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1. Tennyson's poem "Morte d'Arthur" can be seen as both escapist in its use of medievalism but also relevant to Tennyson's contemporary Victorian era. The poem explores how modern poets can use mythology and an idealized past. 2. The poem puts King Arthur through a series of tests that teach Bedivere about maintaining faith while still having the ability to believe. This theme relates to ideas from Thomas Carlyle's work. 3. Tennyson's personal grief for his lost friend Hallam is amplified through his portrayal of King Arthur, drawing from his real loss. 4. Arthur's speech to Bedivere about change and God fulfilling himself in many ways

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70 views1 page

Homework

1. Tennyson's poem "Morte d'Arthur" can be seen as both escapist in its use of medievalism but also relevant to Tennyson's contemporary Victorian era. The poem explores how modern poets can use mythology and an idealized past. 2. The poem puts King Arthur through a series of tests that teach Bedivere about maintaining faith while still having the ability to believe. This theme relates to ideas from Thomas Carlyle's work. 3. Tennyson's personal grief for his lost friend Hallam is amplified through his portrayal of King Arthur, drawing from his real loss. 4. Arthur's speech to Bedivere about change and God fulfilling himself in many ways

Uploaded by

emilyjaneboyle
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC or read online on Scribd
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Homework

1. Like "The Lady of Shalott," this poem represents one of Tennyson's early
contributions to medievalism in poetry. In what sense does "Morte d'Arthur"
appear escapist and in what committed and immediately relevant to his own
age? Does the poem suggest ways in which the modern poet living in an
urban, technological, mercantile society can use myth or an idealized past?

2. Tennyson here employs a standard medieval romance literary structure that


puts the protagonist through a series of tests that try and educate him. What
in particular does Bedivere learn about the relation between keeping faith and
being able to believe or have faith? What does this have to do with Carlyle?

3. Arthur the King is, at least in small part, also Arthur Henry Hallam. What in
this poem is amplified by your knowledge of Tennyson's personal grief for his
friend?

4. Do you find a second debt to Carlyle in the connection between Arthur's


benediction to Bedivere ("The old order changeth, giving place to new,/ And
God fulfills Himself in many ways,/ Lest one good custom should corrupt the
world" and these passages from Carlyle's "Signs of the Times"?

We have a faith in the imperishable dignity of man; in the high vocation to which,
throughout his earthly history, he has been appointed. However it may be with individual
nations, whatever melancholic speculators may assert, it seems a well-ascertained fact,
that in all times . . . the happiness and greatness of mankind at large have been continually
progressive. . . . That admiration of old nobleness, which now so often shows itself as a
faint dilettantism, will one day become a generous emulation, and man may again be all
that he has been, and more than he has been. [full text]

What similarities can you find between Carlyle's work and Tennyson's? 

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