DOCSLIB.ORG

Tennyson's "Idylls" : a Critical Study

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

TENNYSON'S IDYLLS : A CRITICAL STUDY Thesis presented for the degree of Master of Arts at the University of Cape Town by H. S . HOUGHTON-HAWKSLEY University of Cape Town Supervisor: Mr B • .S . LEE DECE1'1BER 1979 The lJriv 'rr;i•, rt C me Town ha s ~ . I ueen g ·en t: · ' •' ' " i t'1esis I 1 whole in ,. r ' , it I, ' bv th author. The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University of Cape Town ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the following per s ons for the ir assistanc e and encouragement: - Mr B. So Lee who supe rvised the prep ar ation of this thesis ; My family for their patienc e ; but particularly my wife for her devoted support. CONTENTS Page PREFACE O O O • O O O e O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 (i) I NTRODUCTION THE ARTHURI AN LEGEND 1 CHAPTER ONE TENNYSON ' S USE OF HIS MAJOR SOURCES ••.•••••..•.•••• o • • • • • • • 16 CHAPTER TWO CYC LICAL IMAGERY 76 CHAPTER THREE STRUC TURE 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 120 CHAPTER FOUR THEME 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 174 CONCLUS I ON 0 0 0 0 0 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O o o o O O O O O O O o O O O 0 229 NOTES • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 0 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 241 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 275 NOTE ON REFERENCES TO THE TEXT OF THE 'IDYLLS OF THE KING' Poetry citations are to line number unless otherwise specified. Citations from the Idylls of the King are given in parenthe~es immediately after the quotation and ar e abbreviated as follows: 'The Coming of Arthur' CA 'Gar eth and Lynette' GL 'The Marriage of Geraint' MG 'Geraint and Enid' GE 'Balin and Balan' BB ' Me rlin and Vivien' MV 'Lancelot and Elaine' LE 'The Holy Grail' HG 'Felleas and Ettarre' PE ' The Last Tournament' LT 'Guinevere ' G 'The Passing of Arthur' PA PREFACE This critical study of the Idylls of the King is an attempt to demonstrate that Tennyson ' s treatment of the Arthurian theme, while being a new but valid development of a particu­ l ar literary tradition, also resulted in a poem of consider­ able literary merit. Critical opinion of the poem has fluctuated considerably since the Idylls of the King was first published in 1859. Critics in the period from 1859 to the end of the 19th Century were almost invariably fulsome in their praise, the typical comments of Gladstone, Bagehot, Cheetham, Oliphant , Alford, Littledale, Maccallum and others r anging from Alford' s ' • •• a great connected poem, dealing with the very highest interests of man ' to Gladstone's ' •• . its author • . has made a sensible addition to the permanent wealth of mankind . 11 Inevitably, reaction set in and, in the first three decades of the 20th Century most critics were damning in their dis­ approval of what Carlyle h ad termed Tennyson's 'superlative lollipops ' , Eliot further declaring that ' •.• for narrative Tennyson had uo gift at all. 12 As early as 1916 Bradley stated that 'the nadir of his ~ennyson's] f ame may not quite A be reached, but it can hardly be far off . '/ Then in 1921 Boas commented that the Idylls was not ' an organic whole 14 and, in 1923, Fausset repeated this criticism, adding that ii Tennyson's 'morality overwhelmingly depressed the plot' •5 Nicolson established a new trend in 1925 when he praised certain aspects of the poetry of the Idllls but then condemned the series as a whole: 'In spite of the magnificent poetry which the Idylls contain .•• these poems of the Farringford period are for the most part intellectually insincere' •6 Much later, in 1963, Baum also lauds the 'brilliant passages' but then declares the total work to be ' ••• utterly wanting in unity, and coherence of structure ••• and meaning'.7 But Priestley, in my opinion, brought some sense of balance to criticism of the Idylls with his article in the 'University of Toronto ~uarterly' in 1949. There he gave his assessment of the Idylls of the King , stating that the 'real deficiency grows out of their piecemeal composition' but, nevertheless, stressing that 'the total dramatic effect seems ••. to have considerable power '. His assessment is at variance with Nicolson's charge of insincerity as he affirms that the Idylls 'represent one of Tennyson' s most earnest and important efforts to deal with major problems of his time'~ and, in 1960, concludes that the poem 'is surely the finest symbol of what r~ennyson himself built , his poetic city'~ Other modern critics: Engbretsen, Buc kley, Wilson , Ryals , Gray, Rosenber g and others , are unanimous in their assessment of the Idylls as a work of high literary value. 10 This tendency in literary criticism of the Idyll~ caused Palmer to observe that 'no work of Tennyson's has been so strikingly revalued 1 1 during recent years as the Idxlls ~ iii Although the corpus of ~ennysonian criticism is a large one, no unified critical study has previously been made - to my knowledge - of t he Idylls of the r ing both as an original interpretation of the Arthurian legend and as a work of art, paying particular attention to its imagery, structure and theme. The time seems to me to be appropriate for re-assessing the Idylls now that the pendulum of critical opinion has swung to both extremes since the poet's death. In order to place the Idylls in their historical perspective I have, in the Introduction, given a resume of Arthurian literary tradition up to the time of Malory, paying particular attention to the works referred to as sources (by either Tennyson himself or by Hallam Tennyson), and/or to those which had clearly influenced Malory. As ~ennyson's acknowledged main source, the Norte Darthur is the well­ defined overlap between the legend and the Idylls of the Kipg. Chapter One first traces Tennys on's great debt to Malory and, paradoxically, his lack of dependence on him. Such comparison has generally been neglected by critics who, in the main, are satisfied to quote the relevant chapter from Malory as his source, but seldom compare the divergent aims of the two authors before assessing the literary worth of the parallel extracts. In this regard C.S.Lewis s ays that 'the first qualification for judging any piece of workmanship from a corkscrew to a cathedral is to know what it is -- what it is intended to do and how it is meant to be used' . 12 Wqile not attempting to anticipate the fuller critical analysis of the poem which follows in the remAinin~ chapters of the thesis, iv this chapter demonstrates that Tennyson's purposes in composing the Idyll~ were very different to Malory 's (in writing the Morte Darthur). In the second place , this chapter compares the Geraint idylls with the Mabiqogion story of ' Geraint Son of Erbin' in order to show what use Tennyson made of this source. Then, finally, the evolution of Tennyson ' s purposes prior to the composition of the 1859 Idyll~ will be shown through a discussion of his Arthurian poems which are not incorporated in the Idylls, and of the unpublished prose drafts of Arthurian themes. Some of these prose drafts are of Arthurian projects not followed up by the poet, others are drafts for individual idylls which form part of the Idylls of the Kin_g. 1rhen follows a detailed study of the Imagery , Structure and Theme(s) of the Idylls. In Chapter Two particular attention is paid to Tennyson ' s use of cyclic i magery, particularly as it relates to the seasons, colour, animals , music, names and water . The cyclicality of treatment of imagery progresses naturally to the cyclicality of structural design which i s discussed in Chapter Three. I have concentrated on cyclic imagery for two reasons. The first is that critics of the Idylls have, almost without exception, praised Tennyson's technical mastery of language symbolism, i.e. imagery, thus making further general discussion relatively superfluous. Secondly, it is only in the last two decades that the some scholars, e.g. Buckley, Engelberg , Rosenberg and Gray, have appreciated the contribution made by what may be termed cyclical or serial imagery, 13 and it is my contention that it is the cohesive cyclical unity of imagery, structure and V theme which must form the framework for a valid re-assessment of the Idylls of th~ King. Chapter Three considers first the chronological development . ; of the poem in order to point out why Tennyson ultimately recast the series in a non-chronological arrangement. I put forward a theory in connection with the cyclical ordering of matching pairs of individual idylls which I think affords definitive evidence of the deep structural design of the poem. This theory treats pairs of idylls which display a similar structural design and have the same or almost the same date of compos ition.
Recommended publications
  • ROBERT GERAINT GRUFFYDD Robert Geraint Gruffydd 1928–2015

    ROBERT GERAINT GRUFFYDD Robert Geraint Gruffydd 1928–2015

    ROBERT GERAINT GRUFFYDD Robert Geraint Gruffydd 1928–2015 GERAINT GRUFFYDD RESEARCHED IN EVERY PERIOD—the whole gamut—of Welsh literature, and he published important contributions on its com- plete panorama from the sixth to the twentieth century. He himself spe- cialised in two periods in particular—the medieval ‘Poets of the Princes’ and the Renaissance. But in tandem with that concentration, he was renowned for his unique mastery of detail in all other parts of the spec- trum. This, for many acquainted with his work, was his paramount excel- lence, and reflected the uniqueness of his career. Geraint Gruffydd was born on 9 June 1928 on a farm named Egryn in Tal-y-bont, Meirionnydd, the second child of Moses and Ceridwen Griffith. According to Peter Smith’sHouses of the Welsh Countryside (London, 1975), Egryn dated back to the fifteenth century. But its founda- tions were dated in David Williams’s Atlas of Cistercian Lands in Wales (Cardiff, 1990) as early as 1391. In the eighteenth century, the house had been something of a centre of culture in Meirionnydd where ‘the sound of harp music and interludes were played’, with ‘the drinking of mead and the singing of ancient song’, according to the scholar William Owen-Pughe who lived there. Owen- Pughe’s name in his time was among the most famous in Welsh culture. An important lexicographer, his dictionary left its influence heavily, even notoriously, on the development of nineteenth-century literature. And it is strangely coincidental that in the twentieth century, in his home, was born and bred for a while a major Welsh literary scholar, superior to him by far in his achievement, who too, for his first professional activity, had started his career as a lexicographer.
  • The Matter of Britain

    The Matter of Britain

    THE MATTER OF BRITAIN: KING ARTHUR'S BATTLES I had rather myself be the historian of the Britons than nobody, although so many are to be found who might much more satisfactorily discharge the labour thus imposed on me; I humbly entreat my readers, whose ears I may offend by the inelegance of my words, that they will fulfil the wish of my seniors, and grant me the easy task of listening with candour to my history May, therefore, candour be shown where the inelegance of my words is insufficient, and may the truth of this history, which my rustic tongue has ventured, as a kind of plough, to trace out in furrows, lose none of its influence from that cause, in the ears of my hearers. For it is better to drink a wholesome draught of truth from a humble vessel, than poison mixed with honey from a golden goblet Nennius CONTENTS Chapter Introduction 1 The Kinship of the King 2 Arthur’s Battles 3 The River Glein 4 The River Dubglas 5 Bassas 6 Guinnion 7 Caledonian Wood 8 Loch Lomond 9 Portrush 10 Cwm Kerwyn 11 Caer Legion 12 Tribuit 13 Mount Agned 14 Mount Badon 15 Camlann Epilogue Appendices A Uther Pendragon B Arthwys, King of the Pennines C Arthur’s Pilgrimages D King Arthur’s Bones INTRODUCTION Cupbearer, fill these eager mead-horns, for I have a song to sing. Let us plunge helmet first into the Dark Ages, as the candle of Roman civilisation goes out over Europe, as an empire finally fell. The Britons, placid citizens after centuries of the Pax Romana, are suddenly assaulted on three sides; from the west the Irish, from the north the Picts & from across the North Sea the Anglo-Saxons.
  • The Fates of the Princes of Dyfed Cenydd Morus (Kenneth Morris) Illustrations by Reginald Machell

    The Fates of the Princes of Dyfed Cenydd Morus (Kenneth Morris) Illustrations by Reginald Machell

    Theosophical University Press Online Edition The Fates of the Princes of Dyfed Cenydd Morus (Kenneth Morris) Illustrations by Reginald Machell Copyright © 1914 by Katherine Tingley; originally published at Point Loma, California. Electronic edition 2000 by Theosophical University Press ISBN 1- 55700-157-x. This edition may be downloaded for off-line viewing without charge. For ease of searching, no diacritical marks appear in the electronic version of the text. To Katherine Tingley: Leader and Official Head of the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society, whose whole life has been devoted to the cause of Peace and Universal Brotherhood, this book is respectfully dedicated Contents Preface The Three Branches of the Bringing-in of it, namely: The Sovereignty of Annwn I. The Council of the Immortals II. The Hunt in Glyn Cuch III. The Slaying of Hafgan The Story of Pwyll and Rhianon, or The Book of the Three Trials The First Branch of it, called: The Coming of Rhianon Ren Ferch Hefeydd I. The Making-known of Gorsedd Arberth, and the Wonderful Riding of Rhianon II. The First of the Wedding-Feasts at the Court of Hefeydd, and the Coming of Gwawl ab Clud The Second Branch of it, namely: The Basket of Gwaeddfyd Newynog, and Gwaeddfyd Newynog Himself I. The Anger of Pendaran Dyfed, and the Putting of Firing in the Basket II. The Over-Eagerness of Ceredig Cwmteifi after Knowledge, and the Putting of Bulrush-Heads in the Basket III. The Circumspection of Pwyll Pen Annwn, and the Filling of the Basket at Last The First Branch of it again: III.
  • The Meaning of the Idylls of the King

    The Meaning of the Idylls of the King

    T H E ME A N IN G O F TH E IDYLLS OF TH E KING A N E SSA Y IN I NTE RP RETATION O DE B O ST A N N P N LL D . C E I LLE , ” " A U TH R T H E P H IL O P H Y LIT R AT UR P OC H S O OF OS OF E E . E ” " ” LIT RAT UR T H E A T T H A LAR C H U S OF E E . FE S OF , " ” T H E D AT H S IR LA U N C L T E T C . E OF E O , NEW YORK CI N CIN NATI CHICAGO A M E R I C A N B O O K C O M P A N Y P Rs se OP YRI GHT 1904 B Y C , , CONDE B E N OIST P A LLE N ’ E nte re d at Statione rs H all , London TH E MEANING O F‘ T H E IDYLLS OF T H E K ING W P . I . FO R E W O R D T H E L d T e n n son a i i letter of or y , the f cs m le of which a a o n a was i n in ppe rs the first p ge , wr tte commendation of a bri ef ma ga zin e article on T he in Idylls o f the K ing published in 1 885 .
  • The Lives of the Saints of His Family

    The Lives of the Saints of His Family

    'ii| Ijinllii i i li^«^^ CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Cornell University Libraru BR 1710.B25 1898 V.16 Lives of the saints. 3 1924 026 082 689 The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924026082689 *- ->^ THE 3Ltt3e0 of ti)e faints REV. S. BARING-GOULD SIXTEEN VOLUMES VOLUME THE SIXTEENTH ^ ^ «- -lj« This Volume contains Two INDICES to the Sixteen Volumes of the work, one an INDEX of the SAINTS whose Lives are given, and the other u. Subject Index. B- -»J( »&- -1^ THE ilttieg of tt)e ^amtsi BY THE REV. S. BARING-GOULD, M.A. New Edition in i6 Volumes Revised with Introduction and Additional Lives of English Martyrs, Cornish and Welsh Saints, and a full Index to the Entire Work ILLUSTRATED BY OVER 400 ENGRAVINGS VOLUME THE SIXTEENTH LONDON JOHN C. NIMMO &- I NEW YORK : LONGMANS, GREEN, CO. MDCCCXCVIII I *- J-i-^*^ ^S^d /I? Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson &' Co. At the Ballantyne Press >i<- -^ CONTENTS The Celtic Church and its Saints . 1-86 Brittany : its Princes and Saints . 87-120 Pedigrees of Saintly Families . 121-158 A Celtic and English Kalendar of Saints Proper to the Welsh, Cornish, Scottish, Irish, Breton, and English People 159-326 Catalogue of the Materials Available for THE Pedigrees of the British Saints 327 Errata 329 Index to Saints whose Lives are Given . 333 Index to Subjects . ... 364 *- -»J< ^- -^ VI Contents LIST OF ADDITIONAL LIVES GIVEN IN THE CELTIC AND ENGLISH KALENDAR S.
  • A Welsh Classical Dictionary

    A Welsh Classical Dictionary

    A WELSH CLASSICAL DICTIONARY DACHUN, saint of Bodmin. See s.n. Credan. He has been wrongly identified with an Irish saint Dagan in LBS II.281, 285. G.H.Doble seems to have been misled in the same way (The Saints of Cornwall, IV. 156). DAGAN or DANOG, abbot of Llancarfan. He appears as Danoc in one of the ‘Llancarfan Charters’ appended to the Life of St.Cadog (§62 in VSB p.130). Here he is a clerical witness with Sulien (presumably abbot) and king Morgan [ab Athrwys]. He appears as abbot of Llancarfan in five charters in the Book of Llandaf, where he is called Danoc abbas Carbani Uallis (BLD 179c), and Dagan(us) abbas Carbani Uallis (BLD 158, 175, 186b, 195). In these five charters he is contemporary with bishop Berthwyn and Ithel ap Morgan, king of Glywysing. He succeeded Sulien as abbot and was succeeded by Paul. See Trans.Cym., 1948 pp.291-2, (but ignore the dates), and compare Wendy Davies, LlCh p.55 where Danog and Dagan are distinguished. Wendy Davies dates the BLD charters c.A.D.722 to 740 (ibid., pp.102 - 114). DALLDAF ail CUNIN COF. (Legendary). He is included in the tale of ‘Culhwch and Olwen’ as one of the warriors of Arthur's Court: Dalldaf eil Kimin Cof (WM 460, RM 106). In a triad (TYP no.73) he is called Dalldaf eil Cunyn Cof, one of the ‘Three Peers’ of Arthur's Court. In another triad (TYP no.41) we are told that Fferlas (Grey Fetlock), the horse of Dalldaf eil Cunin Cof, was one of the ‘Three Lovers' Horses’ (or perhaps ‘Beloved Horses’).
  • Mordred, a Tragedy

    Mordred, a Tragedy

    MORDRED, A TRAGEDY HENRY NEWBOLT MORDRED, A TRAGEDY Table of Contents MORDRED, A TRAGEDY......................................................................................................................................1 HENRY NEWBOLT.....................................................................................................................................1 ACT I..........................................................................................................................................................................2 SCENE I.........................................................................................................................................................2 SCENE II.......................................................................................................................................................6 ACT II.......................................................................................................................................................................11 SCENE I.......................................................................................................................................................11 SCENE II.....................................................................................................................................................15 SCENE III....................................................................................................................................................18 SCENE IV....................................................................................................................................................22
  • THE STORY of KING ARTHUR and HIS KNIGHTS by Howard Pyle

    THE STORY of KING ARTHUR and HIS KNIGHTS by Howard Pyle

    THE STORY OF KING ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS By Howard Pyle HOW KING ARTHUR HELD A ROYAL WEDDING, AND ESTABLISHED THE ROUND TABLE. AND now was come the early fall of the year; that pleasant season when meadowland and wold were still green with the summer that had only just passed; when the sky, likewise, was as of summertime-extraordinarily blue and full of large floating clouds; when a bird might sing here and another there a short song in memory of springtime (as the smaller fowl doth when the year draweth to its ending); when all the air was tempered with, warmth and yet the leaves were everywhere turning brown and red and gold, so that when the sun shone through them it was as though a cloth of gold, broidered with brown and crimson and green, hung above the head. Now was come the early autumn season of the year, when it is exceedingly pleasant to be afield among the nut-trees with hawk and hound, or to travel abroad in the yellow world, whether it be ahorse or afoot. Such was the time of year in which had been set the marriage of King Arthur and the Lady Guinevere at Camelot, and at that place was extraordinary pomp and glory of circumstance. All the world was astir and in a great ferment of joy, for all folk were exceedingly glad that King Arthur was to have a queen. In preparation for that great occasion the town of Camelot was entirely bedight with magnificence, for the stony street along which the Lady Guinevere must come to the royal castle of the king was strewn thick with fresh-cut rushes, smoothly laid.
  • A Paradise Fading

    A Paradise Fading

    Master’s Thesis A PARADISE FADING Perceptions of Wild Nature in Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Idylls of the King and Howard Pyle’s Story of King Arthur and His Knights Author: Li Hedenmalm Supervisor: Per Sivefors Examiner: Johan Höglund Term: Spring 2018 Subject: English Level: Advanced Level, 30 Credits Course code: 5EN01E ABSTRACT This thesis explores representations of wild nature in two Arthurian texts – one British and one American – produced in an age characterised by rapid social transformation: Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Idylls of the King (1859-1885) and Howard Pyle’s Story of King Arthur and His Knights (1903). By investigation of the textual descriptions of wilderness and the portrayals of characters living there, the study aims to investigate what attitudes towards unkempt nature are displayed in the two texts. While both narratives give evidence of a powerful nostalgia for a vanishing paradise, the yearning for Eden is expressed quite differently. Pyle’s text fuses the concepts of wilderness and paradise together by depicting the unkempt landscape as a place of splendour and spiritual enjoyment. Such a celebration of nature might well be seen a reaction against the rapid loss of wild spaces across America (and Britain) during the life-time of the author. In the Idylls, paradise is represented in the domesticated yet green landscape of the faraway fairy island of Avilion. Wilderness, on the other hand, is depicted as a harmful disease progressively spreading across the realm, arguably bringing about a moral degeneration among the human characters. In the end, however, it is not wilderness, but the corruption of the supposedly civilised characters that causes the collapse of Arthur’s empire.
  • Idylls of the King;

    Idylls of the King;

    NY PUBLIC LIBMRY THE BWNCH.LISHAWE5 3 3333 2O26O 7343 NCH LIBRARIES 3 1 MI I 3333 8102''8868 u V fc te ,' : ^ IDYLLS OF THE KING jr Q -.. r ^^ j j. ^x IDYLLS OF THE KING BY ALFRED LORD TENNYSON ILLUSTRATED IN COLOUR. BY ELEANOR FORTESCUE BRICKDALE HODDER &STOUGHTON London New"Ybrk Toronto : 1 MOX AMD ; K...S. Printed at the Edinburgh Press in the City of London. T ILLUSTRATIONS ENID Facing To make her beauty vary day by day, In crimsons and in purples and in gems. Enid. 14 Yniol's rusted arms Were on his princely person, but thro' these Princelike his bearing shone. 30 They rode so slowly and they look'd so pale. 38 And many past, but none regarded her. 62 ILLUSTRATIONS VIVIEN Facing paga At which the King Had gazed upon her blankly and gone by. 70 O master, do you love my tender rhyme ? 78 Nor saw she save the King, who wrought the charm. 86 Sir Lancelot went ambassador, at first, To fetch her, and she took him for the King. Frontispiece And in the hollow oak he lay as dead, And lost to life and use and name and fame. 94 ELAINE Elaine. 102 Then to her tower she climb'd, and took the shield, There kept it, and so lived in fantasy. 110 ILLUSTRATIONS Facin . But to be with you still, to see your face, To serve you, and to follow you thro' the world. 181 So those two brethren from the chariot took And on the black decks laid her in her bed.
  • Arthurian Personal Names in Medieval Welsh Poetry

    Arthurian Personal Names in Medieval Welsh Poetry

    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Aberystwyth Research Portal ʹͲͳͷ Summary The aim of this work is to provide an extensive survey of the Arthurian personal names in the works of Beirdd y Tywysogion (the Poets of the Princes) and Beirdd yr Uchelwyr (the Poets of the Nobility) from c.1100 to c.1525. This work explores how the images of Arthur and other Arthurian characters (Gwenhwyfar, Llachau, Uthr, Eigr, Cai, Bedwyr, Gwalchmai, Melwas, Medrawd, Peredur, Owain, Luned, Geraint, Enid, and finally, Twrch Trwyth) depicted mainly in medieval Welsh prose tales are reflected in the works of poets during that period, traces their developments and changes over time, and, occasionally, has a peep into reminiscences of possible Arthurian tales that are now lost to us, so that readers will see the interaction between the two aspects of middle Welsh literary tradition. Table of Contents Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... 3 Bibliographical Abbreviations and Short Titles ....................................................... 4 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 9 Chapter 1: Possible Sources in Welsh and Latin for the References to Arthur in Medieval Welsh Poetry .............................................................................................. 17 1.1. Arthur in the White Book of Rhydderch and the
  • John Cowper Powys's Porius: a Reader's Companion

    John Cowper Powys's Porius: a Reader's Companion

    John Cowper Powys: Porius A Reader’s Companion Updated and Expanded Edition W. J. Keith April 2009 “Reader’s Companions” by Prof. W.J. Keith to other Powys works are available at: https://www.powys-society.org/Articles.html Preface The aim of this “Companion” is to provide background information that will enrich a reading of Powys’s novel/romance. It glosses Welsh, classical, biblical, and other allusions, identifies quotations, explains geographical and historical references, and offers any commentary that may throw light on the more complex aspects of the text. (When a quotation is involved, the passage is listed under the first word even if it is “a” or “the.”) It was first made available on the Internet and in booklet form in 2004, and has subsequently been updated and revised from time to time. The present version has been thoroughly reset and expanded. Numerous errors discovered in the intervening years have been corrected. All page-references are to Judith Bond and Morine Krissdóttir’s edition published by Overlook Duckworth in 2007, with those to Wilbur T. Albrecht’s 1994 edition from Colgate University Press following in square brackets. Since the latter contained many errors and inconsistencies, the words listed often appear there in somewhat different form. Moreover, because the editions are based on different copy-texts, some references appear only in one of the editions; when those occurring in only one version require separate annotation, they have been identified and glossed. References to other JCP books published during his lifetime will be either to the first editions or to reprints that reproduce the original pagination, with the following exceptions: Wolf Solent (London: Macdonald, 1961), Weymouth Sands (London: Macdonald, 1963), Maiden Castle (ed.