitality which they are 
able to impart to some one comi^rehensive, fructifying idea, 
with which, through constitution and the circumstances of 
their times, they have become possessed. It is only when a 
man is really possessed with an idea (that is, if it does not run 
away with him) that he can express it with a quickening 
power, and ring all possible changes upon it. 

What may be said to be the dominant idea, and the most 
vitalized, in the poetry of Alfred Tennyson? It is easily 
noted. It glints forth everj^vhere in his poetry. It is, that the ; 
complete man must be a well-poised duality of the active and 



BlOGliAPHICAL AND GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 7 

the passive or receptive; must unite with an * all-subtilizing 
intellect,' an 'all-comprehensivo tenderness;' must 'gain in 
sweetness and in moral height, nor lose the wrestling thews 
that throAv the world.' " 

Thus far Dr. Corson, of Cornell University, in his Introduc- 
tion to The Two Voices, and A Dream of Fair Women, poems 
edited by him for the English Classics. 



"It seems to me that the only just estimate of Tennyson's position 
is that Avhich declares him to be by eminence, the representative poet, 
of the recent era. Not, like one or another of his compeers, represen- 
tative of the melody, wisdom, passion, or other partial phase of the 
era, but of the time itself, with its diverse elements in harmonious 
conjunction. ********* 

In his verse he is as truly * the glass of fashion and the mould of form ' 
of the Victorian generation in the nineteenth century as Spenser was 
of the Elizabethan court, Milton of the Protectorate, Pope of the reign 
of Queen Anne. During his supremacy there have been few great 
leaders at the head of different schools, such as belonged to the time 
of Byron, Wordsworth, and Keats. Plis poetry has gathered all the 
elements which find vital expression in the complex modern art."— 
Stedman's Victorian Poets. 



" To describe his command of language by any ordinary terms expres- 
sive of fluency or force would be to convey an idea both inadequate and 
erroneous. It is not only that he knows every word in the language 
suited to express his every idea; he can select with the ease of magic 
the word that above all others is best for his purpose ; nor is it that he 
can at once sun.mon to his aid the best word the language affords; 
with an art which Shakespeare never scrupled to apply, though in our 
day it is apt to be counted mere Germanism, and pronounced contrary 
to the genius of the language, he combines old words into new epithets, 
he daringly mingles all colors to bring out tints that never were on sea 
or shore. His words gleam like pearls and opals, like rubies and emer- 
alds. He yokes the stern vocables of the English tongue to the chariot 
of his imagination, and they become gracefully brilliant as the leopards 
of Bacchus, soft and glowing as the Cytherean doves. He must have 
been born with an ear for verbal sounds, an instinctive appreciation 
of the beautiful and delicate in words, hardly ever equaled. Though 
his later works speak less of the blossom-time-shoAv less of the efflor- 
escence and iridescence, and mere glance and gleam of colored words 
—they display no falling off, but rather an advance, in the mightier 
elements of rhythmic speech."— Pe^er J3ayne. 




Idyls of The King. 



The Idyls of the King is a group of magnificent poems 
ten in number — dealing with the character and reign of King 
Arthur, and describing the exploits of the Knights of the Round 
Table, when these knights were at the height of their glory, 
and when they had fallen to the depths of their shame. These 
poems picture, also, the life of Queen Guinevere at the Court 
and in the Abbey, her death, and that of her lord. They were 
dedicated by their author to the memory of Prince Albert, 
and afterwards to Queen Victoria. Having to do exclusively 
with the Arthurian legends, which have come down to us iu 
numberless books of prose and of jjoetry, these poems belong, 
in their subject-matter, to the past. But the legends have 
filtered through the poet's nature, been etherealized by his 
imagination, and moulded by his artistic hands into such 
felicitous forms that this great work is, and will forever re- 
main, fascinating to all lovers of the beu'utiful in thought and 
expression. Tennyson himself says of it that it is 

New-old, and shadowing Sense at war M-ith Soul 
Rather than that gray king, whose name, a ghost. 
Streams like a cloud, man-shaped, from £nountain peak. 

^' The great hero of the Idyls, though not always the most 
A active, never contending in the tournaments, is 

\A^ j|>/| King Arthur. Of him, as a veritable and historical personage, 

-[^^M^ nothing can be said. But he is the idealized and idolized hero 

^ rj[\/W^f British and Welsh legend ; is even the Magnificence of 

^"^ Spenser's Fcerie Queene (see Spenser's dedication of the poem 

to Sir Walter Raleigh, and also the opening stanzas of Canto IX., 

Book I). He is as real, or, if you please, as mythical, a 

character as William Tell. He is the reputed son of a reputed 

^ king, Uther — Pendragon (dragon-head), a surname, Ritson 

says, taken possibly from the form of his helmet or his crest. 

! From him Arthur inherits the title. Arthur grew up ignorant 

8 



IDYLS OF THE KING. » 

of his high birth, was taken to London, and, there drawing 
from a stone, in which it was imbedded, a sword on which was 
inscribed, "Whoso puUeth this sword out of this stone is 
rightwise born King of England," was crowned King of 
Britain. His fabulous exploits in arms, as recorded by the 
Welshman Geoffrey of Monmouth, about 1138, and in a multi- 
tude of poems afterwards, put to shame the achievements of 
Alexander or of Caesar. His great enemy, near at home, was 
the Saxons, after their invasion of the Island in 449. With 
them he is said to have fought twelve battles (of which Lance- 
lot speaks in Elame), in all of which he was conqueror. The 
battle-fields have been placed in half the shires of England, 
and in Wales, and their location is as certain, probably, as the 
battles themselves, or even as the existence of their victor ! 
Where were 

Arthur's Palaces is equally uncertain. Cserleon-upon-Usk, 
the Isca Silurum of the Romans, is said to have been his chief 
city. But places claiming the honor of his residence are found 
scattered throughout the Island. 

For an epitome of the facts concerning a real, historic Arthur, 
the basis, perhaps, of the mythical Arthur of the Romances, 
see "Arthur," EncyclopcEdia Britannica. 

The Round Table was the famous circle of knights gathered 
around Arthur as then- head. Who these knights were and 
what they were to do may as well be told in- Tennyson's own 
lines, put into the mouth of Arthur, in Guinevere : 

But I was first of all the kings who drew 

The knighthood-errant of this realm, and all 

The realms, together under me, their Head, 

In that fair order of my Table Round, 

A glorious company, the flower of men. 

To serve as model for the mighty world, 

And be the fair beginning of a time. 

I made them lay their hands in mine and swear 

To reverence the King, as if he were 

Their conscience, and their conscience as their King, 

To break the heathen and uphold the Christ, 

To ride abroad redressing human wrongs, 

To speak no slander, no, nor listen to it, 

To lead sweet lives in purest chastity, 

To love one maiden only, cleave to her, 

And worship her by years of noble deeds 

Until they won her; for, indeed, I knew 



10 IDYLS OF THE KING. 

Of no more subtle master under heaven 
Than is the maiden passion for a maid, 
Not only to keep down the base in man 
But teach high thought and amiable words 
And courtliness and the desire of fame 
And love of truth and all that makes a man. 

How this circle had declined in virtue the Idyls show. But 
one is grateful to Tennyson that, in the exquisite poems ems 
braced under this title, these knights are lifted out of the 
grossness of their sins, in which Sir Thomas Mallory makes 
them wallow, in his History of King Arthur. Of this group 

Lancelot was chief, at least in prowess, and the favorite ofi 
Arthur. He is especially prominent in Elaine ; sinning in hisi 
love for Queen Guinevere, and yet repenting, and dying, at 
last, "a holy man." He is represented as born in Brittany., 
On the death of his father, he was carried away, then an infant, 
by Vivien, the lady of the lak^, who fostered him ; hence he 
was called Lancelot du Lacr His birth and possessions in 
Britany explain his offer to Elaine of a '' realm beyond the seas." 

In his Victorian Poets, Stedman says : * * «- «- <' We 
come at last to Tennyson's master-work, so recently brought 
to a completion after tw^enty years— during Mhich period the 
separate Idyls of the King had appeared from time to time. 
Nave and transept, aisle after aisle, the Gothic minster has ex- 
tended, until, with the addition of a cloister here and a chapel 
yonder, the structure stands complete. 

I hardly think that the poet at first expected to compose an 
epic. It has grown insensibly under the hands of one man who 
has given it the best years of his life,— but somcAvhat as Wolf 
conceived the Homeric poems to have grown, chant by chant, 
until the time came for the whole to be welded together in 
heroic form. 

It is the epic of chivalry, the Christian ideal of chivalry which 
we have deduced from a barbaric source,— our conception of 
what knighthood should be, rather than what it really was; 
but so skillfully wrought of high imaginings, fairy spells, fan- 
tastic legends, and mediaeval splendors, that the whole work, 
suffused with the Tennysonian glamour of golden mist, seems 
like a chronicle illuminated by saintly hands, and often blazes 
with light like that Avhich flashed from the holy wizard-book 
when the covers were unclasped," 



I 



I 



THE HOLY GRAIL. 

Tennyson's Holy Grail is based on a conception tliat has found 
expression under similar titles since a.d. 1100, when it first ap- 
peared in verse. 

The Holy Grail, accordincj to some legends of the middle ages, 
was the cup used by our Saviour in dispensing the wine at the 
last supper; and according to others, the platter on which the 
paschal lamb was served at the last Passover observed by our 
Lord. By some it was said to have been preserved by Joseph of 
Arimathea, who received into it the blood which flowed from 
the Redeemer's wounds as He hung on the cross. By others it 
was said to have been brought down from heaven by the angels, 
and committed to the charge of knights, who guarded it on the 
top of a lofty mountain. It is believed by some that where the 
body or the blood of Christ is, there are His soul and His divinity 
That the Grail — such being its contents— should be marvelous, 
divine, mysterious, was but logical and natural. This cup, ac- 
cording to the legend, if approached by any but a perfectly pure 
and holy person, would be borne away and vanish from sight. 
The quest of the Grail was "the commencement of all bold 
enterprise, the occasion of all prowess and heroic deeds, the inves- 
tigation of all the sciences, the demonstration of great wonders, 
the end of all bounty and goodness, the marvel of all marvels." 

M. Paulin Paris, who has been engaged for nearly forty years 
in the study of Arthurian romance, is of the opinion, that the 
legend conception came from some Welsh monk or hermit who 
lived early in the eighth century; that its guiding and essential pur- 
pose was an assertion for the British Church of an independent 
derivation of its Christianity direct from Palestine, and not 
through Rome; that the conception was embodied in a book 
called Liber Gradalis, or De Oradali; that this book was kept 
for more than three hundred years from a fear lest it should bring 
them into collision with the hierarchy and make their orthodoxy 
suspected; that it came to be known and read in the second half 
of the twelfth century; that a French poet, Robert de Boron, who 
probably had not seen the book, but received information regard- 
ing it, was the first to embody the conception in a vernacular 
literary form by writing his poem of Josej)h d' Arimathie, and 

11 



12 THE HOLY GEAIL. 

that, after Boron, "Walter Map and others came into Ihe field. 
It is maintained by English writers generally that the concep- 
tion arose certainly on British ground, but in the twelfth cen- 
tury, not in the eighth; that it was introduced by some master- 
hand, probably that of Walter Map, into every branch of Arthu- 
rian romance; and that if Map was not oue author of the concep- 
tion, as seems highly probable, he tirst invested it in literary form. 

Accepting the general testimony of the M!SS and assume with- 
out further proof that Map composed the original book of the 
Saint Oraal, the genesis of the work seems not dithcult to trace. 

Id early life. Map was a canon of Salisbury; either afterwards 
or at the same time he was parish priest of Westbury near Bris- 
tol. Gloucestershire and Wiltshire are both neighboring counties 
to Somersetshire, in which Glastonbury was the most sacred and 
celebrated spot. Visiting that ancient abbey, Map would have 
become acquainted with the legend of Joseph of Arimathea in all 
its details; and he would have seen the altar said to have been 
transported by angels from Palestine and which, long hidden from 
mortal sight on account of the wickedness of the times, had lately 
been revealed and reinstated. His versatile and capacious mind 
would as a matter of course have been familiar with the whole 
Arthur legend as it then (1170-1180) existed, if for no other rea- 
son because he lived in the very part of England which was 
studded with Arthurian sites. He fully answers to the descrip- 
tion of the " great clerks " who, according to Robert de Boron, 
first made and told the history of the Grail. 

The spread and ascendency to which the Grail conception 
rapidly attained in all Christian countries made the creations of 
Artliurian romance the delight of all cultivated minds. From 
England, which we regard as the land of its origin, the Grail 
legend at once passed to France, where is given in metrical 
dress the legend of Percival, one of the knights of the Round 
Table, under the transformation which the Grail conception had 
effected. Flemish, Icelandic, and Welsh reproductions of the 
Grail romances have been found to exist. One of the first em- 
ployments of the piiuting press in England, France, and Germany 
was to multiply poems or romances embodying this legend. 
Hence Caxton printed for Sir Tliomas Malory (1485) TJie History 
of King Arthur and his Nohle Knights, a work that has formed the 
basis of Tennyson's Idyls of the King, one of which is The Holy 
Grail. 



THE HOLY GRAIL. 



From noiseful arms, and acts of prowess done 
In tournament or tilt, Sir Percivale, 
Whom Arthur and his knighthood called The Pure, 
Had passed into the silent life of prayer, 
Praise, fast, and alms ; and leaving for the cowl 
The helmet in an abbey far away 
From Camelot, there, and not long after, died. 

And one, a fellow-monk among the rest, 
Ambrosius, loved him much beyond the rest, 
And honored him, and wrought into his heart 
A way by love that wakened love within. 
To answer that which came : and as they sat 
Beneath a world-old yew-tree, darkening half 
The cloisters, on a gustful April morn 
That puffed the swaying branches into smoke 
Above them, ere the summer when he died, 
The monk Ambrosius questioned Percivale : 

" O brother, I have seen this yew-tree smoke, 
Spring after spring, for half a hundred years : 

2. Sir Percivale.— The third son of Pellinore, king of Wales. He 
caught sight t.f the holy giail after his combat with Lancelot's brother, 
Ector de Maris, and both were healed by it. Sir Peicivale was with Sir Bors 
and Sir Galahad when the visible Sa%ionr went into tlie consecrated wafer 
given them by the bishop. This is called the achievement of the quest of 
the holy grail. 

7. Camelot.— Arthur's palace, the ruins of which are still shown in Win- 
Che&t<?r, 

I'd 



14 THE HOLY GRATL. 

For never have I known the world without, 
Nor ever strayed beyond the pale : but thee, 
When first thou earnest — such a courtesy 
Spake through the limbs and in the voice — I knew 
For one of those who eat in Arthur's hall ; 
For good ye are and bad, and like to coins, 
Some true, some light, but every one of you 
Stamped witii the image of the King ; and now 
Tell me, what drove tliee from the Table Round, 
My brother ? was it earthly passion crost ?" 

" Nay," said the knight ; '' for no such passion mine, 
But the sweet vision of the Holy Grail 
Drove me from all vainglories, rivalries, 
And earthly heats that spring and sparkle out 
Among us in the jousts, while women watch 
Wlio wins, who falls ; and waste the spiritual strength 
Within us, better offered up to Heaven." 

To whom the monk : " The Holy Grail !— I trust 
We are green in Heaven's eyes; but liere too much 
We molder— as to things without I mean — 
Yet one of your own knights, a guest of ours. 
Told us of this in our refectory. 
But spake with such a sadness and so low 
We heard not half of what he said. What is it ? 
The phantom of a cup that comes and goes ?" 

"Nay, monk ! what phantom?" answered Percivale. 
" The cup, the cup itself, from which our Lord 
Drank at the last sad supper with his own. 
This, from the blessed land of Aromat — 
After the day of darkness, when the dead 



37. To whom the monk said or responded. 

41. Refectory.— The eating-room of a monastery. 

47. "With his own. —Discij^les uiideistood. 

48. Aromat. --Poetic name of Palestine, because of tlie abundance o 
spices from that region. 

49 Day of darkness.— Referring to the crucifixion and the dead co: 
ing from their graves. (Matt, xxvji. 5^.) 



THE HOLY GRAIL. 15 

"Went wandering o'er Moriah— the good saint, 
Ariniathean Joseph, journeying brought 
To Glastonbury, where the winter thorn 
Blossoms at Christmas, mindful of our Lord. 
And there awhile it bode ; and if a man 
Could touch or see it, he w^as healed at once, 
By faith, of all his ills. But then the times 
Grew to such evil that the holy cup 
Was caught away to Heaven, and disappeared." 

To whom the monk : " From our old books I know 
That Joseph came of old to Glastonbury, 
And there the heathen Prince, Arviragus, 
Gave him an isle of marsh whereon to build ; 
And there he built with wattles from the marsh 
A little lonely church in days of yore. 
For so they say, these books of ours, but seem 
Mute of this miracle, far as I have read. 
But who first saw the holy thing to-day ?" 

" A woman," answered Percivale, "a nun, 
And one no further off in blood from me 
Than sister ; and if ever holy maid 
AVith knees of adoration wore the stone, 
A holy maid ; though never maiden glowed, 
But that was in her earlier maidenhood. 
With such a fervent flame of human love, 
Which being rudely blunted, glanced and shot 
Only to holy things ; to prayer and praise 
She gave herself, to fast and alms. And yet. 
Nun as she was, the scandal of the Court, 
Sin against Arthur and the Table Round, 



50 Mori all. —The hill on which the temple of Jerusalem was built. 

5L Ariniathean Joseph.— In whose tomb the body of Jesus was laid. 

.52 Glastoiibtirv.— The leg:end is that Joseph of Arimafliea stuck his 
staff into the ^ronnd in the "sacred isle of (ilnstonbury/' and that this 
thorn blossoms on Christmas Day every year. St. Josei)h and Kmg Arthur 
were botli buried at filastonbmy. 

60 That Joseph came.— See introductory note. 

79 Arthur and the Table Kound.— See introductory note. 



16 THE HOLY GRAIL. 

80 And the strange sound of an adulterous race, 

Across the iron grating of her cell 
Beat, and she prayed and fasted all the more. 

" And he to whom she told her sins, or what 
Her all but utter whiteness held for sin, 
A man wellnigh a hundred winters old. 
Spake often wath her of the Holy Grail, 
A legend handed down through five or six, 
And each of these a hundred winters old. 
From our Lord's time. And when King Arthur made 

90 His Table Round, and all men's hearts became 

Clean for a season, surely he had thought 
That now the Holy Grail would come again ; 
But sin broke out. Ah, Christ, that it would come, 
And heal the world of all their wickedness ! 
' O Father ! ' asked the maiden, ' might it come 
To me by prayer and fasting ?' ' Nay,' said he, 
' I know not, for thy heart is pure as snow.' 
And so she prayed and fasted, till the sun 
Shone, and the wind blew, through her, and I thought 

100 She might have risen and floated when I saw her, 

"For on a day she sent to speak with me. 
And when she came to speak, behold her eyes 
Beyond my knowing of them, beautiful, 
Beyond all knowing of them, w^onderful, 
Beautiful in the light of holiness. 
And ' O my brother Percivale,' she said, 
' Sweet brother, I have seen the Holy Grail : 
For, waked at dead of night, I heard a sound 
As of a silver horn from o'er the hills 
no Blown, and I thought, " It is not Arthur's use 

To hunt by moonlight ;" and the slender sound 
As from a distance beyond distance grew 
Coming upon me — O never harp nor horn, 
Nor aught we blow with breath, or touch with hand, 
Was like that music as it came ; and then 



THE UOLY GRAIL. 17 

Streamed through my cell a cold and silver beam, 

And down the long beam stole the Holy Grail, 

Kose-red with beatings in it, as if alive, 

Till all the white walls of my cell were dyed 

With rosy colors leaping on the wall ; 120 

And then the music faded, and the Grail 

Past, and the beam decayed, and from the walls 

The rosy quiverings died into the night. 

So now the Holy Thing is here again 

Among us, brother, fast thou too and pray. 

And tell thy brother knights to fast and pray, 

That so perchance the vision may be seen 

By thee and those, and all the world be healed.' 

"Then leaving the pale nun, I spake of this 
To all men ; and myself fasted and prayed 130 

Always, and many among us many a week 
Fasted and prayed even to the uttermost, 
Expectant of the wonder that would be. 

" And one there was among us, ever moved 
Among us in white armor, Galahad. 
' God make thee good as thou art beautiful,' 
Said Arthur, when he dubbed him knight ; and none 
In so young youth, was ever made a knight 
Till Galahad ; and this Galahad, when he heard 



135. Galahad.— The son of Sir Lancelot and Elaine. Queen Guinevere says 
that Sir Lancelot "came of the eighth degi-ee from our Saviour, and Sir 
Galahad is of the ninth, . . . and therefore be the^' the greatest gentlemen of 
all the world." 

Sir Galahad was the only knight who could sit in the " Siege Perilous," 
a seat at the Round Table reserved for the knight destined to achieve the 
quest of the holy grail; and no other person could sit in it without peril to 
his life. His great achievement was that of the holy grail. It is quite 
certain that the Arthurian legends mean that Sir Galahad saw with his 
bodily eyes and touched with his hands " the incarnate Saviour" reproduced 
by tlie consecration of the elements of bread and wine. Othei's see it by 
tile eye of faith only, but Sir Galahad saw it bodily with his eyes. His shield 
was that of Joseph of Arimathea. It was a snow-white shield on which 
Joseph made a cross with his blood. After divers adventures Galahad 
came to Sarras, where he was made king, was shown the holy grail by 
Joseph, and even "took the LonPs body between his hands" and died. Then 
suddenly "a great multitude of angels bear his soul up to heaven," since 
when no man could say he had seen the holy grail. 



18 



THE HOLY GRAIL. 



»4o My sister's vision, filled me with amaze ; 

His eyes became so like her own, they seemed 
Hers, and himself her brother more than I. 

Sister or brother none had he ; but some 
Called him a son of Lancelot, and some said 
Begotten by enchantment— chatterers they, 
Like birds of passage piping up and down, 
That gape for flies— we know not whence they come ; 
For when was Lancelot wanderingly lewd ? 

" But she, the wan sweet maiden, shore away 
'SO Clean from her forehead all that wealth of hair 

Which made a silken mat- work for her feet ; 
And out of this she plaited broad and long ' 
A strong sword-belt, and wove with silver thread 
And crimson in the belt a strange device, 
A crimson grail within a silver beam ; 
And saw the bright boy-knight, and bound it on him 
Saying, ' My knie-ht, my love, my knight of heaven, ' 
O thou, my love, whose love is one with mine, 
I, maiden, round thee, maiden, bind my belt.' 
i6o Go forth, for thou shalt see what I have seen. 

And break through all, till one will crown thee king 
Far in the spiritual city ; ' and as she spake 
She sent the deathless passion in her eyes 
Through him, and made him hers, and laid her mind 
On him, and he believed in her belief. 

'* Then came a year of miracle : O brother, 
In our great hall there stood a vacant chair, ' 
Fashioned by Merlin ere he past away. 
And carven with strange figures ; and in and out 
'7o The figures, like a serpent, ran a scroll 

Of letters in a tongue no man could read. 

tS fof ?4"rund^rrd^an';rfifVkn^^^^^^ at Carduel the Round 

King Arthur on his nfarSage o Gul fe^v^^^^^^ possession of 

from Ireland the stones of StoneCS on SaSurv nit .^^ 
uiemorate Aurelius Ambrosius' victory over Vorigern * they com- 



THE HOLY GRAIL. 19 

And Merlin called it ' The Siege Perilous,' 
Perilous for good and ill ; ' for there,' he said, 
' No man could sit but he should lose himself : ' 
And once by misadvertence Merlin sat 
In his own chair, and so was lost ; but he, 
Galahad, when he heard of Merlin's doom, 
Cried, ' If I lose myself I save myself ! ' 

' ' Then on a summer night it came to pass, 
While the great banquet lay along the hall, 180 

That Galahad would sit down in Merlin's chair. 

" And all at once, as there we sat, we heard 
A cracking and a riving of the roofs. 
And rending, and a blast, and overhead 
Thunder, and in the thunder was a cry. 
And in the blast there smote along the hall 
A beam of light seven times more clear than day : 
And down the long beam stole the Holy Grail 
All over covered with a luminous cloud. 



172 The Siege Perilous.— See note on Galahad, line 135. 

182 And aU at once.— Then anon they heard cracking and crying 
of thunder. In the midst of the blast entered a sunbeam more clear by 
seven times than the day, and all they were alighted of the grace of the 
Holy Ghost. Then there entered into the ball the Holy Grail covered with 
white samite but there was none that could see it, nor who bare it, but 
the whole hall was full filled with good odors, and every knight had such 
meat and drink as he best loved in the world, and when the Holy Grail had 
been borne through the hall, then the holy vessel departed suddenly, and 
they wist not where it became. , ^ ,, , , 1 ^r, ^ , ^ „ 

Then looked they and saw a man come out of the holy vessel, that had all 
the signs of the passion of Christ, and he said: "This is the holy dish 
wherein I ate the lamb on Sher-Thursday, and now hast thou seen it; . . . 
yet hast thou not seen it so openly as thou shalt see it in the city of Sarras; 
therefore thou must go hence and bear with thee this holy vessel, for this 
night it shall depart from the realm of Logris. . . . And take with thee . . . 
Sir Percivale and Sir Bors." , ^. „ ..... . ^ 

So departed Sir Galahad, and Sir Percivale and Sir Bors with him. And 
so they rode three days, and came to a river, and found a ship; . . . and 
when on board they found in the midst the table of silver and the Sancgreall 
covered with red samite. Then Sir Galahad laid him down and slept; 
and when he woke ... he saw the city of Sarras. ... At the yearns 
end he saw before him the holy vessel, and a man kneeling upon his 

knees in the likeness of the bishop, which had about him a great fellowship 
of angels, as it had been Christ Himself. . . . And when he came to the sak- 
ering of the :Mass, and had done, anon he called Sir Galahad, and said unto 
him "Come forth, . . . and thou shalt see that which thou liast much 
desired to see." . . . And he beheld spiritual tilings . . . Sir T. Malory, 
History of Prince Arthur. 



20 TUE HOLY GRAIL. 

^90 And none might see who bare it, and it past. 

But every knight beheld his fellow's face 
As in a glory, and all the knights arose, 
And staring each at other like dumb men 
Stood, till I found a voice and sware a vow. 

" I sware a vow before them all, that I, 
Because I had not seen the Grail, would ride 
A twelvemonth and a day in quest of it, 
Until I found and saw it, as the nun 
My sister saw it ; and Galahad sware the vow, 
200 And good Sir Bors, our Lancelot's cousin, sware, 

And Lancelot sware, and many among the knic^hts 
And Gawain sware, and louder than the rest." 

Then spake the monk Ambrosius, asking him, 
♦' What said the King? Did Arthur take the vow ?" 

" Nay, for my lord," said Percivale, " the King, 
Was not in hall : for early that same day. 
Scaped through a cavern from a bandit hold, 
An outraged maiden sprang into the hall 
Crying on help : for all her shining hair 
Was smeared with earth, and either milky arm 
;io Red-rent with hooks of bramble, and all she wore 

Torn as a sail that leaves the rope is torn 
In tempest : so the King arose and went 
To smoke the scandalous hive of those wild bees 
That made such honey in his realm. Howbeit 
Some little of this marvel he too saw 
Eeturning o'er the plain that then began 
To darken under Camelot ; whence the King 
Looked up, calling aloud " Lo, there ! the roofs 
Of our great hall are rolled in thunder-smoke ! 
Pray Heaven, they be not smitten by the bolt.' 
For dear to Arthur was that hall of ours, 
As having there so oft with all his knights 
Feasted, and as the stateliest under heaven. 



THE HOLY GRAIL. 21 

" O brother, had you known our mighty hall, 
Which Merlin built for Arthur long ago 1 
For all the sacred mount of Camelot, 
And all the dim rich city, roof by roof, 
Tower after tower, spire beyond spire, 
By grove, and garden-lawn, and rushing brook, 230 

Climbs to the mighty hall that Merlin built. 
And four great zones of sculpture, set betwixt 
With many a mystic symbol, gird the hall. 
And in the lowest beasts are slaying men, 
And in the second men are slaying beasts, 
And on the third are warriors, perfect men. 
And on the fourth are men with growing wings, 
And over all one statue in the mold 
Of Arthur, made by Merlin, with a crown. 
And peaked wings pointed to the Northern Star. ,^0 

And eastward fronts the statue, and the crown 
And both the wings are made of gold, and flame 
At sunrise till the people in far fields, 
Wasted so often by the heathen hordes. 
Behold it, crying, 'We have still a King.' 

"And, brother, had you known our hall within, 
Broader and higher than any in all the lands ! 
Where twelve great windows blazon Arthur's wars. 
And all the light that falls upon the board 
Streams through the twelve great battles of our King. ^50 
Nay, one there is, and at the eastern end, 
Wealthy with wandering lines of mount and mere. 
Where Arthur finds the brand Excalibur. 

253. The brand Excalibur.— "After his fight with Pelhnore. King Arthur 
said to Merlin he had uo sword, and Merhn took him to a lake and Arthur 
saw an arm 'clothed in white samite, that held a fair sword in the hand.' 
Presently the Lady of the Lake appeared, and Arthur begged that he might 
have the sword, and the Lady told him to go aiid fetch it. W' lien he came 
to it he took it, and the arm went under the water again. "When about to 
die, King Arthur sent an attendant to cast the sword back again into the 
lake, and again the hand "clothed in white samite' appeared, caught it, 
and disappeared.""— i/i.s^ of Prince Arthur. 

King Arthur's sword Excalibur, 

Wrouglit bj' the lonely maiden of the lake; 

Nine years she wrDwjrlit it. sitting in tlie deeps 

IJpon the hidden bases of the hills.— lUorfe tVArthur, 



32 THE HOLT GRAIL. 

And also one to the west, and counter to it, 
And blank : and who shall blazon it ? when and how ?— 
O there, perchance, when all our wars are done, 
The brand Excalibur will be cast away. 

" So to this hall full quickly rode the King, 
In horror lest the work by Merlin wrought, 
260 Dreamlike, should on the sudden vanish, wrapt 

In unremorseful folds of rolling fire. 
And in he rode, and up I glanced, and saw 
The golded dragon sparkling over all : 
And many of those who burnt the hold, their arms 
Hacked, and their foreheads grimed with smoke, and 
Followed, and in among bright faces, ours, [seared 

Full of the vision, prest : and then the King 
Spake to me, being nearest, ' Percivale ' 
(Because the hall was all in tumult — some 
Vowing, and some protesting), ' what is this ? ' 



270 



' * brother, when I told him what had chanced, 
My sister's vision, and the rest, his face 
Darkened, as I have seen it more than once, 
When some brave deed seemed to be done in vain. 
Darken ; and ' Woe is me, my knights,' he cried, 
' Had I been here, ye had not sworn the vow.' 
Bold was mine answer, ' Had thyself been here, 
My King, thou wouldst have sworn.' ' Yea, yea, ' said 1 1 
' Art thou so bold and hast not seen the Grail ? ' 

" ' Nay, lord, I heard the sound, I saw the light, 
But since I did not see the Holy Thing, 
I sware a vow to follow it till I saw. ' 

"Then when he asked us, knight by knight, if any 
Had seen it, all their answers were as one : 
* Nay, lord, and therefore have we sworn our vows.' 

" ' Lo, now,' said Arthur, ' have ye seen a cloud ? 
What go ye into the wilderness to see ? ' 



THE HOLY GRAIL. 23 

" Then Galahad on the sudden, and in a voice 
Shrilling along the hall to Arthur, called, 
' But I, Sir Arthur, saw the Holy Grail, 290 

I saw the Holy Grail and heard a cry— 
'' Galahad, and Galahad, follow me/' ' 

" ' Ah, Galahad, Galahad,' said the King, ' for such 
As thou art is the vision, not for these. 
Thy holy nun and thou have seen a sign- 
Holier is none, my Percivale, than she — 
A sign to maim this Order which I made. 
But ye, that follow but the leader's bell ' 
(Brother, the King was hard upon his knights) 
' Taliessin is our fullest throat of song, ■vjo 

And one hath sung and all the dumb will sing. 
Lancelot is Lancelot, and hath overborne 
Five knights at once, and every younger knight, 
Unproven, holds himself as Lancelot, 
Till overborne by one, he learns— and ye, 
What are ye ? Galahads ?^no, nor Perci vales ' 
(For thus it pleased the King to range me close 
After Sir Galahad) ; ' nay,' said he, ' but men 
With strength and will to right the wronged, of power 
To lay the sudden heads of violence flat, 310 

Knights that in twelve great battles splashed and dyed 
The strong White Horse in his own heathen blood- 
But one hath seen, and all the blind will see. 
Go, since your vows are sacred, being made : 
Yet — for ye know the cries of all my realm 
Pass through this hall— how often, my knights, 
Your places being vacant at my side. 
This chance of noble deeds will come and go 
Unchallenged, while ye follow wandering fires 
Lost in the quagmire ! Many of you, yea most, 320 



300. Taliessin.— Son of St. Henwig, chief of the bards of the West, in the 
time of King Arthur. . . ., 

311. Twelve great battles.— Resulting in twelve victories over the 
SaxoHS. 



24 THE HOLY GRAIL. 

Return no more : ye think I show m3'self 
Too dark a prophet : come now, let us meet 
The morrow morn once more in one full field 
Of gracious pastime, that once more the King, 
Before ye leave him for this Quest, may count 
The yet-unbroken strength of all his knights, 
Eejoicing in that Order which he made. ' 

" So when the sun broke next from under ground, 
All the great table of our Arthur closed 
330 And clashed in such a tourney and so full, 

So many lances broken — never yet 
Had Camelot seen the like, since Arthur came : 
And I myself and Galahad, for a strength 
Was in us from the vision, overthrew 
So many knights that all the people cried, 
And almost burst the barriers in their heat. 
Shouting, ' Sir Galahad and Sir Percivale ! ' 

" But when the next day brake from under ground— 
O brother, had you known our Camelot, 

340 Built by old kings, age after age, so old 

The King himself had fears that it would fall. 

So strange, and rich, and dim ; for where the roofs 

Tottered toward each other in the sky, 

Met foreheads all along the street of those 

Who watched us pass ; and lower, and where the long 

Rich galleries, lady-laden, weighed the necks 

Of dragons clinging to the crazy walls. 

Thicker than drops from thunder, showers of flowers 

Fell as we past ; and men and boys astride 

350 On wyvern, lion, dragon, griffin, swan. 

At all the corners, named us each by name. 
Calling ' God speed ! ' but in the ways below 
The knights and ladies wept, and rich and poor 

328. Sun next broke from under ground.- Referring to its appear- 
ance when rising in the horizon. 
350. On wyvern — A wyvern was a sort of flying serpent. 



THE HOLY GRAIL. 25 

Wept, and the King himself could hardly speak 

For grief, and all in middle street the Queen, 

Who rode by Lancelot, wailed and shrieked aloud, 

' This madness has come on us for our sins.' 

So to the Gate of the three Queens we came. 

Where Arthur's wars are rendered mystically, 

And thence departed every one his way. 360 

" And I was lifted up in heart, and thought 
Of all my late-shown prowess in ttie lists, 
How my strong lance had beaten down the knights, 
So many and famous names ; and never yet 
Had heaven appeared so blue, nor earth so green, 
For all my blood danced in me, and I knew 
That I should light upon the Holy Grail. 

"Thereafter, the dark warning of our King, 
That most of us would follow wandering fires, 
Came like a driving gloom across my mind. 370 

Then every evil word I had spoken once, 
And every evil thought I had thought of old, 
And every evil deed I ever did, 
Awoke and cried, 'This Quest is not for thee.' 
And lifting up mine eyes, I found myself 
Alone, and in a land of sand and thorns, 
And I was thirsty even unto death; 
And I, too, cried, ' This Quest is not for thee.' 

" And on I rode, and when I thought my thirst 
Would slay me, saw deep lawns, and then a brook 380 

With one sharp rapid, where the crisping white 
Played ever back upon the sloping wave. 
And took both ear and eye ; and o'er the brook 
Were apple-trees, and apples by the brook 
Fallen, and on the lawns. ' I will rest here,' 
I said, ' I am not worthy of the Quest ;' 
But even while I drank the brook, and ate 



355. Queen.— Guiiiivere, King Arthur's wife, 



^0 THE HOLY GRATL. 

The goodly apples, all these things at once 
Fell into dust, and I was left alone, 
390 And thirsting, in a land of sand and thorns. 

" And then behold a woman at a door 
Spinning ; and fair the house whereby she sat, 
And kind the woman's eyes and innocent. 
And all her bearing gracious ; and she rose 
Opening her arms to meet me, as who should say, 
' Rest here ;' but when I touched her, lo ! she, too, 
Fell into dust and nothing, and the house 
Became no better than a broken shed. 
And in it a dead babe ; and also this 
400 Fell into dust, and I was left alone. 

"And on I rode, and greater was my thirst. 
Then flashed a yellow gleam across the world, 
And where it smote the plowshare in the field, 
The plowman left his plowing, and fell down 
Before it ; where it glittered on her pail, 
The milkmaid left her milking, and fell down 
Before it, and I knew not why, but thought 
' The sun is rising,' though the sun had risen. 
Then was I ware of one that on me moved 

410 In golden armor with a crown of gold 

About a casque all jewels ; and his horse 
In golden armor jewelled everywhere : 
And on the splendor came, flashing me blind ; 
And seemed to me the Lord of all the world. 
Being so huge. But when I thought he meant 
To crush me, moving on me, io ! he, too. 
Opened his arms lo embrace me as he came, 
And up I went and touched him, and he, too, 
Fell into dust, and I was left alone 

420 And wearying in a land of sand and thorns. 

" And I rode on and found a mighty hill. 
And on the top, a city walled ; the spires 



THE HOLY GRAIL. 37 

Pricked with incredible pinnacles into heaven. 

And by the gateway stirred a crowd ; and these 

Cried to me climbing, ' Welcome, Percivale ! 

Thou mightiest and thou purest among men ! ' 

And glad was I and clomb, but found at top 

No man, nor any voice. And thence I past 

Far through a ruinous city, and I saw 

That man had once dwelt there ; but there I found +30 

Only one man of an exceeding age. 

' Where is that goodly company,' said I, 

' That so cried out upon me ? ' and he had 

Scarce any voice to answer, and yet gasped, 

' Whence and what art thou ? ' and even as he spoke 

Fell into dust, and disappeared, and I 

Was left alone once more, and cried in grief, 

' Lo, if I find the Holy Grail itself 

And touch it, it will crumble into dust.' 

"And thence I dropt into a lowly vale, 44° 

Low as the hill was high, and where the vale 
Was lowest, found a chapel, and thereby 
A holy hermit in a hermitage. 
To whom I told my phantoms, and he said : 

" ' O son, thou hast not true humility. 
The highest virtue, mother of them all ; 
For when the Lord of all things made Himself 
Naked of glory for His mortal change, 
" Take thou my robe," she said, " for all is thine," 
And all her form shone forth with sudden light 450 

So that the angels were amazed, and she 
Followed Him down, and like a flying star 
Led on the gray-haired wisdom of the east ; 
But her thou hast not known : for what is this 
Thou thoughtest of thy prowess and thy sins ? 
Thou hast not lost thyself to save thyself 
As Galahad.' When the hermit made an end, 
lu silver armor suddenly Galahad shone 



28 THE HOLY GRAIL. 

Before us, and against the chapel door 
460 Laid lance, and entered, and we knelt in prayer. 

And there the hermit slaked my burning thirst, 
And at the sacring of the mass I saw 
The holy elements alone ; but he, 
'Saw ye no more ? I, Galahad, saw the Grail, 
The Holy Grail, descend upon the shrine : 
I saw the fiery face as of a child 
That smote itself into the bread, and went ; 
And hither am I come ; and never yet 
Hath what thy sister taught me first to see, 
470 This Holy Thing, failed from my side, nor come 

Covered, but moving with me night and day, 
Fainter by day, but always in the night 
Blood-red, and sliding down tlie blackened marsh 
Blood-red, and on the naked mountain-top 
Blood-red, and in the sleeping mere below 
Blood-red. And in the strength of this I rode, 
Shattering all evil customs everywhere. 
And past through Pagan realms, and made them mine, 
And clashed with Pagan hordes, and bore them down 
480 And broke through all, and in tlie strength of this 

Come victor. But my time is hard at hand. 
And hence I go ; and one will crown me king 
Far in the spiritual city ; and come thou, too. 
For thou shalt see the vision when I go.' 

" While thus he spake, his eye, dwelling on mine. 
Drew me, with power upon me, till I grew 
One with him, to believe as he believed. 
Then, when the day began to wane, we went. 

" There rose a hill that none but man could climb, 
^go Scarred with a hundred wintry watercourses — 

Storm at the top, and when we gained it, storm 
Round us and death ; for every moment glanced 

463. The holy elements.— The bread and wine pf the Eucharist. 
481, Come,— Tense? 



THE HOLY (iEAIL. 



29 



His silver arms and gloomed : so quick and thick 
The lightnings here and there to left and right 
Struck, till the dry old trunks about us, dead, 
Yea, rotten with a hundred years of death. 
Sprang into fire : and at the base we found 
On either hand, as far as eye could see, 
A great black swamp and of an evil smell. 
Part black, part whitened with the bones of men. 
Not to be crost, save that some ancient king 
Had built a way, where, linked with many abridge, 
A thousand piers ran into the great Sea. 
And Galahad fled along them bridge by bridge. 
And every bridge as quickly as he crost 
Sprang into fire and vanished, though I yearned 
To follow ; and thrice above him all the heavens 
Opened and blazed with thunder such as seemed 
Shoutings of all the sons of God : and first 
At once I saw him far on the great Sea, 
In silver-shining armor starry-clear ; 
And o'er his head the holy vessel hung 
Clothed in white samite or a luminous cloud. 
And with exceeding swiftness ran the boat. 
If boat it were— I saw not whence it came. 
And when the heavens opened and blazed again 
Roaring, I saw him like a silver star— 
And had he set the sail, or had the boat 
Become a living creature clad with wings ? 
And o'er his head the Holy Vessel hung 
Redder than any rose, a joy to me. 
For now I knew the veil had been withdrawn. 
Then in a moment when they blazed again 
Opening, I saw the least of little stars 
Down on the waste, and straight beyond the star 
I saw the spiritual city and all her spires 
And gateways in a glory like one pearl- 
No larger, though the goal of all the saints- 
Strike from the sea ; and from the star there shot 



510 



520 



30 THE HOLY GRAIL. 

530 A rose-red sparkle to the city, and there 

Dwelt, and I knew it was the Holy Grail, 
Which never eyes on earth again shall see. 
Then fell the floods of heaven drowning the deep. 
And how my feet recrost the deathful ridge 
No memory In me lives ; but that I touched 
The chapel-doors at dawn I know ; and thence 
Taking my war-horse from the holy man. 
Glad that no phantom vexed me more, returned 
To whence I came, the gate of Arthur's wars." 

540 " O brother," asked Ambrosius, — " for in sooth 

These ancient books — and they would win thee — teem, 

Only I find not there this Holy Grail, 

With miracles and marvels like to these, 

Not all unlike ; which oftentime I read, 

Who read but on my breviary with ease. 

Till my head swims ; and then go forth and pass 

Down to the little thorpe that lies so close. 

And almost plastered like a martin's nest 

To these old walls — and mingle with our folk ; 

5-0 And knowing every honest face of theirs 

As well as ever shepherd knew his sheep. 
And every homely secret in their hearts. 
Delight myself with gossip and old wives. 
And ills and aches, and teethings, lyings-in, 
And mirthful sayings, children of the place, 
That have no meaning half a league away : 
Or lulling random squabbles when they rise, 
Chaff erings and chatterings at the market-cross, 
Kejoice, small man, in this small world of mine, 

26Q Yea, even in their hens and in their eggs — 

O brother, saving this Sir Galahad, 
Came ye on none but phantoms in your quest, 
No man, no woman ?" 

J Then Sir Percivale : 

'' All men, to one so bound by such a vow, 



THE UOLT GRAIL. 31 

And women were as phantoms. O, my brother, 

Why wilt thou shame me to confess to thee 

How far I faUered from my quest and vow ? 

For after I had hiin so many nights, 

A bedmate of the snail and eft and snake, 570 

In grass and burdock, I was changed to wan 

And meager, and the vision had not come ; 

And then I chanced upon a goodly town 

With one great dwelling in the middle of it ; 

Thither I made, and there was I disarmed 

By maidens each as fair as any flower : 

But when they led me into hall, behold, 

The Princess of that castle was the one, 

Brother, and that one only, w-ho had ever 

Made my heart leap ; for when I moved of old 580 

A slender page about her father's hall. 

And she a slender maiden, all my heart 

Went after her with longing : yet we twain 

Had never kissed a kiss, or vowed a vow. 

And now I came upon her once again, 

And one had wedded her, and he was dead, 

And all his land and wealth and state w'ere hers. 

And while I tarried, every day she set 

A banquet richer than the day before 

By me ; for all her longing and her will 590 

Was toward me as of old ; till one fair morn, 

I walking to and fro beside a stream 

That flashed across her orchard underneath 

Her castle- walls, she stole upon my walk, 

And calling me the greatest of all knights, 

Embraced me, and so kissed me the first time, 

And gave herself and all her wealth to me. 

Then I rememberd Arthur's warning word. 

That most of us would follow^ wandering fires, 

And the Quest faded in my heart. Anon, 600 

The heads of all her people drew to me. 

With supplication both of knees and tongue : 



6io 



33 THE HOLY GRATL. 

* We have heard of thee : thou art oui' greatest knight, 

Our Lady says it, and we well believe : 

Wed thou our Lady, and rule over us, 

And thou shalt be as Arthur in our land.' 

O me, my brother ! but one night my vow 

Burnt me within, so that I rose and fled. 

But wailed and wept, and hated mine own self, 

And even the Holy Quest, and all but her ; 

Then after I was joined with Galahad 

Cared not for her, nor anything upon earth." 

Then said the monk, "Poor men, when yule is cold, 
Must be content to sit by little fires. 
And this am I, so that ye care for me 
Ever so little ; yea, and blest be Heaven 
That brought thee here to this poor house of ours 
Where all the brethren are so hard, to warm 
My cold heart with a friend : but O the pity 

^^° To find thine own first love once more — to hold, 

Hold her a wealthy bride within thine arms. 
Or all but hold, and then — cast her aside. 
Foregoing all her sweetness, like a weed. 
For we that want the warmth of double life. 
We that are plagued with dreams of something sweet 
Beyond all sweetness in a life so rich, — 
Ah, blessed Lord, I speak too earthlywise, 
Seeing I never strayed beyond the cell, 
But live like an old badger in his earth, 

^30 With earth about him everywhere, despite 

All fast and penance. Saw ye none beside, 
None of your knights ?" 

" Yea so," said Percivale : 
" One night my pathway swerving east, I saw 
The pelican on the casque of our Sir Bors 
All in the middle of the rising moon : 

613. Yule.— The yule log, a large log foi ming the foundation of the fire. 



THE HOLY GRAIL. 33 

And toward him spurred, and hailed him, and he me, 
And each made joy of either ; then he asked, 
' Where is he ? hast thou seen him — Lancelot ?— Once,' 
Said good Sir Bors, ' he dashed across me— mad, 640 

And maddening what he rode : and when I cried, 
' ' Ridest thou then so hotly on a quest 
So holy," Lancelot shouted, " Stay me not ! 
I have been the sluggard, and I ride apace, 
For now there is a lion in the way." 
So vanished.' 

" Then Sir Bors had ridden on 
Softly, and sorrowing for our Lancelot, 
Because his former madness, once the talk 
And scandal of our table, had returned ; 650 

For Lancelot's kith and kin so worship him 
That ill to him is ill to them ; to Bors 
Beyond the rest : he well had been content 
Not to have seen, so Lancelot might have seen, 
The Holy Cup of healing ; and. Indeed, 
Being so clouded with his grief and love. 
Small heart was his after the Holy Quest : 
n' God would send the vision, well : if not. 
The Quest and he were in the hands of Heaven. 

''And then, with small adventure met, Sir Bors 660 

Rode to the lonest tract of all the realm. 
And found a people there among their crags, 
Our race and blood, a remnant that were left 
Paynim amid their circles, and the stones 
They pitch up straight to heaven : and their wise men 
Were strong in that old magic which can trace 
The wandering of the stars, and scoffed at him 
And this high Quest as at a simple thing : 
Told him he followed — almost Arthur's words — 



664. Paynim.— Probably tlie Drniils'. Stonehenge olTers an instance of 
their strange religion. Ongiiially it was a circle of thirty stones, fourteen 
feet liig:h. Such circles were c;i lied "doom rings,"" and each containeil au 
altar on which victims were offered in sacrifice. 



34 



THE HOLY GRAIL. 



670 A mocking fire : ' what other fire than he, 

Whereby the blood beats, and the blossom blows. 
And the sea rolls, and all the world is warmed?' 
And when his answer chafed them, the rough crowd, 
Hearing he had a difference with their priests. 
Seized him, and bound and plunged him into a cell 
Of great piled stones ; and lying bounden there 
In darkness through innumerable hours 
He heard the hollow-ringing heavens sweep 
Over him, till by miracle— what else ?— 

680 Heavy as it w^as, a great stone slipt and fell, 

Such as no wind could move : and through the gap 
Glimmered the streaming scud : then came a night 
Still as the day was loud ; and through the gap 
The seven clear stars of Arthur's Table Round— 
For, brother, so one night, because they roll 
Through such a round in heaven, w^e named the stars, 
Rejoicing in ourselves and in our King— 
And these, like bright eyes of familiar friends, 
In on him shone : ' And then to me, to me,' 

690 Said good Sir Bors, ' beyond all hopes of mine, 

Who scarce had prayed or asked it for myself— 
Across the seven clear stars— O grace to me— 
In color like the fingers of a hand 
Before a burning taper, the sweet Grail 
Glided and past, and close upon it pealed 
A sharp quick thunder.' Afterwards, a maid, 
Who kept our holy faith among her kin 
In secret, entering, loosed and let him go." 

To whom the monk : " And I remember now 
700 ' That pelican on the casque : Sir Bors it was 
Who spake so low and sadly at our board ; 
And mighty reverent at our grace was he : 
A square-set man and honest ; and his eyes, 
An out-door sign of all the warmth within, 
Smiled with his lips— a smile beneath a cloud, 
But heaven had meant it for a sunny one : 



THE HOLY GRAIL. 35 

Ay, ay, Sir Bors, who else ? But when ye reached 
The city, found ye all your knights returned, 
Or was there sooth in Arthur's prophecy. 
Tell me, and what said each, and what the King ?" 

Then answered Percivale : " And that can I, 
Brother, and truly ; since the living words 
Of so great men as Lancelot and our King 
Pass not from door to door and out again, 
But sit within the house. O, when we reached 
The city, our horses stumbling as they trode 
On heaps of ruin, hornless unicorns. 
Cracked basilisks, and splintered cockatrices, 
And shattered talbots, wliich had left the stones 
Raw, that they fell from, brought us to the hall. 

' ' And there sat Arthur on the dais-throne. 
And those that had gone out upon the Quest, 
Wasted and worn, and but a tithe of them, 
And those that had not, stood before the King, 
Who, wlien he saw me, rose, and bade me hail, 
Saying, ' A welfare in thine eye reproves 
Our fear of some disastrous chance for thee 
On hill, or pl-ain, at sea, or flooding ford. 
So fierce a gale made havoc here of late 
Among the strange devices of our kings ; 
Yea, shook this newer, stronger hall of ours, 
And from the statue Merlin molded for us 
Half-wrenched a golden wing ; but now— the Quest, 
This vision— hast thou seen the Holy Cup, 
That Joseph brought of old to Glastonbury ? ' 

" So when I told him all thyself hast heard, 
Ambrosius, and my fresh but fixt resolve 
To pass away into the quiet life. 
He answered not, but, sharply turning, asked 
Of Gawain, ' Gawain, was this Quest for thee ? ' 

709. Sooth.— Truth. 



740 



36 THE HOLY GRAIL. 

" ' Nay, lord,' said Gawain, ' not for such as I. 
Therefore I communed with a saintly man. 
Who made me sure the Quest was not for me ; 
For I was much awearied of the Quest : 
But found a silk pavilion in a field, 
And merry maidens in it ; and then this gale 
Tore my pavilion from the tenting-pin, 
And blew my merry maidens all about 
With all discomfort ; yea, and but for this, 

750 My twelvemonth and a day were pleasant to me.' 

" He ceased ; and Arthur turned to whom at first 
He saw not, for Sir Bors, on entering, pushed 
Athwart the throng to Lancelot, caught his hand, 
Held it, and there, half-hidden by him, stood. 
Until the King espied him, saying to him, 
' Hail, Bors ! if ever loyal man and true 
Could see it, thou hast seen the Grail ;' and Bors, 
' Ask me not, for I may not speak of it, 
I saw it:' and the tears were in his eyes. 

760 ''Then there remained but Lancelot, for the rest 

Spake but of sundry perils in the storm ; 
Perhaps, like him of Cana in Holy Writ, 
Our Arthur kept his best until the last ; 
' Thou, too, my Lancelot,' asked the King, ' my friend, 
Our mightiest, hath this Quest availed for thee ? ' 

" ' Our mightiest ! ' answered Lancelot, With a groan; 
' O King ! ' — and when he paused, methought I spied 
A dying fire of madness in his eyes — 
' O King, my friend, if friend of thine I be, 
770 Happier are those that welter in their sin, 

Swine in the mud, that cannot see for slime, 
Slime of the ditch : but in me lived a sin 
So strange, of such a kind, that all of pure. 
Noble, and knightly in me twined and clung 
Round that one sin, until the wholesome flower 



763. Kept his best until the last.— See John ii. 1-11. 



THE HOLY GRAIL. 37 

And poisonous grew together, each as each, 

Not to be plucked asunder ; and when thy knights 

Sware, I sware with them only in the hope 

That could I touch or see the Holy Grail 

They might be plucked asunder. Then I spake 780 

To one most holy saint, who wept and said, 

That save they could be plucked asunder, all 

My quest were but in vain ; to whom I vowed 

That 1 would work according as he willed. 

And forth I went, and while I yearned and strove 

To tear the twain asunder in my heart, 

My madness came upon me as of old. 

And whipt me into waste fields far away ; 

There was I beaten down by little men. 

Mean knights, to whom the moving of my sword 790 

And shadow of my spear had been enow 

To scare them from me once ; and then I came 

All in my folly to the naked shore, 

Wide flats, where nothing but coarse grasses grew ; 

But such a blast, my King, began to blow, 

So loud a blast along the shore and sea. 

Ye could not hear the waters for the blast, 

Though heapt in mounds and ridges all the sea 

Drove like a cataract, and all the sand 

Swept like a river, and the clouded heavens soo 

Were shaken with the motion and the sound. 

And blackening in the sea-foam swayed a boat, 

Half-swallowed in it, anchored with a chain ; 

And in my madness to myself I said, 

*' I will embark and I will lose myself. 

And in the great sea wash away my sin." 

I burst the chain, I sprang into the boat. 

Seven days I drove along the dreary deep. 

And with me drove the moon and all the stars ; 

And the wind fell, and on the seventh night 810 

I heard the shingle grinding in the surge, 

And felt the boat shock earth, and looking up, 



38 THE HOLY GRAIL. 

Behold, the enchanted towers of Carbonek, 

A castle like a rock upon a rock, 

With chasm-like portals open to the sea. 

And steps that met the breaker ! there was none 

Stood near it but a lion on each side 

That kept the entry, and the moon was full. 

Then from the boat 1 leapt, and up the stairs. 

820 There drew my sword. With sudden-flaring manes 

Those tw^o great beasts rose upright like a man, 
Each gript a shoulder, and I stood between ; 
And, when I would have smitten them, heard a voice, 
"Doubt not, go forward ; if thou doubt, the beasts 
Will tear thee piecemeal." Then with violence 
The sword was dashed from out my hand, and fell. 
And up into the sounding hall I past ; 
But nothing in the sounding hall I saw. 
No bench nor table, painting on the wall 

830 Or shield of night ; only the rounded moon 

Through the tall oriel on the rolling sea. 
But always in the quiet house I heard, 
Clear as a lark, high o'er me as a lark, 
A sweet voice singing in the topmost tower 
To the eastward : up I climbed a thousand steps 
With pain : as in a dream I seemed to climb 
Forever : at the last I reached a door, 
A light was in the crannies, and I heard, 
" Glory and joy and honor to our Lord 

840 And to the Holy Vessel of the Grail. " 

Then in my madness I essayed the door ; 
It gave ; and through a stormy glare, a heat 
As from a seven-times heated furnace, I, 
Blasted and burnt, and blinded as I was, 
With such a fierceness that I swooned away — 
O, yet meth ought I saw the Holy Grail, 
All palled in crimson, samite, and around 
Great angels, awful shapes, and wings and eyes. 

831. Tall oriel.— Meaning? 



850 



86o 



THE HOLY GKAIL. 39 

And but for all my madness and my sin, 
And then my swooning, I had sworn I saw 
That which I saw ; but what I saw was veiled 
And covered ; and this Quest was not for me.' 

"So speaking, and here ceasing, Lancelot left 
The hall long silent, till Sir Gawain— nay. 
Brother, I need not tell thee foolish words,— 
A reckless and irreverent knight was he, 
Now boldened by the silence of his King,— 
Well, I will tell thee : ' O King, my liege,' he said, 
' Hath Gawain failed in any quest of thine ? 
When have I stinted stroke in foughten field ? 
But as for thine, my good friend Percivale, 
Thy holy nun and thou have driven men mad, 
Yea, made our mightiest madder than our least. 
But by mine eyes and by mine ears I swear, 
I will be deafer than the blue-eyed cat. 
And thrice as blind as any noonday owd, 
To holy virgins in their ecstasies, 
Henceforward. ' 

" ' Deafer,' said the blameless King, 
'Gawain, and blinder unto holy things 870 

Hope not to make thyself by idle vows, 
Being too blind to have desire to see. 
But if indeed there came a sign from heaven, 
Blessed are Bors, Lancelot, and Percivale, 
For these have seen according to their sight. 
For every fiery prophet in old times. 
And all the sacred madness of the bard, 
When God made music through them, could but speak 
His music by the framework and the chord ; 
And as ye saw it ye have spoken truth. 880 

" 'Nay— but thou errest, Lancelot : never yet 
Could all of true and noble in knight and man 
Twine round one sin, whatever it might be. 
With such a closeness, but apart there grew, 



goo 



40 THE HOLY GRAIL. 

Save that he were the swine thou spakest of, 
Some root of knighthood and pure nobleness ; 
Whereto see thou, that it may bear its flower. 

" ' And spake I not too truly, my knights? 
Was 1 too dark a prophet when I said 
890 To those who went upon the Holy Quest, 

That most of them would follow wandering fires, 
Lost in the quagmire ?— lost to me and gone. 
And left me gazing at a barren board, 
And a lean Order— scarce returned a tithe— 
And out of those to whom the vision came 
My greatest hardly will believe he saw ; 
Another had beheld it afar off. 
And leaving human wrongs to right themselves. 
Cares but to pass into the silent life. 
And one hath had the vision face to face. 
And now his chair desires him here in vain. 
However they may crown him otherwhere. 

" ' And some among you held, that if the King 
Had seen the sight he would have sworn the vow ; 
Not easily, seeing that the King must guard 
That which he rules, and is as but the hind 
To w^hom a space of land is given to plow. 
Who may not wander from the allotted field 
Before his work be done ; but, being done, 
Let visions of the night or of the day 
Come, as they will ; and many a time they come, 
Until this earth he walks on seems not earth. 
This light that strikes his eyeball is not light, 
This air that smites his forehead is not air 
But vision— yea, his very hand and foot- 
In moments when he feels he cannot die. 
And knows himself no vision to himself. 
Nor the high God a vision, nor that One 
Who rose again : ye have seen what ye have seen. 

" So spake the King : I knew not all he meant." 



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