And all the three were silent seeing, pitch'd Beside it hanging; which Sir Gareth graspt, Echo'd the walls; a light twinkled; anon Came lights and lights, and once again he blew; Whereon were hollow tramplings up and down And muffled voices heard, and shadows past; And horrors only proven a blooming boy. So large mirth lived, and Gareth won the quest. And he that told the tale in older times Says that Sir Gareth wedded Lyonors, But he that told it later says Lynette. NOTE. The complete series of the Idylls, including The Coming of Arthur and The Passing of Arthur, comprises twelve poems. In this volume six of the series are omitted, the first omission being of four Idylls following Gareth and Lynette in the completed work. These omitted Idylls are by name (1) The Marriage of Geraint, (2) Geraint and Enid, (3) Balin and Balan, (4) Merlin and Vivien. The second omission follows the Idyll of The Holy Grail, the omitted Idylls being Pelleas and Ettarre and The Last Tournament. The unity of the Idylls of the King, taken as a whole, is not so strictly maintained that a reading of the omitted Idylls is essential to an understanding of the story. It is true that we can find in a study of the whole series of the Idylls a progressive degeneration within Arthur's court, and that a careful treatment of the Idylls with a special effort to emphasize this element in the unity of the whole series can bring forth in each Idyll some character or incident that betrays the growing degeneration, but the true unity lies, not in the story of this degeneration, but in the character of Arthur. The reader can get the essential elements of the Idylls by a study of those separate poems included in this volume in which the influence of Arthur is predominant. In connection with this question of the unity of the Idylls as a whole, the date of composition of the separate poems is noteworthy. The Morte d'Arthur, later incorporated into The Passing of Arthur, was written about 1835 and published in the 1842 volume. In 1859, seventeen years later, appeared the first instalment of the Idylls, including the following titles: Enid, Vivien, Elaine, and Guinevere. After a lapse of ten years, in 1869 four new poems were added to those already published, namely, The Coming of Arthur, The Holy Grail, Pelleas and Ettarre, and The Passing of Arthur (including as mentioned before the Morte d'Arthur of 1842). After another lapse, this time of three years, The Last Tournament and Gareth and Ly nette appeared. And last of all, in 1885, Balin and Balan was included, appearing in a volume entitled Tiresias and Other Poems. This résumé of the dates of publication of the separate poems in the series is introduced here to show that the unity of the whole is dependent not upon a clearly defined plot worked out progressively from Idyll to Idyll, but upon the character, influence, ideals, and personality of Arthur. Furthermore, those Idylls in which the influ ence of Arthur, whether he is represented throughout as being present in person or not, is clearly predominant, are the Idylls which contain the finest poetry of the whole series. No one will seriously assert that the Enid Idylls, or Balin and Balan, or Pelleas and Ettarre are, in plot or expression, the equals of Gareth and Lynette, Lancelot and Elaine, or the exquisitely pathetic Guinevere. In restricting the Idylls in this volume to those in which the influence of Arthur is predominant, we have therefore not only retained the material that is necessary for a conception of the truest unity of the series as a whole, but we have chosen also the finest of the separate Idylls for the reader. Divinely, are the kingdom's, not the King's 59 For public use. Henceforward let there be, Once every year, a joust for one of these; For so by nine years' proof we needs must learn Which is our mightiest, and ourselves shall grow In use of arms and manhood, till we drive The heathen, who, some say, shall rule the land Hereafter, which God hinder!' Thus he spoke. And eight years past, eight jousts had been, and still Had Lancelot won the diamond of the year, With purpose to present them to the Queen When all were won; but, meaning all at He, thinking that he read her meaning there, 'Stay with me, I am sick; my love is more Thau many diamonds,' yielded; and a heart Then of the crowd ye took no more account Than of the myriad cricket of the mead, When its own voice clings to each blade of grass, 110 And every voice is nothing. As to knights, Have pledged us in this union, while the Would listen smiling. How then? is there more ? Has Arthur spoken aught? or would yourself, Now weary of my service and devoir, Henceforth be truer to your faultless lord ?' She broke into a little scornful laugh: 120 'Arthur, my lord, Arthur, the faultless King, That passionate perfection, my good lordBut who can gaze upon the sun in heaven? |