354. besotted: having the affections foolishly or dotingly engaged.
357–62. ‘The goblet is embossed with scenes from the story of Joseph of Arimathea, his voyage, and the wattle-built church he raised at Glastonbury. King Pellam represents the type of asceticism and superstition’ (H.T.).
359. massiest: heaviest, most solid.
372. scantly. scarcely, hardly.
380–420. Picked out by Tennyson as ‘a passage of rapid blank verse (where the pauses are light, and the accentuated syllables under the average -some being short in quantity, and the narrative brief and animated)’.
392. banneret: crest, badge.
396. pummel: the knob terminating the hilt of a sword.
410. rummage: bustle, commotion, turmoil.
411. counter, opposite.
431–3. In Malory Vivien has no connection with Mark.
435. wold: elevated tract of open country or moorland.
438. quire: archaic form of choir.
467. A lustful King: Mark.
480. maws: throats, gullets. ensepulchre: entomb.
493. fill loth: very reluctant.
496–514. A deliberate fabrication of Vivien’s; see l. 517.
504. mumbled: both spoken indistinctly and fondled with the lips.
507. great tower, see note to M G 826–7 (p. 328).
513. The deathless mother-maidenhood of Heaven: The Virgin Mary.
545. buckler, a small round shield.
547. Not so in Malory.
551. hauberk: long coat of mail or military tunic.
551. and Balin’s horse/Was wearied to the death, and, when they clash’d,/Rolling back upon Balin, crush’d the man/Inward, and either fell, and swoon’d away. Malory ii 18: ‘but their speares and their course was so big that it bare downe horse and man, so that they lay both in a swowne; but Balin was sore brused with the fall of his horse, for he was weary of travaile.’
560. down: first feathering of young birds.
563. See what I see, be thou where. I have been: connive with me in the whole deception.
564. casques: helmets.
573–4. / better prize/The living dog than the dead lion: Ecclesiastes ix 4: for a living dog is better than a dead lion’.
578–620. Malory ii 18. ‘Then said Balin le Savage, “What knight art thou? for or now I found never no knight that matched me.” “My name is,” said he, “Balan, brother to the good knight Balin.” “Alas!” said Balin, “that ever I should see this day.” And therewith he fel backward in a swowne. Then Balan went on all four feete and hands, and put off the helme of his brother, and might not know him by the visage it was so full hewen and bebled (be-bled); but when he awok he said, “O Balan, my brother, thou hast slaine me, and I thee, wherefore all the wide world shall speake of us both.” “Alas!” said Balan, “that ever I saw this day, that through mishap I might not know you, for I espied well your two swords, but because yee had another shield, I deemed you had beene another knight.” “Alas!” said Balin, ‘al that made an unhappy knight in the castle, for he caused me to leave mine own shield to the destruction of us both; and if I might live I would destroy that castle for the ill cus-tomes”… “We came both out of one wombe, that is to say, mothers belly, and so shall we lye both in one pit”… “Now,” said Balin, “when we are buried in one tombe, and the mention made over us how two brethren slew each other, there will never good knight nor good man see our tombe but they will pray for our soûles.” ’
590–606. Not in Malory. Necessitated by Tennyson’s completion of his plot.
Merlin and Vivien
Published 1859 as ‘Vivien’, with final title in 1870. Begun in February and finished on 31 March 1856. Lines 6–146 and 188–94 added in 1875 and 1873 respectively. The story of the poem is essentially original, though founded on the episode of Merlin’s seduction by Vivien, Malory iv 1.
2. Broceliande: ‘The forest of Broceliand in Brittany near St Malo’ (T.). In one source Tennyson used, the Vulgate Merlin, the site of the mage’s seduction.
5, 147. the wily Vivien: cf. Satan as ‘wily snake’, full of ‘subtle wiles’ and ‘wily Adder’, Paradise Lost ix 91, 184, 625.
10. Tintagil: Mark’s court, as well as being the site of the supposed coming of Arthur.
14–16. Matthew xxii 30.
33. Here are snakes within the grass: Virgil, Eclogues ii 93: frigidus, O pueri,fugite hinc, latet anguis in herba’ (‘O boys, flee from hence, a clammy snake lurks in the grass’).
40. As Love, if Love be perfect, casts out fear: 1 John iv 18: ‘perfect love casteth out fear’.
41. So Hate, if Hate be perfect, casts out fear. Psalm cxxxix 21–2: ‘Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? Yea, I hate them with perfect hatred.’
45. sown upon the wind: Hoseah vii 8: ‘for they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal’.
46. betimes: at an early time, period, season.
47–8. That old true filth, and bottom of the well,/Where Truth is hidden: Sir Thomas Browne: ‘Truth, which wise men say doth lye in a well’ (Tilley’s Proverbs, T582).
51–2. There is no being pure,/My cherub; saith not Holy Writ the samel: Proverbs, xx 9:’Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?’
86–7. All glittering like May sunshine on May leaves/In green and gold, and plumed with green: a recollection of Guinevere going a-maying, Malory xix 1.
98. askance: obliquely, askew.
broken-wise: disconnectedly, incoherently.
108. that gray cricket: the minstrel, 1. 9 ff.
115. The mortal dream that never yet was mine: ‘The only real bit of feeling, and the only pathetic line which Vivien speaks’ (T.).
117. lubber, clumsy, stupid.
123. seeling: ‘sewing up eyes of hawk’ (H. T.).
jesses: ‘straps of leather fastened to legs’ (H. T.).
124. to check at pies: ‘fly at magpies’ (H.T.).
125. Nor will she rake: ‘nor will she fly at other game’ (H. T.).
129. tower’d: to mount up, as a hawk, so as to be able to swoop down on the quarry.
134. As once – of old – among the flowers – they rode: see C A 449, BB 267, G 386–7.
139. Leaven’d: permeated with a transforming influence as leaven does. See Matthew xiii 33.
145–6. Thereafter as an enemy that has left/Death in the living waters: ‘Poisoned the wells’ (T.).
149. lavish: loose, wild, licentious.
150–62. Tennyson’s invention. Possibly suggested by the fact that in Malory ix 15 another enchantress attempts to seduce Arthur.
165. Merlin, who knew the range of all their arts,/Had built the King his havens, ships, and halls,/Has also Bard, and knew the starry heavens: Geoffrey of Monmouth credits Merlin with the building of Stonehenge.
178. sports: amorous dalliance.
188. He walk’d with dreams and darkness: Proverbs ii 13: ‘who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness’.
190. An ever-moaning battle in the mist: ‘The vision of the battle at the end’ (T.).
199. Drave: drove.
203–12. Cf. Vulgate Merlin: ‘Sir, said Viviane, I would have you teach and show me how to inclose and imprison a man without a tower, without walls, without chains, and by enchantments alone, in such manner that he may never be able to go out, except by me… Then the damsel rose and made a ring with her wimple round the bush and round Merlin, and began her enchantments such as he himself had taught her; and nine times she -made the ring, and nine times she made the enchantment… and when he awoke and looked round him, it seemed to him that he was inclosed in the strongest tower in the world.’
216. quench’d: destroyed.
223. sallows: willows.
229–31. As on a dull day in an Ocean cave/The blind wave feeling round his long sea-hall/In silence: ‘This simile is taken from what I saw in the Caves of Ballybunion’ (T.). This
was in 1842.
236–40. Cf. Vulgate Merlin: ‘When Vivien heard this, for her great treason, and the better to delude and deceive him, she put her arms round his neck, and began to kiss him, saying, that he might well be hers, seeing that she was his.’
247. the little elf-god eyeless: blind Cupid.
248. arras: covered with tapestry.
315. The people call you prophet: see G L 491.
316. expound: to be one’s own expositor.
347. Nadir hell: very bottom of hell.
365. spell: interpret.
403. Far other was the song that once I heard: ‘The song about the clang of battle-axes, etc., in the Coming of Arthur’ (T.).
406. current: running about.
424. roundel: short simple song with refrain.
426–30. Until they vanish’d by the fairy well/That laughs at iron – as our warriors did – where children cast their pins and nails, and cry,/”Laugk, little well!” but touch it with a sword,/It buzzes fiercely round the point: Mabinogion ‘The Fountain of Baranton is supplied by a mineral spring, and it bubbles up on a piece of iron or copper being thrown into it. “Les enfants s’amusent à y jeter des épingles, et disent par commun proverbe: ‘Ris donc, fontaine de Berendon, et je te donnerai une épingle.’ ”
464. counterchanged: to change to the opposite.
473–4. Azure, an Eagle rising or, the Sun/In dexter chief, these fancied arms are heraldically correct, comprising an azure or sky-blue background, with a golden eagle in flight, and the sun in the top left corner of the shield.
477. graff: a graft, shoot inserted in another stock.
485. prurient: having an itching desire or curiosity.
489. But work as vassal to the larger love: In Memoriam xlviii 8: ‘and makes it vassal unto love’.
506–8. a single misty star,/Which is the second in a line of stars/That seem a sword beneath a belt of three: ’θ Orionis – the nebula in which is embedded the great multiple star. When this was written some astronomers fancied that this nebula in Orion was the vastest object in the Universe – a firmament of suns too far away to be resolved into stars by the telescope, and yet so huge as to be seen by the naked eye’ (T.).
515. pupilage: condition of being a minor or ward.
530. misfaith: disbelief, mistrust.
540. buxom: plump and comely.
550. unmortised: unjointed.
553–97. ‘People have tried to discover this legend, but there is no legend of the kind that I know of (T.).
571–2. for magnet-like she drew/The rustiest iron of old fighters’ hearts: Paradise Regained ii 167–8: ‘lead/At will the manliest, resolutest brest,/As the Magnetic hardest Iron draws.’
576. serpent hands: Lucretius v 1303, anguimanus.
616–48. ‘Nor is this legend to be found’ (T.).
633. lash’d: ‘like an eyelash’ (T.).
636. cairn’d: furnished with or surmounted by a cairn. Tennyson’s coinage.
654. whelm: cover over.
655. turfs: buries, covers with turf.
691. They ride abroad redressing human wrongs: one of Arthur’s precepts: see Dedication 8, G 468.
697. drove: herd of beasts, cattle.
703–17. Sir Valence: presumably to be taken in the spirit of Tennyson’s notes to 553–97 and 616–48. Not in Malory.
707. reckling: youngest or smallest child in a family.
712. outland: foreign, alien.
719—43. Sir Sagramore: an actual knight in Malory, but no equivalent episode there.
720. that ardent man: play upon Sagramore’s chivalric designation, ‘le desirous’, originally meaning eager or ardent in deeds of arms.
732. darkling: in the dark, in darkness.
741. blazed: published, divulged.
745–65. Sir Percivale: approximating an experience of his in Malory xiv 9.
748. wether: ram.
768. commerce: intercourse of the sexes, especially in a bad sense.
792. leal: loyal, faithful.
796. poach’d: trampled into mire.
799. By instance: by fact or example brought forward in support of a general assertion.
808. rail: utter abusive language.
821. nine tithes of times: nine times out of ten.
838. fell: beard.
842. session: the state or posture of being seated.
847. fairy: Vivien (Nimue) in Malory had magical powers.
867. Seethed like a kid in its own mother’s milk: Exodus xxiii 19: ‘Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.’
899. cageling: a bird kept in a cage. Tennyson’s coinage.
911. passages of love: amorous relations.
937. white-listed: ‘striped with white’ (T.).
951. petulancy: wantonness, immodesty.
963. overtalk’d: overcome by talking.
overworn: worn out, exhausted, spent with age, toil.
967. hollow oak: in the Vulgate Merlin it is a bush of white thorn, and in Malory within a rock or cave.
969. I have made his glory mine: reversing Isaiah xlii 8: ‘My glory I will not give to another.’
Lancelot and Elaine
Published 1859 as ‘Elaine’, with final title in 1870. Begun July 1858, virtually complete 8 February 1859. Its origin is in Malory xviii 9–20.
7. soilure: soiling, staining.
9. devices: emblematic figures or designs.
blazon’d: painted or depicted according to the rules of heraldry.
10. tinct: colour, hue, tint.
30–31 tilt/For the great diamond in the diamond jousts: suggested by jousting for a diamond just after this in Malory xviii 21.
34–55. This episode is not in Malory,
35. Lyonnesse: ‘A land that is said to have stretched between Land’s End and Scilly, and to have contained some of Cornwall as well’ (T.).
44. lichen’d: to cover with lichens. Tennyson’s coinage.
53. scaur: a precipitous bank.
61. Once every year, in Malory the jousts for a diamond are daily till Christmas.
65—6. The heathen, who, some say, shall rule the land/Hereafter, historically correct.
75–6. Hard on the river nigh the place which now/Is this world’s hugest: the river Thames and London.
78–83. Malory xviii 8: ‘So king Arthur made him ready to depart to these justs, and would have had the queene with him, but at that time shee would not goe, shee said, for shee was sicke and might not ride at that time. “Then me repenteth,” said the king, “for these seven yeares yee saw not such a fellowship together, except at Whisontide (Whitsuntide) when sir Galahad departed from the court.” “Truely,” said the queene unto the king, “yee must hold me excused, I may not be there, and that me repenteth.” And many deemed that the queen would not be there because of sir Launcelot du Lake, for sir Launcelot would not ride with the king; for hee said that hee was not hole of the wound the which sir Mador had given him.” ’
89. Love-loyal to the least wish of the Queen: the line is repeated at G125.
91. tale: whole amount.
94. lets: hinders.
97–101. Malory xviii 8: ‘“Sir Launcelot, yee are greatly to blame thus to hold you behind my lord; what trow yee what your enemies and mine will say and deeme? nought else but see how sir Launcelot holdeth him ever behind the king and so doth the queene, for that they would have their pleasure together; and thus will they say,” said the queene unto sir Launcelot.’
101. pastime: recreation, amusement, sport (but Tennyson gives the word a sexual innuendo).
103–4. ‘Are ye so wise? ye were not once so wise,/My Queen, that summer, when ye loved me first’: Malory xviii 9: ‘“Madame,” said sir Launcelot to the queene, “I alow your wit, it is of late come sith yee were wise.”’
118. devoir, duty, business, appointed task.
126–7. only here to-day/There gleam ‘d a vague suspicion in his eyes: cf. Malory xx 2: ‘for king Arthur was loth thereto,
that any noise should bee upon sir Launcelot and his queene; for the king had a deeming, but he would not here of it’.
134. The low sun makes the colour: the colours of sunrise and sunset.
139. buzz: OED 5, ‘to spread as a rumour, with whispering or busy talk’.
140–57. Malory xviii 9: ‘“But wit yee well,” said sir Launcelot unto queene Guenever, “that at those jousts I will be against the king and all his fellowship.” “Yee may there doe as yee list,” said queene Guenever; “but by my counsaile ye shall not be against your king and your fellowship for therein are many hardy knights of your blood.” ’
143–4. Before a King who honours his own word,/As if it were his God’s: see G 470: ‘To honour his own word as if his God’s.’
147. wit: perceptive.
180–81. ‘Whence comest thou, my guest, and by what name/Livest between the lips?: an epic formula, as in Aeneid xii 235.
186. Identical with I. 140.
192. The borrowing of the shield is in Malory.
202. lustihood: vigour of body, robustness.
210–13. ‘A vision prophetic of Guinevere hurling the diamonds into the Thames’ (T.).
214. belike: as likely as not.
248. The flower of all the west and all the world: Guinevere.
249–52: but in him/His mood was often like a fiend, and rose/And drove him into wastes and solitudes/For agony, who was yet a living soul: Luke viii 29: ‘For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.’ Lancelot’s madness is in Malory xi 8, xii 5.
259. And loved him, with that love which was her doom: reflecting Malory xviii 9: ‘and ever shee beheld sir Launcelot wonderfully; and she cast such a love unto sir Launcelot that shee could not withdraw her love, wherefore she died; and her name was Elaine la Blaunche.’
269. glanced: referred to obliquely in passing.
272. reft: robbed.
279. Badon hill: see 302 and note.
286–302. Arthur’s twelve battles against the Saxons, as listed in the ninth-century chronicle of Nennius, with modifications of Tennyson’s own. For the most important, see below.
Idylls of the King Page 38