149–60. Malory xvii 7, in which Percivale’s sister speaks to Galahad: ‘ “Loe, lords,” said the gentlewoman, “here is a girdell that ought to be set about the sword; and wit yee well that the greatest part of this girdell was made of my haire, the which I loved full well while I was a woman of the world; but as soone as I wist that this adventure was ordained mee, I clipped off my haire, and made this girdell… Now recke I not though I die, for now I hold mee one of the blessed maidens of the world, which hath made thee the worthiest knight of the world.” ’
162. the spiritual city: in the Grail legends the city of Sarras, where Joseph of Arimathea converted King Evelac.
172. The Siege perilous: ‘The perilous seat which stands for the spiritual imagination’ (T.). See Malory xiii 4 for the empty seat at the Round Table, the letters on which came to read: ‘This is the siege of sir Galahad the good knight.’
175. misadvertence: absentmindedness, inattention. Tennyson’s coinage.
178. If I lose myself, I save myself: Matthew x 39: ‘He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.’
182–202. Malory xiii 7: ‘Then anon they heard cracking and crying of thunder, that hem thought the place should all to-rive; in the midst of the blast entred a sunne beame more clear by seaven times then ever they saw day, and all they were alighted of the grace of the holy Ghost. Then began every knight to behold other, and either saw other by their seeming fairer then ever they saw afore, not for then there was no knight that might speake any word a great while; and so they looked every man on other as they had beene dombe. Then there entred into the hall the holy grale covered with white samite, but there was none that might see it, nor who beare it, and there was all the hall fulfilled with good odours, and every knight had such meate and drinke as hee best loved in this world; and when the holy grale had beene borne through the hall, then the holy vessel departed suddenly, that they wist not where it became. Then had they breath to speak, and then the king yeelded thanks unto God of his grace that hee had sent them. “Certainely,” said king Arthur, “wee ought greatly to thanke our Lord Jesu Christ for that hee hath shewed us this day at the reverence of this high feast of Pentecost.” “Now,” said sir Gawaine, “we have beene served this day of what meats and drinkes we thought on, but one thing beguiled us, we might not see the holy ¿rale, it was so preciously covered, wherefore I will make heere avow that to morrow, without any longer abiding, I shall labour in quest of the sancgreall, that I shall hold me out a twelve moneths and a day, or more if neede bee, and never shall I returne againe unto the court til I have seene it more openly then it hath beene seene heere; and if I may not speed, I shall returne againe, as hee that may not bee against the will of our Lord Jesu Christ.” When they of the round table heard sir Gawaine say so, they arose, the most part of them, and avowed the same. And anon, as king Arthur heard this, he was greatly displeased, for hee wist wel that they might not gainesay their avowes.’
192. glory: the circle of light represented as surrounding the head or the whole figure, of the Saviour, the Virgin, or one of the Saints.
202. And Gawain sware, and louder than the rest: Tennyson’s addition. In Malory above, Gawain is simply the first to swear.
206–21. for early that same day. Tennyson’s addition. In Malory Arthur is present at the Grail.
228. dim rich city: see also LE 842.
232–7. And four great zones of sculpture: ‘The four zones represent human progress: the savage state of society; the state where man lords it over beast; the full development of man; the progress toward spiritual ideals’ (H.T.).
240. Northern Star, the pole star, a constant.
248. twelve great windows blazon Arthur’s wars: the twelve battles against the Saxons: see note to CA 517 (p. 310).
260–61. wrapt/In unremorseful folds of rolling fire: ‘This line gives onomato-poeically the “unremorseful flames’” (T.).
263. The golden dragon: Arthur’s emblem or motif; see note to CA 373 (P–309).
275–6. Woe is me, my knights… Had I been here, ye had not sworn the vow; Malory xiii 7: ‘And anon as king Arthur heard this, he was greatly displeased, for hee wist wel that they might not gainesay their avowes.’
287. What go ye into the wilderness to see?: Christ says of John the Baptist: ‘What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?’ (Matthew xi 7).
290. Sir Arthur. Galahad’s addressing Arthur as knight shows him elevated by the Grail vision to spiritual equality with the king.
293–4. for suck/As thou art is the vision, not for these: ‘The king thought that most men ought to do the duty that lies closest to them, and that to few only is given the true spiritual enthusiasm. Those who have it not ought not to affect it’ (T.).
300. Taliessin: greatest of the ancient Welsh bards.
312. The strong White Horse: emblem of the Saxons.
315–27. Malory xiii 7: ‘“Alas!” said king Arthur unto sir Gawaine, “yee have nigh slaine me with the vow and promise that yee have made; for through you yee have beereft mee of the fairest fellowship and the truest of knighthood that ever were seene together in any realme of the world. For when they shall depart from hence, I am sure that all shall never meete more in this world, for there shall many die in the quest, and so it forethinketh me a little; for I have loved them as well as my life, wherefore it shall grieve me right sore the seperation of this fellowship, for I have had an old custome to have them in my fellowship.” ’
328–37. As in Malory xiii 6.
343. totter’d: OED 2, of a building or a ship: battered and shaken, rendered ruinous and liable to fall.
350. wyvern: ‘two-legged dragon. Old French wivre, viper’ (T.).
griffin: imaginary or heraldic animal having head and wings of an eagle and the body and hindquarters of a lion.
353–7. Malory xiii 8: ‘Then the queene departed into her chamber so that no man should perceive her great sorrows… and there was weeping of the rich and poore, and the king turned away, and might not speak for weeping.’
371–8. Then every evil word: suggested by an experience of Percivale’s in Malory xiv 7.
387–90. ‘The gratification of sensual appetite brings Percivale no content’ (T., who comments on the ensuing episodes: ‘Nor does wifely love and the love of the family; nor does wealth, which is worshipt by labour; nor does glory; nor does Fame’).
427. clomb: climbed.
449. she: personification of glory.
452–3. and like a flying star/Led on the gray-hair’i wisdom of the east: ‘The Magi’ (T.).
462. sacring: ‘consecration’ (T.).
462–7. Malory xvii 20: ‘And then the bishop made semblance as though he would have gone to the sakring of the masse; and then hee tooke a wapher which was made in the likenesse of bread, and at the lining up there came a figure in the likenesse of a child, and the visage was as red and as bright as any fire, and smote himselfe in to that bread, so that they all saw that the bread was formed of a fleshly man.’
491–2. Storm at the top, and when we gain’d it, storm/Round us and death: ‘It was a time of storm when men could imagine miracles, and so storm is emphasized’ (T.).
493. gloom’d: made dark or sombre.
509. Shoutings of all the sons of God: Job xxxviii 7: ‘When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.’
526–7. I saw the spiritual city and all her spires/And gateways in a glory like one pearl: Revelation xxi 21: ‘And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl.’
531–2. the Holy Grail,/Which never eyes on earth again shall see: Malory xvii 22: Sithen was there never man so hardy to say that he had seen the Sangreal.’
541. These ancient books: The Bible and other ancient chronicles. teem: to be full, and OED 5, ‘to cite or call to witness.’
547. thorpe: hamlet or village.
548. martin: house martin
, bird of the swallow family.
554. lyings-in: being in childbed.
569. eft: newt.
570. burdock: coarse weedy plant.
570–71. I was changed to wan/And meagre: became pallid, sickly and weak.
575–605. Based on the temptation of Percivale in Malory xiv 9.
628. earth: den or burrow.
633. pelican: Malory xvi 6 has Bors experience such a bird.
642–3. I have been the sluggard, and I ride apace,/For now there is a lion in the way: Proverb xxvi 13: ‘The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way: a lion is in the streets.’ Tennyson also makes Lancelot’s heraldic device a lion: see GL 571, 1186, LE 659.
645. Softly: OED 3, ‘with a slow, easy, or gentle pace or motion’.
646. his former madness: Malory xii 3–4, on Lancelot’s madness and his cure by the Grail.
658. lonest: remotest, most lonely.
661–2. a remnant that were left/Paynim amid their circles, and the stones/They pitch up straight to heaven: ‘The temples and upright stones of the Druidic religion’ (T.).
Paynim: pagan.
667. ‘The sun-worshippers that were said to dwell on Lyonnesse scoffed at Percivale’ (T.).
679. scud: clouds in rapid movement.
681. The seven clear stars of Arthur’s Table Round: ‘The Great Bear’ (T.).
691–2. ‘It might have been a meteor’ (T.).
715. basilisks: ‘the fabulous crowned serpent whose look killed’ (T.).
cockatrices: ‘in heraldry, winged snakes’ (T.). With head, wings and feet of a cock, terminating in a serpent with a barbed tail.
716. talbots: ‘heraldic dogs’ (T.).
717. raw: exposed, unprotected by normal finish, figuratively suggesting the living state of Camelot.
720. tithe: a tenth; also, for soldiery, the killing of one in ten, decimation.
738–47. Based on Malory xvi 5 and Gawain’s exploits elsewhere in Malory.
739. communed: held intimate spiritual intercourse with.
759. like him of Cana in Holy Writ: John ii 1–10.
784. My madness came upon me as of old: Malory xi 8, xii 5.
810. Carbonek: the legendary home of the Grail.
810–14. Malory xvii 14: ‘So it befell upon a night at midnight hee arived afore a castle on the backe side, which was rich and faire, and there was a posterne that opened toward the sea, and was open without any keeping, save two lions kept the entrie, and the moone shined cleare.’
815–22. Malory xvii 14: ‘Then he ranne to his armes, and armed him, and so hee went unto the gate and saw the two lions; then hee sat hands to his sword and drew it; then came there sudainly a dwarfe, that smote him upon the arme so sore that the sword fell out of his hand. Then hee heard a voice that said, “Oh man of evill faith and poore beliefe, wherefore beleevest thou more in thy harneis then in thy maker? for hee might more availe thee then thine armour, in whose service thou art set.” Then said sir Launcelot, “Faire Father, Jesu Christ, I thank thee of thy great mercy that thou reprovest mee of my misdeede; now see I well that thou holdest mee for thy servant.” Then tooke hee againe his sword, and put it upon his shield, and made a crosse on his forehead, and came to the lions, and they made semblant to doe him harme, notwithstanding he passed by them without hurt, and entred into the castle to the chiefe foretresse.’
827–8. ‘My father was fond of quoting these lines for the beauty of the sound’ (H. T.).
830–32. Clear as a lark, high o’er me as a lark,/A sweet voice singing in the topmost tower/To the eastward: ‘“The lark” in the tower toward the rising sun symbolizes Hope’ (H. T.).
833–6. Malory xvii 15: ‘Then he listned, and heard a voice which sung so sweetly, that it seemed none earthly thing, and him thought that the voice said, “Joy and honour be to the Father of heaven.” ’
838–48. Malory xvii 15: ‘And with that he saw the chamber doore open, and there came out a great cleareness, that the house was as bright as though all the torches of the world had beene there. So came hee to the chamber doore, and would have entred, and anon a voice said unto him, “Flee, sir Launcelot, and enter not, for thou oughtest not to doe it, and if thou enter thou shalt forethinke it.” And hee withdrew him backe, and was right heavie in his mind. Then looked hee up in the midest of the chamber, and saw a table of silver, and the holy vessell covered with red samite, and many angels about it, whereof one of them held a candell of waxe burning, and the other held a crosse and the ornaments of the alter… Right so hee entred into the chamber, and came toward the table of silver; and when hee came nigh he felt a breath, that him thought was entermedled with fire, which smote him so sore in the visage, that him thought it all to-brent his visage, and therewith hee fell to the ground, and had no power to arise.’
840. As from a seventimes-heated furnace: Daniel iii 19: ‘heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated’ (the story of Shadrach, Meschah and Abednego).
845. Great angels, awful shapes, and wings and eyes: Ezekiel x 12: ‘And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about.’
855. Hath Gawain fail’d in any quest of thine?: cf. LE 711–13.
862. I will be deafer than the blue-eyed cat: Hallam Tennyson quotes the first chapter of Darwin’s Origin of Species: ‘Thus cats which are entirely white and have blue eyes are generally deaf; but it has lately been pointed out by Mr Tait that this is confined to the males.’
902. hind: farm servant, agricultural labourer.
908. Until this earth he walks on seems not earth: ‘Arthur suggests that all the material universe may be but vision’ (T.).
913–14. ‘My father said (I think) about this passage: “There is something miraculous in man, and there is more in Christianity than some people think. It is enough to look on Christ as Divine and Ideal without defining more. They will not easily beat the character of Christ, that union of man and woman, strength and sweetness’” (H. T.).
Pelleas and Ettarre
Published December 1869 (dated 1870). Composed the same year. Origin in Malory iv 21–4.
3. old Caerleon: Arthur’s alternative court to Camelot. Malory’s Pelleas episode has no specific setting.
9–11. the King/Had let proclaim a tournament – the prize/A golden circlet and a knightly sword: Malory iv 20: ‘And who that proved him the best knight should have a passing good sword and a serklet of gold, and the serklet the knight should give it to the fairest lady that was at those justes.’
12. Full fain: very eager.
19–20. Riding at noon, a day or twain before,/Across the forest call’d of Dean, to find| Caerleon: the setting and time of day are Tennyson’s additions.
33–4. the fern without/Burnt as a living fire of emeralds: ‘Seen as I lay in the New Forest’ (T.).
48. boles: stems or trunks of trees.
61. damsels-errant: female equivalent of the knight-errant.
82–6. Suggested by Malory iv 21: ‘“My name is sir Pelleas, born in the Isles, and of many isles I am lord, and never have I loved lady nor damosell till now in an unhappie time.” ’
94. And she was a great lady in her land: Malory iv 20: ‘He loveth a great lady in this countrey, and her name is Ettarde.’
144. make: build.
150–63. Malory iv 20: ‘And this knight sir Pelleas was the best knight thatwas there, and there were five hundred knights, but there was never man that ever sir Pelleas met withal, but that he strooke him downe, or elsefrom his horse. And every day of the three dayes he strooke down twentie knights, therfore they gave him the price.’
169–78. The episode with Guinevere is Tennyson’s addition.
182–3. Malory iv 21: ‘But she was so proud that she had scorn of him, and said that she would never love him, though he would die for her.’
186. grizzlier than a bear: more ferocious than a (grizzly) bear (Ursus horribilis, peculiar to the mountainous d
istricts of western North America).
188. papmeat: soft or semi-liquid food for infants.
196. hest: bidding, command.
202–10. Malory iv 21: ‘And so this knight promised the lady Ettarde to follow her into this countrey, and never to leave her till she loved him. And thus he is here the most part nigh her, and lodgeth by a priorie.’
211–28. Malory iv 21: ‘And every weeke she sendeth knights to fight with him; and when he hath put them to the worst, then will he suffer them wilfully to take him prisoner, because he would have a sight of this lady.’
218. A week beyond: a week later.
227. minion-knights: knights behaving in a servile or slavish manner.
234. donjon: castle.
266. In Malory, Gawain is told of Pelleas and seeks him out; Pelleas is not being attacked, and simply tells Gawain of Ettarde’s treatment. Thedetails are Tennyson’s; in Malory Pelleas says: ‘When I am brought before her she rebuketh me in the foulest manner.’
290. marr’d: disfigured.
309. lazar’s rag: rags of someone poor and afflicted with leprosy.
332–53. Malory iv 21–2: ‘“Well,” said sir Gawaine, “all this shall I amend, and ye will doe as I shall devise. I will have your horse and your armour, and so will I ride to her castle, and tell her that I have slaine you, and so shal I come within to her to cause her to cherish me, and then I shall doe my true part, that yee shall not faile to have her love.” And therewithall sir Gawaine plight his troth unto sir Pelleas to be true and faithfull unto him. When they had plight their troth the one to the other, they changed horses and harneis.’
335. leal: loyal.
341. From prime to vespers: from sunrise to sunset.
342. prowest: ‘noblest’ (T.).
344. lusty, healthy.
355–81. Malory iv 22: ‘And sir Gawaine departed, and came to the castle where as stood the pavilions of this lady without the gate; and so soone as Ettarde had espied sir Gawaine, she fled toward the castle. Then sir Gawaine spoke on high, and bad her abide, for he was not sir Pelleas. “I am another knight that hath slaine sir Pelleas.” “Doe off your helme,” said the lady Ettarde, “that I may behold your visage.” And when she saw it was not sir Pelleas, she made him to alight, and led him unto her castle, and asked him faithfully whether he had slaine sir Pelleas. And he said, yea. And then sir Gawaine told her that his name was sir Gawaine, and of the court of king Arthur, and his sisters sonne. “Truely,” said she, “that is great pittie, for hee was a passing good knight of his body, but of all men on live I hated him most, for I could never be quiet for him. And for that yee have slaine him, I shall bee your woman, and doe any thing that may please you.” So shee made sir Gawaine good cheere.’
Idylls of the King Page 40