Inspiring Artists
Tennyson was included in this list of literary and artistic greats.
Who were the Immortals?
This character said, "The fact is, the king was a good deal more than a king, he was a man; and ... you can't knock it out of him."
Who is Hank Morgan (or Who is The Boss)?
In Twain's Connecticut Yankee, Lancelot uses one of these to save the King and Boss.
What is a bicycle?
This famous director is presently reviving Camelot at Lincoln Center.
Who is Aaron Sorkin?
According to Gerald of Wales, Arthur and Guinevere were buried in this abbey.
What is Glastonbury?
These were at the bottom of Vortigern's well and represent something important to British history?
Red dragon = Britons
White dragon = Saxons
This woman's photographs were used to illustrate Tennyson's Idylls of the King.
Who was Julia Margaret Cameron?
This nostalgic author wrote the following:
“These marvels were great and comfortable ones, but in the old England there was a greater still. The weather behaved itself.
In the spring all the little flowers came out obediently in the meads, and the dew sparkled, and the birds sang; in the summer it was beautifully hot for no less than four months, and, if it did rain just enough for agricultural purposes, they managed to arrange it so that it rained while you were in bed; in the autumn the leaves flamed and rattled before the west winds, tempering their sad adieu with glory; and in the winter, which was confined by statute to two months, the snow lay evenly, three feet thick, but never turned into slush.”
Who was T. H. White?
In Phelps, "Christmas of Sir Galahad," Rebecca darns these instead of a banner or a "silken favor...for the next tournament."
What are socks?
Phelps' Guinevere, like many Victorians, was offered this drug.
What is laudanum?
(or what is opium.)
A well-known factory that was the inspiration for Hank Morgan's workplace.
What is Colt's Manufacturing Company, Hartford, CT
This Victorian prodigy, working in the Romantic style, illustrated Tennyson's Idylls of the King for the Moxon edition.
Who was Gustave Dore?
This 17th-c poet wrote the following lines:
Since first this subject for heroic song
Pleased me long choosing, and beginning late;
Not sedulous by nature to endite
Wars, hitherto the only argument
Heroic deemed chief mastery to dissect
With long and tedious havoc fabled knights
In battles feigned; the better fortitude
Of patience and heroic martyrdom
Unsung...
Who was John Milton?
In this early Arthurian tale, a knight refuses Guinevere's advances, and she turns on him.
What is Lanval?
Van Gogh praised this important American illustrator.
The diamond presented to Queen Victoria after the British East India Company's annexation of the Punjab in 1849.
What was the Koh-i-Noor?
Mark Twain in Connecticut Yankee makes fun of these mass produced images, which the Boss prefers to medieval tapestries.
What is a chromolithograph? (or what is a chromo?)
This expert in child psychology said the following: “This period of adolescence is one of strong, though repressed sentiment and emotion. Being a time of change, it is marked by a restless, roaming disposition, so that the lad seems to be forever on a quest…The best form for this age is the idealized court of King Arthur”
Who was William Byron Forbush?
In this version - and only in this version - Lancelot cures the wounds of a knight who has been cursed.
What is [the Urry episode] of Le Morte D'Arthur
This important medieval manuscript, which contains the only copies of the poems within it, was almost incinerated in the Ashburnham House fire (1731).
What is Cotton Nero A.X?
Or What is the Gawain-manuscript?
Henry II, one of the patrons of 12th-century Arthurian literature, also inspired stories about his real-life tragic lover.
Who is Rosamund Clifford?
Who was the Lady of Shalott?
The name of the character addressed as "you."
You followed me unasked;
And when I looked, and saw you following me still,
My mind involved yourself the nearest thing
In that mind-mist: for shall I tell you truth?
You seemed that wave about to break upon me
And sweep me from my hold upon the world,
My use and name and fame
Who is Vivian?
In this classic version, Lancelot finds blond hair on a comb and worships it.
What is the Knight of the Cart (Chretien de Troyes)
The original manuscript of Malory's (now British Library Additional Manuscript 59678) was rediscovered in 1934 in this college library.
What is Winchester (College Library)?
Medieval genealogical rolls, like our Penn MS 1066, were made to support claims to the throne during this prolonged civil war.
What were the Wars of the Roses?
This medieval cathedral features an archivolt on which are carved very early Arthurian scenes.
What is Modena Cathedral?
The 12th-century author of these lines.
Ki Deu ad dune escïence
E de parler bon’ eloquence
Ne s’en deit taisir ne celer
Ainz se deit volunteers mustrer
[The one to whom God has given knowledge/And the gift of speaking eloquently/Must not keep silent or conceal the gift,/But he must willingly display it]
Who was Marie de France?
In this 20th-century version, Lancelot is very unattractive and full of self-loathing.
What is The Ill-Made Knight ? (T. H. White)
This Tudor-era scholar visited all the monasteries of England, looking for material evidence for King Arthur.
Who was John Leland?
The Victorian charity described below was an inspiration for which Arthurian short story?
"A growing flower was given to a sick girl. In trying to take care of it, the family made changes in their way of living...
This led the father of the family to mend a broken chair or two, which kept him at home several evenings (instead of spending his leisure hours at the tavern)."
What is Elizabeth Phelps' "Lady of Shalott"