Sunday, February 21, 2016

How does Tennyson represent his faith in Christianity throughout the poem "Morte d'Arthur"?

In this section of Tennyson's poem, Arthur is speaking from the barge which bears him forward to the land of the dead. He speaks to Sir Bedivere, the brave knight of the Round Table who, in this version of the story, was instructed by Arthur to throw the sword Excalibur into the lake. Bedivere finds this order difficult to fulfill, for he does not want the magic of Excalibur to be lost. But Arthur insists. In this segment Arthur comforts Bedivere in his despair by saying that the kingdom of God and heaven are more important than earthly existence. ("More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of"). Arthur reminds Bedivere that everything that happens is God's will ("For so the whole round earth is every way bound by gold chains about the feet of God").


This a much more decisively Christian worldview than that presented in Thomas Malory's version of the story (also called "Le Morte d'Arthur"); Malory's version is somewhat less focused on Christianity and presents a more varied view of spirituality that lends credence to paganism and mysticism (expressed in the characters of Merlin and Morgan le Fay, for example, who both use magic and believe in the power of fate). 

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