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 NOTES 
 
 ON THE 
 
 ARTHURIAN EPIC 
 
 Ct^c C^bylls of tl^c King 
 
 WILLOUGHBY READE, M. El 
 
 :iil:.,|,.J| iill*" 
 

 Copyright, 1908, by 
 
 Willoqg^hby Reade, Episcopal High School 
 
 (near) Alexandria. Va. 
 
0- 
 
 V 
 
 
 FOREWORD. 
 
 The main purpose of these notes is to set forth briefly 
 certain facts concerning the Arthurian Epic in general 
 and the Epic's latest setting, "The Idylls of the King" in 
 particular, which may help the young student to a fuller 
 knowledge of this wonderful romance than he might get 
 without such help. And because I believe that without 
 a proper understanding of the inner meaning of the 
 Idylls, the reader will fail to grasp the Laureate's pur- 
 pose, *I have dwelt particularly on the parable and 
 allegory which they contain. 
 
 There are some, I know, who criticise such treatment 
 of the Idylls as unnecessary ; some even who claim, in 
 spite of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that 
 neither parable nor allegory is intended. Such literal 
 folk are, however, in a painful minority among Tennyso- 
 nian scholars. 
 
 This poem, as much as any in the language, requires 
 to be read with the heart rather than with the head. 
 The warfare between Soul and Sense is all around us, 
 and those who are fighting under the banner of the cross 
 may well find here in the character of the old Celtic King 
 an example which shall fire their hearts that they may do 
 noble deeds, and which shall make them strive like him to 
 
 " Have power on this dark land to lighten it, 
 And power on this dead world to make it live." 
 
In this restless age of commercialism run mad, of the 
 wild struggle for wealth and place, it is good to turn 
 away for a little time to a book like this, and, drinking 
 deep of its teachings and pondering well its subtle mean- 
 ings, feel oneself lifted into that purer, clearer air in 
 which the great Laureate lived. 
 
 WILLOUGHBY READE. 
 
 Episcopal High School, 
 
 {near) Alexandria, Virginia. 
 
THE ARTHURIAN EPIC. 
 
 THE SUBJECT OF THE EPIC. 
 
 The subject of the Arthurian Epic is far grander than 
 that of the other great epics of the world. It is not a 
 story of a war waged for the recovery ot a stolen queen 
 (Iliad) ; not a recital of the pursuit of revenge (Nibel- 
 ungenlied) ; not a song of earthly glory, vanity and war- 
 fare (Chanson de Roland) ; but a history of men banded 
 together under a noble leader, and sworn to the grand 
 object of redressing human wrong and upholding against 
 heathen invaders the faith of "our fair father Christ." 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE EPIC. 
 
 Between 449 and 550 A. D., three Teutonic tribes, 
 the Angles, Saxons and Jutes made many invasions of 
 Britain, conquered the eastern part of the country, and 
 drove the native Celts (Kymry) back into Wales and 
 Cornwall, some of them crossing even into Armorica or 
 Brittany. Arthur was the leader of the Kymry, who 
 were Christians, against the heathen Saxons. For some 
 time he was successful, defeating the Saxons in twelve 
 great battles, but was at last conquered, when he became 
 the hero of the vanquished race. His memor}' was kept 
 alive by the Welsh minstrels, and as time went by these 
 songs were added to and multiplied a hundred fold, and 
 such wonderful deeds were ascribed to the king that at 
 last he became almost a demi-god. 
 
THE WJ<ITfc;j<S OF THE EPIC. 
 
 Group I , the Bards. About the middle of the eij^hteenth 
 century, Owen Jones, a poor Welsh boy, conceived the 
 idea of giving to the world the wealth of Celtic literature 
 which he had heard was stored away in the castles of the 
 rich He knew that without a golden key he could not 
 unlock this storehouse, and so he went to London as a 
 clerk and at last made a fortune in the fur trade. This 
 he spent in employing copyists of the old Welsh bardic 
 poetry which was afterwards translated into English. 
 These poems were published under the title of "The 
 Myvyrian Archailogy of Wales." 
 
 The most celebrated collection of Welsh stories pub- 
 lished in the nineteenth century is Lady Guest's transla- 
 tion of "The Red Book of Hergest," known as " The 
 Mabinogian." (Welsh, main nog, a minstrel.) 
 
 The first mention of Arthur is found in the poems of 
 three of these famous bards, contemporary, or almost 
 contemporary, with Arthur : Llywarch Hen (Hen. Welsh 
 for aged), Aneurin and Taliessin. Llywarch, when young, 
 served under Arthur, and was present at the battle of 
 Longport (501 A. D. ). 
 
 Group 2, the Chroniclers. Nennius, the historian of 
 the eighth century, tells us of twelve great battles fought 
 bv Arthur, in all of which the Celts were victorious. In 
 the last of these, Badon Hill, Arthur slew 960 Saxons 
 with his own hand (!) 
 
 In I 147 Geoffrey of Monmouth made a translation of 
 an old Welsh MS., " Btut-y-Brenhined " (A History of 
 the Welsh Kings), which Walter Calenius, Archdeacon of 
 Oxford, had brought to England from Brittany. A large 
 part of this "translation" was doubtless added by 
 Geoffrey as it contains many legends common in Wales 
 but unknown to the Bretons. 
 
5 
 
 In 1 1 55 Robert (?) Wace translated Geoffrey's book into 
 Norman French under the title of "Li Roman de Brut.'' 
 (The Romance of Brutus.)* 
 
 In 1205, Layamon, a Welsh priest, translated this 
 work into Saxon under the title " Brut." (N. B. — This 
 is the first setting of the legends in English.) 
 
 Group J, the Romancers. The chief of these is Walter 
 Map (or Mapes), poet and theologian at the court of 
 Henry II. He added (circum 1 185 J to the stories already 
 in existence "La Questedel Saint Graal." " Le Roman 
 de Lancelot du Lac, " and ' ' Le Roman de La Mort Artus. " 
 His "Quest of the Holy Grail" gives the stories for the 
 first time a central point of unity and thus makes an epic 
 possible, t These additions were evidently made for the 
 purpose of spiritualizing the romances. 
 
 Min.or writes of this group : Robert de Borron, Luces 
 de Gast, Helie de Borron and Crestien de Troyes. 
 
 In 1485 Sir Thomas Malory (Maleore) published (in 
 English) his "La Mort Dkrthur." This was one of the 
 first books printed by Caxton. The work is largely a 
 compilation of existing stories, has but little plot and 
 does not preserve the unities. Still it has a magnetic 
 charm which few can resist. 
 
 For more than three hundred years after this time there 
 were no other writers of the Arthurian Epic. In the 
 splendid realism of Shakespeare, in the stern puritanism 
 of Milton, and in the elegance of the Critical School the 
 mystic Arthur was forgotten. Then caine the age of 
 Napoleon, of Wellington and of Nelson, and hero-worship 
 was again revived. Scott wrote his legends of chivalry, 
 
 *Brutus, son of Ascanius, after the fall of Troy, is said to have been 
 directed by the oracle of Diana at Leogecia to seek an island in the west- 
 ern sea where he might found a second Troy. He set sail, reached 
 Britain and founded the ancient British Empire. 
 
 fSee definition of epic, page 11. 
 
two editions of Malory»were published in 1817, and in 
 1842 Alfred, Lord Tennyson j^ave to the world his 
 Morte d' Arthur, the first in the order in which they were 
 written, of the " Idylls of the King." 
 
 CHIVALRY IN THE EPIC. 
 
 The element of chivalry is an anachronism. Wanting, 
 of course, in the Welsh poems, it. was added by the 
 Chroniclers to give the sto'ries a setting suitable to 
 the times. 
 
 TENNYSON'S FIRST USE OF THE EPIC. 
 
 The poems The Lady of Shalott and The Palace of Art 
 were published in 1832. 
 
 Sir Gallahad, Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere and 
 Morte d' Arthur ("The Epic") in 1842. 
 
 TENNYSON'S PLACE IN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 Time is one of the truest tests of a classic. We are 
 yet. too near to Tennyson to make any safe prediction as- 
 to his final place among the masters of English song. 
 He is, however, without doubt the greatest representative 
 poet of the nineteenth century. " In the future," says Dr. 
 Van Dyke, '"when men call the roll of poets who have 
 given splendor to the name of England, they will begin 
 with Shakespeare atid Milton — and who shall have the 
 third place if it be not Tennyson .-*" And Stedman says 
 in speaking of the Idylls: "And. indeed, if this be not 
 the greatest narrative* poem since 'Paradise Lost,' what 
 other English production are you to name in its place .-* " 
 
 FORMS OF VERSE IN THE IDYLLS. 
 
 The Idylls are written in blank verse. In regular 
 blank verse there is no rhyme ; no stanza (but paragraph) 
 
division ; a pause at end of line. Each line has five 
 iambic feet and usually contains (at least) one caesura, 
 generally near the middle of the line. Example of 
 normal line : 
 
 "The war | of Time || against | the soul | of man." 
 
 Now a succession of such lines would prove extremely 
 monotonous. Hence the many variations of the regular 
 form. Chief of these : 
 
 I. Variety in use of caesura: 
 
 (a) Line with more than one caesura : 
 
 " Damsel," || Sir Gareth answered gently, || " say " 
 
 (b) Caesura near beginning of line : 
 
 "Crazed ! || How the villain lifted up his voice." 
 
 (c) Caesura near end of line : 
 
 " How can ye keep me tethered to you ? || Shame ! " 
 
 2. The run-on line : 
 
 " Took horse, descended the slope street, and past 
 The weird white gate." 
 
 3. Change in stress. 
 
 (a) By omitting one stress : 
 
 "Thou art the kingliest of all kitchen knaves." 
 
 (b) By adding a stress : 
 
 " 'Nox'— ' Mors,' beneath five figures, armed men," 
 
 (c) By using some kind of foot other than the iambic : 
 
 "Then would he whistle rapid as any lark." 
 
 4. By change in length of line : 
 (a) Eleven syllable line : 
 
 "Device and sorcery and unhappiness " 
 
(b) Twelve S}llable^line : 
 
 " 'O Lancelot, Lancelot,' and she clapped her hands." 
 
 (c) Thirteen syllable line : 
 
 " Camelot, a city of shadowy palaces." 
 5. Extra unaccented syllable at end of line : 
 
 " Less dull than thou, will hide with mantling flowers." 
 PECULIARITIES OF THE -VERSE. 
 
 1. Large use of Saxon element. (The four Gospels, 
 6 per cent; Shakespeare, 10 per cent; Tennyson, 12 
 per cent.) 
 
 2. Regular repeated structure and other forms of 
 repetition : 
 
 " and grew 
 
 Forgetful of his promise to the King, 
 Forgetful of the falcon and the hunt, 
 Forgetful of the tilt and tournament, 
 Forgetful of his glory and his name, 
 Forgetful of his princedom and its cares." 
 
 " but always in the night 
 
 Blood-red, and sliding down the blacken'd marsh 
 Blood-red, and on the naked mountain top 
 Blood-red, and in the sleeping mere below • 
 Blood-red." 
 
 " Was chosen Abbess, there, an Abbess, lived 
 tor three brief years, and there an Abbess, past 
 To where, beyond these voices, there is peace." 
 
 "Storm at the top — and, when we gain'd it, storm 
 Round us, and death." 
 
 3. Word compounding. (Tennyson has made larger 
 use of this old Saxon method of word formation than has 
 any other modern poet.) 
 
 "In ever-highering eagle-circles up." 
 " Dish-washer and broach-turner, loon ! " 
 
4- Compounds in dis. 
 
 "dis-caged," "dis-edg^e," " dis-linked." 
 
 5. Revival of obsolete and use of archaic terms : 
 
 enow for enough. rake for to fly wide at. 
 
 joyance for in full joy. graff for a graft, 
 
 tarriance for tarrying. ruth for pity, 
 
 lets me for hinders me. liefer for rather, 
 cracks for thunder claps, lissom for lithesome, 
 
 concluded for shut up. error for wandering, 
 rathe for early (modern comparative, rather). 
 
 6. Large use of onomatopoeia and alliteration : 
 
 " Clang battle-axe aud clash brand ! " 
 
 " Oilily bubbled up the mere." 
 
 • "And dazzled by the livid-flickering fork, 
 
 And deafen'd with the stammering cracks and claps." 
 
 " She shook from fear and for her fault she wept." 
 
 " With darted spikes and splinters of the wood." 
 
 QUOTATION FROM Dr VAN DYKE. 
 
 "There were three things which drew Tennyson to 
 this subject and made him choose it. First, there was 
 an aesthetic impulse which made him wish to write about 
 something beautiful and picturesque. Then, there was 
 a religious impulse which made him feel the deep mean- 
 ing of the old myths and legends, like the Quest of the 
 Holy Grail and the Return of Arthur. Last, there was 
 a patriotic impulse, which made him desire to have a 
 hero of his own country and to give in poetry his own 
 view of the things which build up or pull down a kingdom. 
 
 "Of course, with all three of these impulses at work 
 in his mind, Tennyson could not take the story just as 
 Malory or any one of the old writers gave it. He must 
 
lO 
 
 be free to choose from each of them just as much of their 
 material as suited him, and to mould and shape it in his 
 
 own way And he did four things with the 
 
 Arthurian story during the long time while he was at 
 work upon it. 
 
 "First, he brought order into the arrangement of the 
 
 different parts Second, he made the figure 
 
 of Arthur stand out, clear and consistent, as the man 
 
 who built up and supported the kingdom. . 
 
 Third, he gave to his characters the thoughts and feelings 
 
 of men and women at the present day 
 
 This was just what each successive writer had done with 
 
 the story Fourth, he gave his fancy free 
 
 play to adorn his poem with all kinds of beautiful de- 
 scription, of scenery, of costume, of natural objects, of 
 the looks and actions of men and women." 
 
 THE IDYLLS AS AN EPIC. 
 
 The term Idylls is perhaps unfortunate as a title for 
 this poem, for the word strictly taken means "a short 
 poem descriptive of some picturesque scene or incident, 
 chiefly in rustic life." But, as Dr. Van Dyke shows in 
 a criticism on the Idylls, such poems always have a 
 central idea or feeling which colors the picture. 
 "Tennyson," he says, "had written many poems of this 
 type dealing with rural life which he called English idyls. 
 He now wished to use the same method in dealing with 
 the age of chivalry. He proposed, not to tell a long, 
 unbroken story, but to^present a series of pictures, each 
 one controlled and colored by a central idea, and each 
 one showing a distinct stage in the course of the plot. 
 They were all to be bound together by the same main 
 thread of narrative. But at the same time each was to 
 have a character of its own, and to be complete in itself, 
 
1 1 
 
 as a separate scene in the drama of a kingdom. There- 
 fore, he did not call the parts of his poem books or 
 cantos, but idylls, because he was using the picturesque 
 method ; and I suppose he doubled the 1 in order to 
 distinguish them from his simpler, more rustic English 
 idyls" 
 
 DEFINITION OF TERM EPIC. 
 
 An epic may be defined as a narrative poem which 
 deals with heroic deeds and adventures. It generally 
 contains some element of the supernatural, and must 
 have a centra] point of unity round which the events of 
 the poem revolve. 
 
 The only one of these requirements which at first 
 glance we do not seem to find in the Idylls is .the last 
 named. If, then, the Idylls are to be considered as an 
 epic poem, the question at once arises, " What is the 
 central point of epic unity .'" For answer, turn to the 
 Epilogue of the Idylls, the lines "To the Queen," 
 (lines 33-42) 
 
 " But thou,' my Queen, 
 
 Not for itself, but thro' thy living love 
 
 For one to whom I made it o'er his grave 
 
 Sacred, accept this old imperfect tale, 
 
 New-Old, and shadowing Sense at war with Soul 
 
 Ideal manhood clothed in real man 
 
 Rather than that gray king whose name, a ghost. 
 
 Streams like a cloud, man-shaped, from mountain peak, 
 
 "And cleaves to cairn and cromlech still ; or him 
 
 Of Geoffrey's book or him of Malleor's." 
 
 This is the golden thread on which all these pearls are 
 strung. Here Tennyson tells us plainly that he intends 
 in the Idylls to show the warfare of Soul against Sense 
 rather than to write a history of Arthur as he appears 
 either in the Welsh legends or in the books of Geoffrey 
 or Malory. 
 
I 2 
 
 Tennyson's own idea on tlic subject is clear enough. 
 In the introduction to his " Morte d'Arthur" (published 
 in the volume of 1842) he speaks of " his epic — his Kinj^ 
 Arthur, some twelve books." 
 
 Hallam Tennyson, in hisj^^reat biof^raphy of his father, 
 says in speaking of the Id} lis : "If epic unity is looked 
 for, we find it not in the wrath of an Achilles, nor in the 
 wanderings of a Ulysses, but in the world-wide war of 
 Sense and Soul typified in individuals, the central 
 dominant figure being the pure, generous, tender, brave, 
 human-hearted Arthur." 
 
 Notable among critics who agree that we have here an 
 epic are Taine, who says that in the Idylls Tennyson 
 "has become epic, antique, and ingenuous, like Homer;" 
 Noel, who speaks of the poem as "this noble epic;" 
 Stedman, who calls the book 'the epic of chivalry;" 
 Gladstone, who writes: "The Laureate has evidently 
 grasped the genuine law which makes man, and not the 
 mere acts of m^n, the base of epic song;" Littledale, 
 who puts it : "If we grant that an epic may have unity 
 of subject without unity of action, may have spiritual 
 rather than dramatic unity, we may conclude that the 
 poet has here created a new form which future ages will 
 probably call the Tennysonian or id\llic epic;" and Dr. 
 Van Dyke, the greatest American authority on Tennyson, 
 who in all his criticisms on the Idylls treats them as 
 an epic poem. 
 
 There is another link which connects the different 
 Id}lls — the cycle of the seasons. Each of the poems is 
 set in a time of the year suited to the events narrated. 
 The king first appears on the night of the New Year — * ■ the 
 fair beginning of a time." He weds Guinevere in the 
 marriage season of spring. In this same season Gareth, 
 with his overflowing love of life and action, appears. 
 The wavering love of Geraint settles down into the steady 
 
13 
 
 summer blaze of the mowing season. The sudden 
 thunder storm of Merlin and Vivien is in keeping 
 with Vivien's passionate nature, as the ruin it brings to 
 the noble oak is with the downfall of Merlin. Then 
 comes the torrid heat of later summer as a setting for 
 the burning passion of the lily maid, Elaine, for Lancelot. 
 The broken weather of The Holy Grail is a fitting back- 
 ground for the madness of the quest with its disappointed 
 hopes. Then follows the melancholy autumn of the 
 decaying knighthood of The Last Tournament and Pelleas 
 and Ettarre. In Guinevere the white mist of winter clings 
 to the earth like a face cloth to the countenance of the 
 dead.' Arthur's hopes, too, are dead. With the last 
 day of the year the King passes away into the great 
 unknown from which he came. 
 
 (Observe here that we are not intended to think that 
 the events narrated in the Idylls took place in one year. 
 The poet simply takes successive seasons from a number 
 of years until his year stands complete.) 
 
 NATURE IN THE IDYLLS. 
 
 In connection with this cycle of the seasons may be 
 noticed Tennyson's descriptions of Nature and his 
 wonderful figures of speech founded thereon. In the 
 Idylls his minute, varied and accurate knowledge of the 
 world around him is fully shown. There is, too, always 
 a subtle harmony between the figure and the human 
 mood to be illustrated. Many of Tennyson's landscapes 
 are, it is true, art products— made for a purpose — though 
 not less beautiful or true on that account. Of the four 
 elements, he loved water best and used it most perfectly 
 in figures of speech. These should be carefully noted. 
 
 .\ 
 
14 
 PLACES ly THE IDYLLS. 
 
 There are two theories as to the situation of the places 
 mentioned in the old stories and in Tennyson's reproduction 
 of these. The first is that the scenes are laid chiefly in 
 the western and southwestern parts of England. The 
 second is that they are to be found in the north of 
 England and in Scotland. The first seems to be the 
 more probable. 
 
 Lyonnesse is supposed to have stretched from Cornwall 
 to the Scilly Islands but is now submerged. 
 
 Tiutagil Castle, now in ruins, is in Cornwall. 
 ' Cainelot, was probably in Somerset. 
 
 Avilion is at Glastonbury, Somerset. 
 
 Glastonbury, is the supposed burial place of Arthur 
 and Guinevere. 
 
 Caerlyle is usually taken to be Carlisle. 
 
 Caerlcon is on the Usk, though there were several 
 Caerleons. (Caer-leon for Castra legionis. ) 
 
 Cavielaird is Scotland. 
 
 Aluiesbiiry, is in Wiltshire. 
 
 Astvlat, Malory says, is Gylford, 
 
 The names given to Arthur's battles (Lancelot and 
 Elaine) seem to be in the North, thus supporting the 
 second theorv named above. 
 
 OUTLINE FOR CHARACTER SKETCHES 
 
 Innate character. * 
 
 How affected b\' environment. 
 
 Special traits of character. 
 
 Greatest trait. 
 
 Influence on others and on Arthur's purpose. 
 
 Lessons to be learned from the character. 
 
15 
 
 SUGGESTED OUTLINE FOR SKETCH OF GARETH 
 UNDER THESE HEADS 
 
 1. Born with a noble ambition. Love for mother. 
 Obedience. 
 
 2. Not affected by foul talk of the thralls. Remains 
 unchanged under Kay's oppression. Is uplifted by the 
 sight of the jousts. Not turned aside from his purpose 
 by Lynette's reviling nor by the dangers of his quest. 
 Is made boastful by his successes. Is urged to greater 
 efforts by Lynette's kind words. 
 
 3. Ambition to do good. Obedience. Bravery. 
 Courtesy. Determination. Purity. 
 
 4. A splendid conception of what a true life should be. 
 ("Follow the deer ? Follow the Christ — the King.") 
 
 5. Influences all with whom he comes in contact for 
 good-^the thralls — Lynette. Is one of Arthur's greatest 
 knights, and nobly helps on his purpose. 
 
 6. The duty of obedience to those set over us. The 
 soft answer. Victory and reward come at last to him 
 who persists though often overthrown. 
 
 (N. B.— Lines should be quoted to substantiate 
 statements. 
 
 OUTLINE FOR EXPOSITORY SKETCH. 
 
 Use and Fame (Merlin and Vivien, 403-523.) 
 
 1. Definition of terms. 
 
 2. The good to be done by use (by being useful) : (a) 
 to oneself ; (b) to others. 
 
 3. Means by which one may reach a state of being 
 useful. 
 
 4. Proper reasons for desiring fame. 
 
 5. Proper means by which fame may be obtained. 
 
 6. How fame adds to use and use to fame. 
 
 7. Contrast of the relative value of the two. 
 
i6 
 
 CONDITION OF THE COURT IN THE VARIOUS IDYLLS. 
 
 (A base for the parable and allej^ory.) 
 In Gareth and Lynette vve find the Court at its best, 
 and how could it be otherwise when the knights are 
 keeping, and keeping gladly such vows as these : 
 
 " 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 nphold the Christ, 
 To ride abroad redressing human wrongs. 
 To speak no slander, no, nor listen to it, 
 To honor his own word as if his God's, 
 To lead sweet lives in purest chastity. 
 To love one maiden only, cleave to her, 
 And worship her by years of noble deeds, 
 Until he won her." — {iininevere, 464-474.) 
 
 In The Marriage of Geraint we hear the first whisper 
 of evil in the lines : 
 
 " But when a rumor rose about the Queen, 
 Touching her guilty love for Lancelot, 
 Tho' yet there lived no proof, nor yet was heard. 
 The world's loud whisper breaking into storm, 
 Not less Geraint believed it " — (AJnrriij^e of G^rnin/, 24-2S.) 
 
 But as yet it is only a rumor which has in no way 
 affected the purity of the Round Table, for Edyrn, the 
 wicked knight, in speaking of his reception at the Court, 
 whither he had been sent prisoner by Geraint, says : 
 
 I found. 
 
 Instead of scornful pity or pure scorn, 
 
 Such fine reserve and noble reticence, 
 
 Manners so kind, yet stately, such a grace 
 
 Of tenderest courtesy," etc. — [GeroinI mid Eniil, 857-861 ) 
 
 In BaWn and Balan we learn that the sin of the Queen 
 and Lancelot is known now outside Arthur's Court, for 
 when Balin is at the castle of King Pellain, Garlon says 
 to hitn, speaking of Guinevere : 
 
17 
 
 " Fairest I grant her: I have seen; but best, 
 Best, purest ? tliou from Arthur's hall, and yet 
 So simple ! hast thou eyes, or if, are these 
 So far besotted that they fail to see 
 This fair wife-worship cloaks a secret shame ? " 
 
 — {Balin and Balan, 351-355) 
 
 In Merlin and Vivien some of the knights break one 
 
 of the vows they have sworn. There had been a day 
 
 when they would not even Hsten to slander : how is 
 
 it now ? 
 
 " But Vivien 
 
 Arriving at a time of golden rest. 
 And sowing one ill hint from ear to ear, 
 * * * * 
 
 Leaven'd his hall. They heard and let her be." 
 
 — {Merlin and Vivien, 135-144.) 
 
 And later, Merlin does not deny but evades answering 
 her charge against Lancelot and the Queen. 
 
 In Lancelot and Elaine the picture grows darker. First 
 Lancelot and then the Queen deliberately lie to Arthur, 
 and Gawain, forgetting "the courtesy due to kings," 
 breaks his vow of obedience when sent to find the winner 
 of the Diamond Joust. Gawain also indicates in his 
 speech to Elaine at parting {lines 693-696), that mar- 
 riage vows are but lightly regarded at the court. 
 
 In The Holy Grail the knights have fallen so far from 
 their former state of spiritual purity that but three of 
 them achieve the quest. (More strictly speaking, but 
 two — Bors and Percivale — ac]iicve the quest, for Gallahad 
 sees it from its first appearance in the hall, from which 
 place he simply follows it at its command to the spiritual 
 city.) 
 
 In Pelleas and Ettarre, we are led to think that the 
 King alone is pure. After Ettarre has proved false to 
 Pelleas, and Gawain has basely deceived him, the young 
 knight meets Percivale in the way and questions him : 
 
 1 ,.- 
 
i8 
 
 " ' Is the Queen false ?' and P'ercivale was mute. 
 » 
 ' Have any of our Kound Table held their vows ? ' 
 
 And Percivale made answer not a word. 
 
 ■ Is the King true ? ' ' The King ! ' said Percivale, 
 
 ' Why, then let men couple at once with wolves, 
 
 What, art thou mad ?' " — (Pel/ens ami Ettnrre, 522-527 ) 
 
 In The Last Tournament we rapidly approach the end. 
 We see the laws of the tourney broken and Lancelot, the 
 judge, sit silent. Tristram insults . the ladies present, 
 and there is none to defend "them. Drunken revelling 
 and feasting follow the jousts, while Tristram, defying at 
 once all of Arthur's laws, bears off the prize to Isolt.wife 
 of the king of Cornwall. And worse than all, the knights, 
 in very presence of their King, turn brutes, massacre the 
 men and women of the Red Knight, and stamp his face 
 into the mire. 
 
 There can be but one step more to make the downfall 
 of the court complete, and this is described in the last 
 eight lines of the Idyll. Arthur comes home to find that 
 the Queen has f^ed. A lesser artist would have given us 
 here some account of Arthur's anger and despair, of the 
 excitement of the court, of the triumph of Modred, but 
 not so Tennyson. Has Shakespeare himself anything 
 finer than this ? 
 
 " That night came Arthur home, and wl'ile he climed. 
 All in a death-dumb autumn-dripping gloom, 
 The stairway to the hall, and look'd and saw 
 The great Queen's bower was dark — about his feet 
 A voice clung sobbing till he question'd it, 
 ■ What art thou ?' and the voice about his feet 
 Sent up an answer, sobbing,' I am thy fool. 
 And I shall never make thee smile again." " 
 
 There is nothing more. With the flight of the Queen 
 the Round Table falls ; then follow treason, rebellion, 
 the death struggle in the heavy mist — and darkness. 
 
THE PARABLE AND ALLEGORY IN THE IDYLLS. 
 
 " If the Idylls, as some claim, be mere poetic pageantry, 
 it becomes necessary to explain sat- 
 isfactorily innumerable obscure passages, which have no 
 significance under this mere word-painting theory, as 
 well as to give the chief characters and the main action 
 of the drama a rational perspective. Who is Arthur, 
 who, though wounded, cannot die ; whose coming and 
 whose passing are a mystery beyond the ken of man, 
 since 'from the great deep to the great deep he goes?' 
 Who Merlin, the sage, and, above all, the Lady of the 
 Lake, who dwells at the bases of the hills ? Who the 
 three Fair Queens, destined to help Arthur at his need ? 
 What is Excalibur, the mystic weapon given to Arthur 
 by the Lady of the Lake at the installation of the Round 
 Table 4;o be returned to her at his passing? What is 
 the mystic city of Camelot, built to music, therefore 
 never built at all, and therefore built forever? These 
 and other aspects of the Idylls, utterly unintelligible on 
 the -word-painting theory, are, it maybe urged, but the 
 unwitting inheritance of the old legend, and Tennyson's 
 heroics are only unmeaning echoes of the ancient 
 mysticism. Yet the mystical element is there, and those 
 who would deny its significance in the Idylls must bear 
 the onus of proof that the poet has not seized upon those 
 legendary shadows of higher things to body forth his own 
 conception of his ideal, moulding them after the fashion 
 of his own genius." (Fallen.) 
 
 We must not, however, in studying the Idylls attempt 
 to read into every line an allegorical meaning, to take 
 every character as part of the parable, to find a hidden 
 mystery in every image. To do this would be to destroy 
 the artistic perspective and the proper proportions of 
 the poem. 
 
20 
 
 If Tennyson in writing the Idylls intended, as perhaps 
 he did, to rebi^ke the spirit of gross realism so prevalent 
 in nineteenth century literature, he succeeded in a marked 
 degree. His message is luminous to those who are not 
 so blind as to have no desire to see. The highest function 
 of art is to express truth, not to show the mere mechanism 
 of art. But when man loses sight of truth as the base 
 of all art, he naturally magnifies its mechanism. This 
 is one of the faults of the modern school of realism. 
 Lacking true^spiritual insight it has made much of formal 
 symbolism. Its chief fault, however, is that it has but 
 rarely shown us man at his best, but rather man as a 
 b.east among the husks. 
 
 Tennyson himself speaks of the poem as "the dream 
 of man coming into practical life and ruined b\' one sin. 
 It is not the history of one man or of one generation, but 
 of a whole cycle of generations." 
 
 The key to the parable and allegory in the Idylls is 
 found in the lines To the Queen already quoted in establish- 
 ing the claim that the Idylls are to be regarded as an epic 
 poeni. Srfisf at ivar ifitli Soul is the theme which, old 
 as mankind, is made new by the poet in his treatment of 
 the legends. Without this interpretation they are little 
 more than a series of beautiful pictures painted by the 
 hand of a master of poetic form. 
 
 In the phrase Sense at i>.'ar ivitli Soul, Sense is used 
 in its broadest meaning, and signifies intemperance, 
 sensuality, disobedience, lawless power, and disregard for 
 truth and honor — in sho^t, any power of evil. And so. 
 in the poem. Sense is represented not by any one character 
 but by every evil influence at war with the Soul. In the 
 same way. Soul stands for all that is high and noble in 
 the various characters, finding its highest expression in 
 the Kingr. 
 
21 
 
 The Coming of Arthur. Swathed in fire, the symbol 
 of hfe, the King, hke the soul, comes out of the great 
 deep of eternity. 
 
 Guinevere is the type of the perfect body. Alone, the 
 Soul cannot do its work. Hence Arthur cries: 
 
 For saving I be joined 
 To her that is the fairest under heaven, 
 I seem as nothing in this mighty world. 
 
 — { Cowing of Arthur, 84-86. ) 
 
 Leodogran is a type of those who doubt the immortality 
 of the Soul, and who refuse to acknowledge its kingship 
 without proof thereof. Leodogran's dream is a vision of the 
 war of human passions at their worst, refusing to obey 
 the spiritual man. But at the end of the conflict the 
 Soul stands out crowned, the ideal become the only 
 reality. 
 
 Ballicent is a type of those who accept the soul on 
 faith, although their curiosity would iain pierce the secret 
 of Its origm. K^^^i^ '^-^ ~^^ ^ r-^.^-^^^^ ..^..^-^-s. 
 
 Merlin, m whom Intellect and Wisdom are personified, 
 is the guide and counsellor of the Soul. He alone knows 
 the secret of Arthur's birth. 
 
 Through" the power of the soul the knights of the 
 Round Table come to represent the spiritualized body, 
 social and political. 
 
 The three mystic queens who appear at the coronation 
 are evidently Faith, Hope and Charity, the heavenly 
 virtues that shall help the Soul at its need. 
 
 The Lady of the Lake is Religion. She knows a 
 subtler art than the art of Merlin : even so is spiritual 
 wisdom deeper than intellectual. She it is who gives to 
 the Soul its weapon — Excalibur — to be used in its con- 
 flict with Sense. 
 
22 
 
 Lancelot t3pifies the moral nature, the greatest aid 
 which the Soul* can have in its warfare, but which, over- 
 come by Sense, becomes a rotten prop. 
 
 In the song of the knights at Arthur's coronation we 
 learn that the old order of the rule of lust is changed. 
 The Soul is recognised by all and for a time reigns 
 supreme. 
 
 Gareth and Lynette. We have iiere an epitome of the 
 theme of the Idylls — a minor allegory within the main 
 allegory, the story of the spiritualized man come victor 
 over the powers of evil. To such a man no service 
 could be too lowly : hence his willingness to serve as a 
 kitchen knave. Dressed as a tiller of the soil he sets out 
 for Camelot, but no poor outward show can hide the 
 spiritual man within. 
 
 Wonderful is the symbolism of the gate to Arthur's 
 City. Over the gate is carved the image of the Lady of 
 the Lake. Religion is the gateway by which one must 
 enter the city of the Soul. Her arms uphold the social 
 and moral order. From her hands flows the water of 
 baptism. The censer signifies prayer ; the sword the 
 Church Militant. The sacred fish on her breast is the 
 early Christian symbol of Christ, the iciithus, formed 
 from the initial letters of the Greek " Jesus Christ, God's 
 Son, Saviour." Arthur's wars are the battles of Soul and 
 Sense, while crowning all are the three virtues. Faith, 
 Hope and Charity. 
 
 To Gareth, gazing thereon, comes out an old man 
 (Merlin } ) who tells them of this city of the Soul. All the 
 refining influences of old times together with the best 
 moral, mental and religious experiences of the past — 
 influences and experiences which are still at work — con- 
 stitute the city in which the Soul dwells. The city was 
 "built to music," therefore harmoniously; "therefore 
 never built at all" for spiritual development is infinite in 
 
23 
 
 its possibilities; "therefore built forever" — what has 
 been done to make better this habitation of the Soul 
 cannot be undone. Some (materialists) hold the city 
 real, the King a shadow, i. e. they deny the existence 
 of the Soul. 
 
 The river is the stream of time : the three loops youth, 
 middle age and old age. The three guardians of the 
 fords the temptations of these different ages. The 
 Morning Star typifies the power of pleasure and of pride : 
 the bridge of single arc, the impetuosity of youth. The 
 Noon-day Sun is wealth and worldly ambition. The 
 Evening Star, with his hardened skins, represents the evil 
 habits of a life-time, to be overcome only as Gareth 
 overcomes, by casting bodily away. 
 
 The allegory on the cliff from which these brothers 
 have drawn their names is the key to this Idyll, biit it is 
 more: 'it gives us the motif of the whole Round Table 
 series. The» Soul in its journey through the world is 
 assailed by the temptations of pleasure in youth, by the 
 glitter of gold and worldly power in middle age, and in 
 old age by evil habits formed in both the former stages. 
 It fiies for succor to the hermit's cave to find consolation 
 and strength in the spiritual life. 
 
 "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" — 
 for the spiritual man who has overcome the enemies of 
 life, death has no fears. Gareth meets his last enemy 
 bravely : 
 
 " Then with a stronger buffet he clove the helm 
 As throughly as the skull ; and out from this 
 Issued the bright face of a blooming boy." 
 
 It is the old, old lesson : life from death, and immortality 
 from the shadows of the grave. 
 
 The Marriage of Geraint. Geraint and Enid. There is 
 less of allegorical significance in the two Geraint Idylls than 
 in any of the others. It is here, however, that Sense 
 
24 
 
 first bej^ins to make headway. It is as yet but a little 
 cl(}ud which hgis ^athered*in Arthur's clear sky : 
 
 " But when a rumor rose about the Queen, 
 Touching her guihy love for Lancelot," 
 
 a rumor only, yet it is a shadow of a sin which for a 
 time darkens two pure lives. In the heart of Geraint 
 the poison works, and Suspicion takes up her abode 
 where Love had ruled. 
 
 What a picture the court of Earl Doorm presents! 
 Here, where the influence of the spiritual man has not 
 come, sensual passion and lawlessness hold sway, while 
 Edyrn on whom this uplifting influence falls, becomes a 
 man, noble, sane, obedient. 
 
 Balin and Balan. It is in this Idyll that Sense wins 
 her first important victory. A terrible picture is pre- 
 sented here, a picture of a strong man who has lived 
 down his own sin only to lose faith in all that is pure and 
 noble through the wickedness of others. In Balin, the 
 beast has been conquered for a time by the power of the 
 spiritual man, but at last Sense, in the person of Vivien, 
 fills him with a fury which brings both him and his great- 
 hearted brother to their deaths. 
 
 In King Pellam's court we see the external show of 
 spirituality without the Soul. So taken up is Pellam 
 with the outward form of religion, that he neglects his 
 obligation to his King. "Man's word is God in man." 
 says Arthur. The lesson is clear. 
 
 Merlin and Vivien. Some of Tennyson's critics have 
 found great fault with his treatment of Vivien, for he has 
 made her a much worse*character than she af)peared in 
 the old legends. But with the allegory ever in his mind, 
 the poet must have felt just here that, for its proper 
 development, he needed some active force of evil, that 
 should with subtilty and yet with absolute sureness un- 
 
25 
 
 derrnine the structure which the Soul had built, a force 
 which should have power over every element in man's 
 nature save one — the spiritual. We have said that Merlin 
 represents Wisdom or Intellectual Power. Now in the 
 old lej^ends Merlin is bewitched by Nimue or Vivien. 
 What then more natural than for Tennyson to have made 
 this Vivien the force that is to have power over all with 
 which ir comes in contact save the Soul itself. Merlin 
 is the eyes of the Soul ; he it is who guards its spiritual 
 kingdom. The Soul cannot be overcome until he is 
 conquered, for not till Wisdom sleeps can Sense hope to 
 triumph. In Merlin's downfall we see the beginning of 
 the end. 
 
 Lancelot and Elaine. The under-current here is full 
 of hopelessness. Guinevere complains that Arthur lacks 
 that one touch of earthly, color which would have kept 
 her true to him : poor weak excuse so often made by our 
 human nature to the God within us — we cannot or rather 
 we will not measure up to the highest ideals which are 
 set before us. 
 
 There are two other points of allegorical significance 
 in this Idyll in which the relation of body to soul is clearly 
 shown : the first makeS"A:lear the fact that sin has its 
 effect upon the body as well as upon the soul, while the 
 second shows that the condition of the body often has 
 a marked effect upon our spiritual condition. When 
 Conscience writes her reproaches it is not upon the 
 spiritual man alone that the effect is seen : her mark is 
 deeply set upon the fairest face. So it was with Lancelot : 
 
 ' • The great and guilty love he bear the Queen 
 
 * * ^ * * * * 
 
 Had marr'd his face and mark'd it ere his time." 
 
 When he is wounded and at the point of death he 
 makes "Full many a holy vow and pure resolve*' to 
 break once and for all the guilty bonds which bind him 
 
26 
 
 to the Queen. But he is not spiritualized enough to he 
 free for when "the blood runs lustier in him again" 
 Guinevere's face rising to his mind, causes him to forget 
 his vows. It is but another case of 
 
 "The devil fell sick : the devil a saint would be. 
 The devil got well : the devil a saint was he." 
 
 We have seen in Balin and Balan that Sense claims 
 two victims — the once mighty brothers ; then Merlin, the 
 wise man. falls through her baleful power. In this Idyll 
 she seems to have gained complete ascendancy over two 
 of the principal characters, Lancelot and the Queen. 
 Though they acknowledge their sin to each other, they 
 will not give it up, and because of their guilty love, the 
 lily maid Elaine lays down her life. We have no hope 
 of Lancelot after this. It is as though heaven had given 
 him in the proffered love of Elaine one last chance of 
 escape. Even so in every human life comes the time 
 when we must make the final choice between right and 
 wrong. 
 
 The Holy Grail. Here are men striving after spiritual 
 perfection and yet so far have most of the knights fallen 
 from the high standard which Arthur has set for them 
 that but three are pure enough to see the Grail. 
 
 Gawain's story is that of the man to whom one talent 
 was given : he has been content from the first to believe 
 that the quest was not for him, and so instead he spent 
 his twelvemonth and a day in the silk pavilion of pleasure. 
 
 There is a lesson for us all in Lancelot's reasoning 
 before he sets out on the quest. He goes because he 
 hopes that he may see the Grail, and by its grace be 
 enabled to pluck out his sin. The holy man, however, 
 tells him that the heart must be pure or he can never 
 look on holy things. Let him first pluck out his sin and 
 the blessed vision of the Grail will come to him like a 
 
27 
 
 benediction. The lion in his way is, of course, his great 
 sin which stands between him and spiritual perfection. 
 
 In the adventures of Sir Percivale we have a minor 
 allegory as in the case of Gareth. While searchmg for 
 the Grail he learns that he who would reach to planes 
 of higher spiritual power must give up all that may hinder, 
 no matter how harmless in itself. The water of the 
 brook and the apples, the woman spinning at the door, 
 the man in golden armor, and the great city- — symbolizing 
 respectively the appetites, home life, wealth, and worldly 
 power — all crumble into dust when Percivale touches 
 them. 
 
 Percivale learns another lesson. Puffed up with pride 
 over his victory in the tournament he fails utterly to 
 achieve the quest until he learns the lesson of humility, 
 " highest virtue of them all," without which there can be 
 no spiritual growth. 
 
 ' ' The bird that soars on highest wing 
 Builds on the ground her lowly nest ; 
 And she that doth most sweetly sing, 
 Sings in the shade when all things rest. 
 In lark and nightingale we see 
 What honor hath humility." — [Montgomeiy.) 
 
 There is an old superstition that the pelican sometimes 
 gives her own blood to her little ones that they may live. 
 How fitting then that Sir Bors should wear a pelican on 
 his casque for he is the type of self-sacrifice — he would 
 give up his own hope to see the Grail that Lancelot 
 might see: 
 
 The four great zones of sculpture which girdle Arthur's 
 hall are symbolical of the progress of the human race 
 from utter savagery to a state of highest spiritual per- 
 fection. Over all human progress reigns the Soul. 
 
 Pelleas and Ettarre. There is but little of allegorical 
 significance in this Idyll. The effect on a noble char- 
 
28 
 
 acter of the sin of Lancelot and the Queen is, however, 
 powerfully sliown. Pelleas, young, pure, noble and 
 ambitious — another Gareth — outraged at the treatment 
 which he receives from Ettarre and Gawain, becomes the 
 type of a man blown about by his passions, a hot wind 
 from the desert of dead hopes that would blast and kill. 
 
 The Last Tournament. The Last Tournament is called 
 " The Tournament of the Dead Innocence," for the prize 
 was the necklace worn by the baby which Lancelot had 
 rescued from the eagle's nest and which had died soon 
 after being carried to the Queen, but the name has a 
 deeper significance than this : the innocence of the court 
 also is dead. Disobedience, revelling, passion and lust 
 walk openly and the jousts are a dismal failure. On the 
 morning following the tournament Dagonet and Tristram 
 have a long conversation which contains many strong 
 allegorical allusions. Dagonet, the fool, is spiritually 
 wise, while Tristram, the would-be wise man proclaims 
 himself a worldly fool. Tristram excuses himself for his 
 sins by saying that when he came to the court the Round 
 Table was already corrupt. How fitting a t^pe of the 
 many Tristrams in the world who are content to drift 
 with the tide of public opinion, rather than by opposing 
 brave its displeasure. Tristram's reasoning in regard to 
 those who try to effect reforms is clever but, if admitted 
 to be true, is fatal to all human progress. He says : 
 
 " The ptarmigan that whitens ere his hour 
 Woos his own end " 
 
 The statement is true, but what of all great reformers .-* 
 Have they not stood boldly for the right in season and 
 out of season even against the world ? 
 
 The cup from which Dagonet drinks on the day of the 
 Tournament is a faithful picture of the court — splendid 
 without, but the draught is mud. 
 
29 
 
 At the close of Dagonet's speech he tells Tristram why 
 Arthur has failed in his endeavor to raise his knights to 
 his own high standard. Tristram asks : " Is the King thy 
 brother fool ? " and Dagonet replies with exquisite 
 sarcasm : 
 
 "Ay, ay, my brother fool, the king of fools ! 
 Conceits himself as God that he can make 
 Figs out of thistles, silk from bristles, milk 
 From burning spurge, honey from hornet-combs, 
 And men from beasts — Long live the king of fools 1 " 
 
 And here we may read one of the parable's deepest 
 lessons : nothing less than a miracle of divine power can 
 raise a man against his will to a higher plane of being. 
 
 Tristram's "star in heaven" is Arthur; his "star 
 within the mere " but a retiection, and having neither the 
 desire nor the energy to strive for higher things, 'he is 
 contented like many another with an empty mockery 
 which the first breath of wind will destroy. 
 
 Guinevere. In this Idyll we see the Soul forsaken by 
 those whom it had loved best and held truest. There 
 is one lesson which stands out above all others just here, 
 the lesson which the Saviour taught even from the cross : 
 " Love your enemies." It is with this forgiveness of 
 Guinevere by Arthur that many of our critics find fault. 
 They say that the King shows himself a weakling here — 
 that his pride should have prevented such a scene — that 
 no man could have so forgiven. We may easily grant 
 all this — it is true that uo mere man would have been 
 likely to have forgiven, at least so freely and fully. But 
 had Arthur not forgiven in this way, the parable would 
 have failed at its very climax. We have endeavored to 
 show that Arthur as the type of the Soul is more than 
 man. Look for a moment at his character as Tennyson 
 draws it. It is not a strongly drawn character as we 
 commonly use the term ; indeed we completely lose sight 
 
30 
 
 of the King at tiines in the deeds of others. When he 
 does appear 'it is as a morahst rather than as a great 
 king. There is no splendid action on his part to enthrall 
 us, no great battles in which he leads his army to victory, 
 none of the glamour and glitter with which the great of 
 earth are usually surrounded. And yet, reading more 
 carefully, we can feel the King behind every part of the 
 story. Note too, how even the worst pay tribute to his 
 purity, his moral greatness, his influence on all for good, 
 his Christlike qualities of mercy and forgiveness. And 
 so it is, after a study of this great parable of the life of 
 man in its warfare against Sense, that we come to see 
 •that Tennyson has not intended to create the character 
 of an earthly king but rather to present a great moral 
 force, a type of spirituality, a new Imitation of Christ. 
 
 The Passing of Arthur. It is with a feeling akin to 
 despair that we make ready to close the book of the 
 allegory, for Sense seems to be so completely victorious. 
 But read closely to the end. Surel}' our dead poet whose 
 faith in God was boundless, whose belief in the life beyond, 
 no sneering infidel could shake, no school of German 
 philosophy destroy ; whose life was love ; whose life-work 
 done, has seen his "Pilot face to face" — surely he has 
 not left us without hope. No, the end is not here, the 
 victory of Sense is but for a time. Arthur passes away 
 from earthly sight, but that is not all. " He will come 
 again," cries Sir Bedivere, "he has gone away only to 
 the healing of his wound ; he cannot die," and thus the 
 belief in immortality which, through all the ages past, 
 has cheered the heart of a weary world, will uphold us here. 
 
 It is said that the peasant folk of Wales and Cornwall, 
 descendants of the men who fought under Arthur's banner, 
 still look for his return, and that they hold true the in- 
 scription said to have been carved upon his tomb : 
 
31 
 
 And shall not we of larger wit look forward to a time 
 when Sense shall be put away, when the Soul shall come 
 again to rule those who will keep its vows, and when, 
 lifted from the darkness of our last great battle in the 
 West, we shall know the meaning of the conflict here, 
 and understand the mystery of life in that other land 
 *• where beyond these voices there is peace" ? 
 
APR 6 1903 
 
 BELL'S 
 -^f POTOMAC PRESS, jfr 
 
 \, VA. 
 
 _, 
 
 ALEXANDRIA. VA. 
 
1*^- 
 
I TBRARV OF CONGRESS 
 
 lillll 
 
 014 548 396 7