represented by Bedivere. This honest knight troubles himself but little with doubts or portents, and sees no reason to question or prove the truth of a message which comes to him with the sanction of common sense and at the same time satisfies his own ideal. His recognition of the significance of the message and its higher aspects may be dim and partial, but his obedience is thorough and practical. To this class also Bellicent belongs : although, woman-like, she feels a curiosity which she asks Merlin to satisfy regarding the reported wonders of The shining dragon and the naked child, yet speaking of the king to her son she says that she doubted him No more than he himself. In the Coronation scene many of the details have a distinctly symbolic reference. The "three fair queens," with the light from the pictured cross falling upon them, probably typify the three Christian virtues, Faith, Hope, Charity. Mage Merlin, "who knew the range of all their arts," may aptly symbolize the Intellect: his knowledge ranges over all human philosophy, but, as his fate, described in Merlin and Vivien, shows, it is knowledge without moral restraint or spiritual strength. The Lady of the Lake, who stands near Merlin, "knows a subtler magic than his own," inasmuch as the power of Religion is based on deeper and stronger * * In the Idyll of Gareth and Lynette a description is given of a statue of the Lady of the Lake, standing on the keystone of a gate of Camelot the figure is embellished with many Christian emblems: its arms are stretched out like a cross, drops of baptismal watter flow from its hands, from which also hang a censer and a sword, and the "sacred fish" floats on its breast. The last foundations than those of any philosophy that science can teach. She is clothed in white, the colour of purity: incense, the emblem of adoration, curls about her: her face is half hidden in the "dim religious light" of the holy place her voice mingles with the hymns, and, like the voice of the great multitude saying Alleluia, heard by St. John in the Revelation, sounds "as the voice of many waters": her dwelling is in eternal calm, where storms cannot reach her: and as our Lord walked on the Galilean waves and stilled their tumult, she can pass over the troubled waters of life and calm them with her footsteps. The sword which she gives to Arthur is cross-hilted: see Note to The Coming of Arthur, 1. 285. It is the "sword of the spirit," to be used against the superstitions and falsehoods of heathendom. Its jewelled ornament, like the Urim and Thummim of the Jewish high priest, is emblematic of mystic help and guidance from a heavenly source. The inner significance of the poem is further illustrated by Merlin's riddling response to Bellicent's question and by Leodogran's dream about Arthur, both of which are treated of in the Notes: also by the "dark sayings from of old," which speak of the king; these represent the vague oracular forecasts which, after the advent of any of the world's great teachers, are often said to have gone before it. emblem was one in use among the early Christians: noticing that the initial letters of the phrase, Ἰήσους Χριστός Θεοῦ Υἱος Σωτήρ, formed the word IXOTE, fish, they adopted the word and the form of a fish as Christian symbols. These may be seen cut on tombs in the Catacombs of Rome. significance of Table" Idylls. Before proceeding to the secondary significance of Spiritual The Passing of Arthur, it will be convenient to trace the the "Round development of the design of the poem through the intermediate group of Idylls. In Gareth and Lynette the golden age of Arthur's reign is depicted, before the taint of moral poison in the sin of Lancelot and Guinevere has begun to be felt. The vows of utter hardihood, utter gentleness, utter faithfulness in love, and uttermost obedience to the king are loyally kept by the whole Order, and true chivalry flourishes in all its splendour. Gareth himself is full of the enthusiasm of youth and of eagerness to serve the true king, willing to accept the humblest duty for the sake of glory. His achievement, the deliverance of the captive of Castle Perilous, is something more than a specimen of the work of the Round Table in redressing human wrong: it is also an image in miniature of the "boundless purpose of the king," the deliverance of the soul from bondage to the flesh. In The Marriage of Geraint and Geraint and Enid, which were originally printed as one Idyll, the taint of impurity first shows itself; suspicions of his wife's honour are bred. in Geraint's mind by rumours of the queen's unfaithful ness. In Balin and Balan, these rumours have gained greater currency and strength, and the final catastrophe, the death of the two brothers, is due to the shattering of their faith in Guinevere's purity. The taint comes into clearer light in Merlin and Vivien. The "vast wit and hundred winters" of the great Enchanter, shrewdness and knowledge and long experience, unsupported by moral strength, are powerless to with Spiritual stand the seductions of fleshly lusts. In these four Idylls the seeds of sin are sown. : In the next, Lancelot and Elaine, the bitter fruit ripens the death of Elaine, the "simple heart and sweet," is directly due to Lancelot's false truth to his guilty passion for the queen. In The Holy Grail a new element of failure is introduced: the knights, misled by vague dreams and mystic enthusiasm, desert the plain and practical duties of common life to "follow wandering fires," and true faith is lost in the delusions of superstition. Pelleas and Etarre shows us the pure and loyal trust of a young life turned to bitterness and despair by sad experience of the prevailing corruption. The triumph of the senses is complete in The Last Tournament: Tristram, the victor in "The Tournament of the Dead Innocence," openly scoffs at the king and his vows, and the glory of the Round Table is no more: one faithful follower is left to Arthur, and he is the court fool. In Guinevere we see that sin has done its work, and the smouldering scandal breaks and blazes before the people: the Order is splintered into feuds, the realm falls to ruin, and Arthur goes forth to meet his mysterious doom. The concluding Idyll, The Passing of Arthur, tells of the last battle and the end of Arthur's earthly life. The king's "sensuous frame is racked with pangs that conquer trust," but there is no lessening of fortitude, no weakening of will "Nay, God, my Christ, I pass but cannot die." In the conflict that precedes the last dread our confusion and "formless fear" may fall upon the soul when it stands forlorn amid the wrecks of its lofty purposes, and prepares to face the unknown future. But though Arthur sees full well the failure of all the purposes of his throne, his faith is not shaken: he can still say "King am I, whatsoever be their cry," and the last stroke with Excalibur, which slays a traitor, fitly crowns a life of kingly and knightly achievement. The lines which follow, from down to So all day long the noise of battle roll'd, And on the mere the wailing died away, formed the original fragment Morte d'Arthur. The symbolism in this portion of the Idyll is less prominent, and the story is told with Homeric simplicity and directness. Excalibur, when now no use remains for it on earth, is reclaimed by the Lady of the Lake, that it may equip the king in other regions; for the life and energy of the soul do not end when it passes from earth. The cries of triumphant acclaim, sounding from beyond the limit of the world, to welcome the wounded king to his isle of rest and healing, recall Leodogran's vision of the king standing crowned in heaven. Arthur's earthly realm may "reel back into the beast," and his Round Table may be dissolved; but his purity is untarnished, his honour is without stain, and the ideal which he has striven to realize has lost none of its inward vitality and significance. As he passes from earth to "vanish into light," he already gives a forecast of his return as the representative of the new chivalry, when he shall come With all good things, and war shall be no more. |