Posted on 08/07/2019 12:29:27 PM PDT by Perseverando
Camelot and King Arthur's Court, Knights of the Round Table, Guinevere, Sir Lancelot, Sir Galahad, and the search for the Holy Grail ...
(The Holy Grail was Jesus' cup at the Last Supper.)
Our imaginations soar with history and legend immortalized in "Idylls of the King," written 1859-85 by poet Alfred Lord Tennyson.
Alfred Lord Tennyson embellished the medieval legend of the Lady of the Lake who gave the sword Excalibur to the courageous young King Arthur.
Scenes of this were portrayed in Disney's 1963 animated musical fantasy movie, The Sword in the Stone.
Born AUGUST 6, 1809, Alfred Lord Tennyson was the son of an Anglican clergyman.
As a young poet, Tennyson came to the attention of poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834).
Samuel Taylor Coleridge had written in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," 1798:
"He prayeth best who loveth best All things both great and small; For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all."
In 1850, Tennyson married Emily Sellwood, to whom he had been engaged for a long time. He wrote:
"The peace of God came into my life before the altar when I wedded her."
Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote:
"Bible reading is an education in itself."
Tennyson wrote in "Maud," 1855, part II, sec. iv, st. 3:
"Oh, Christ, that it were possible, For one short hour to see, The souls we loved, that they might tell us, What and where they be."
Tennyson's "In Memoriam," 1850, chapter XXVII, stanza 4, has the line:
"'Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all."
Tennyson wrote "In Memoriam," 1850, chapter XXXI:
"When Lazarus left his charnel-cave, And home to Mary's house returned, Was this demanded-if he yearned
(Excerpt) Read more at myemail.constantcontact.com ...
I believe that is the “Lady of Shalott” rather than the Lady of the Lake. She is sitting on the tapestry which she made because she couldn’t leave her room or look out the window. She had to look at life through a mirror. Interesting tale and story. This is the last painting of her before she is found dead in the boat Sir Lancelot.
...But Lancelot mused a little space;
He said, “She has a lovely face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
The Lady of Shalott.”
Right you are and I’m happy that I read the comments before posting what YOU did.
Indeed. Had that been the Lady of the Lake her arms would be clad in shimmering samite!
IMHO, one of the most beautiful, lyrical poems in the English language. Loreena McKennitt set it beautifully to music.
Yes Loreena did. She also did The Highwayman. One of the Vietnam POWs favorite poems they shared by tap code.
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