St Joseph Academy - Sajoscript Yearbook (Columbus, OH)

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EIYICANUR IIARDING EM MA ALIBRANDO AIILDRED Aluluox QIRAHYJ ANsl'1l, IIURTRNSE CANNoN NIARIUN CASSADY l'IS'I'lIl'lR CoLANca1-3 AIARY IJEINLEIN RoslNA 1JEINI4EIN RUSINA FALK MARIE 1 1,uM ING SICLMA FRAAS Ll'1'l1,r.1c Fl'1.f'l1lf1R BIAI'IGARIG'1' llAmvN1f:s' IUARGARET GALE DURKYFIIY UINTIINER SANDALPIION Third Rhetoric 'l'1lRu1mRA IIAMMUND ANNA CA1'11If:R1Nlf: HMM CATHERINE IIICNNESSEY l RANc:1cs 1I11a1z IIICLICN Ilvulllcs C'A'r11ARlN1f1 JULIWI-1 Amcflc K1I.LIl.RA MARY KURN Hl'1R'I'RUDI'1 LICNNUN AIAIRGAIEIVI' Mnflilflvmvl' C'uNs'1'.xNCIc O 'BRIIAIN LUf'ILI1IG OyIIARRA Lows!-1 PACKARD MARGARIQT RITTER IWARY lfATlIRYN Hmm ICATIILICEN RUr:An111a IUARGARET ,XVICIIAND f2RRALmNl1: XVITENI' IIUETCRTA ZI+I'I'TLER BIARGARET ZIEGLER page forty three

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SANDALPHON ulciylls of the King CrvrrisR1N1s ELIZABETII IIENNESSEY Third lthctorfic Class OLUMES have been written discussing and analyzing Arthurian poetry and a goodly portion of each has been taken up by treatises on Tennyson's Idylls of the King, and thus, it 'seems to me, a rrrost formidable task to think of writing anything of worth in an essay of a few hun lr-ed words. I shall try, however, to dwell on these phases which seein mrst clear to me after' the fascinating study of this cycle of beautiful poems. Arthurian poetry conrprelrends that fruitful aggregation of legemls told of King Arthur, whose fame is founded on stories of myth and tradition, many of which antedate his life by so many years that we wonder what elcnrcnt of truth, as relates to King Arthur, these stories could eentain. We know that a real King Arthur lived and was one of the last Celtic chieftains. Other poets of England, and poets of other nations as well, have used the stories of Arthur for their themes, but it remained for lrord Alfred Tennyson to put them into a form as fascinating as they are romantic. Some critics have called 'tThe Idylls of the King an epic poem, 'fthe greatest since 'l'ar'adise lrost', while others elass it as epic in its content, but idyllic in its form. Eaeh story is, in itself, an idyll or little picture, composed of narrative and descrip- tive elements, a cycle being formed by the entire group, with all the narratives centering around the search for the Holy Grail. Ferty-four years of labor Tennyson devoted to the Hldylls of the King,', for, from the year 1842, when he wrote Norte d' Arthur, until 1886, when the tragedy of Balin and Ealin was added to the cycle, these stories lay nearest to his heart, and many hours he is said to have worked on their perfec- tion arrd enrbellislrrnent. Each ldyll is a beautiful romantic episode or complete story in itself, and eaeh slwuld be read by the young student many times for the pleasure to be derived from the story elements alone. Eventually the entire cycle should be studied for the beautiful symbolism or allegory which Tennyson errrbodied in these poenrs. Even after the figurative quality is thoroughly understood and grasped it is strange to note how easily the allegory vanishes, and we find our- selves enjoying the ldylls fer the sequence ef events which each contains. The Hldylls of the King is the story of the lrurrran soul in contlict with sense. This is set forth by Tennyson in his dedication to Queen Victoria, wherein he says, Aeeept this nhl imporfeet tale, Nefu'-old and shadowing Sense at rear uritlz Soul. The Poet keeps strictly to his prorrrise, for in each narrative, underlying the stery involved, an attentive student will find the symbolisnr. When we meditate on the apostrophe of Arthur as he speaks of t'uinevere, ' But were I joined with her, Then might ire litre together as one life, Ariel reigning 'llfttlb one will in everything Haro pon-er on this dark land to lighten it, A mt power on this dead world to make 'if live, can we not readily see that Arthur typiiies the lrurrran soul and tluirrevere, that is the fairest under heaven, the body so closely allied to the soul, as if the soul and body had but one Will? page forty-four