St Joseph Academy - Sajoscript Yearbook (Columbus, OH)

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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

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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 13111111111 11111 Cllllllllgf of Arthur' soul and sense are i11 terrible co1111ict with 11111111 171lll'1', for 11111 11111111111 passions- 1l1e beasts in the 1111111 of I111111111gra111 - are 1111s111f1'111i11g1' the s1111l. The killing' of these 17CilS1S 11y 1Xl'1l1llI' 111111 his 111111'- 1'yi11g' 1111i1111ve1'11 si111ply 111111111s that s1111s11 2111111 s1111l are 111111111 Cflllill. W1111t is '1'111111ys1111's 1111Vel11p1111111t of the 1eg111111 of the two sages, Bleys 111111 Merlin, 11111 21 1111111111 11'11111is11 1111 1iI10XV1011gl'C 111111 wis1111111, the latter always Fillllilllg' first 11111111111 1111p111111i11g' 1111 11111 foriner? l111111a11ce 211111 chiv11l1'y come proniptly to our 111i1111s at 111011111111 of the 1111111111 Table 211111 the 11111-111111 oath 11y which King Arth111'1s kniglits 11lCl1f.f01l f111111y 111 111111, b11t w111111 we look for the Sylllllllllli 111ea11i11g' we see th11t the 1111111111 'l'a11l11 11111111111s 11111 spiri11111l life of the s11111 111111 1l1e oath is the power by w11i1'l1 this life is c11111ir111111l, S11'0I1,Q'tl1QI1Bd and s11stai11e11. The 11ll11g1'111'i1f11l basis i11 the I11y11s of the Ki11g ' is very 11if1ic1111 at some points 111 11xp111i11, 211111 we lllill' 11111 beauty if we try 111 1111 so, but il few 111111111 11'l1l'l1S 1111 11111 subject of the 111111er1yi11g1' sy111b11lis111 will 11111, perhaps, be amiss. 1111111-111111. always closely associa11111 with 11111 king' 211111 111111e11, 1'11p1'11s11111s 11111111- 1111i1111. w11i1111 1-a11s11s s1111se 111 1111 1lIltl'l1C 111 s1111l. The three 1111111111s, with bright, sw11111 1.2l1'l'S wl111 will l111lp 111111 at 11is 11111111,7' signify love, hope 111111 faith. The l11y1l, 'i1i2lI'l111l 111111 11y111111e, s1111ws what steadfast 1111h11r11111111 to pri11eip111 will 1111 111 s111111111'111e11 1el1111'ae1111'. It symbolizes the 11v11l11tio11 of C11ill'ElCt01' 1111'1111g'11 1111111 r11s11lV11. '1'1111 story of H11111'ai111 211111 14111i11l' 11xe111p1i1i11s 11111 h11.v111: w1'o111:'11t by the sins 111. s11spi11i1111 111111 j111111111sy, Sir fiillillliltl, HxV1l01ll 111111 111111111 ,Q111111 11s he was 1111a111i1111, p11rs1111i1i11s 11111 spi1'i111111 1101l'1'lll1I1H1111I1 of youth, so p11w111'1'111 that 111111111 will 1111 11111-s1111 in p1'11f111'e111111 111 fl SllI'1'0IldC1' of i1111111s. '4'l'l1e l,2lSS1IlQ' of ,hl'11llll'H sy111l1111iz11s 11111 s1111l's gl'l'1l'f over 1l1e fall of 11111 body into sin, 111111 the 11i111r's 1i1lI'Q'lVl'111'SS 111 his 1111e1111, 1,ill1l10V01'6, signifies 1'0dClllPtlOI1 through il life of 1111111ement. qfff1fK 'X . ' ' 7 ,1 Zxfagg Q, -,- , 1 51 M 1 f' fgru-'1 1 1 ff g4'1fiJ,fi l1+ H-vylr 1 Q-fgifffgiii - 1 1121 1 ,G 119225 3.2 l2f 1115L11 1 1 . A aw 1 wg gf 1,-4 1 ' 1 '- 1- rf' -, ',--.,: gl, 1 1 , 1q sf11f1f'f?5E, 11 If 1- 1,1331 11 1, Y- J ,f 1'-- ' 1'1ff ff 1 if 1 .1 ,114 111 .111 1 1 '111 1 61112 111: 11112 , , '-'L-1 xl 16' 7 ,wp 151 , in .1 fix 51-1, J , -'15 i 4 , Q.. , if?Z,yf.'!, !,,f,1,,,,,-,hh 1,1 ,1 1. 1 , ,'. Vflmyhbqy 1 , 11:12 11,11 ., ,, - , 1, 1 1j1 ,, ,,-,.11. . - , 14 1157 ' fQ52 ,1.,'Z,g11'11 1- ,141 1 ' 1 f1 1 11 ' 11111119 111151 . . . 1x Kjkpl ' 1,1 MQ 11?'1' ,1 f 'fl-i1 ' , xg, ,K , :ew f, '1:.-1 '- 11 7,1-' ' 1: 1,3 1' ' 1 ' 1. 2-. 1:1--: - ,fy 1 ,, 11 1131111151 '1-E . 3'111,' X -. 11111 -' -- w- 11,f-157 ,j':'.j i1'-.1 1 ff 'Li l i '1i1W'1 1 1'1f' 311 111 1 1iT '1 A19 - ' f'i'1l 51,f'kfif1' 'i 1' '11 11 'A 711 f 1. qv'-ifTf 1 gg-,,1111f1Wi1P1! H.11K, 1.111 111x 'j,, X1 j - s c p W A W. 2,311 1, , QM. . 1: 51:1 . Afgfgggq-f., F:i.:ff5,g':,- L 1' 4' 313 1? -L+ L51 1 ,ig 1 111918 QE?-11112. ' ' -LT? -2 1-' Q Q - 1'- 1' 1 ' W- - 1 H-- ,fqx 1 54,1115-j6f2HfSQ Gwgevefe ,,, ,fa Yi N1 '- fr, ,L 1 11 V' ff 2,21 Ziif--Cl ?f 46Q faffbfmc-sbfffy. fbatl.. Q44 'l11'111l.VS11Il, like King' Al'l1lll1', may 1111 sai11 111 Hwear 11111 white Howe-r of .1 lll2I1l11'14'NS life, for, 11w11lli11g' 1:11 1l1e b1111111y of his poetry, or c1111te111p1ating: 11111 1111111 11111 s111-i1111s 11ig'11ity of l1is face we 121111 r111111i1y see that King Arthur is page forty-five