Vocabulary
This medieval instrument used for measuring the positions of stars and planets.
What is an astrolabe?
These leather straps attached to a bird of prey’s legs allow the falconer to hold and control it.
What are jesses?
During his first transformation, the Wart is changed into this fish and meets the enormous, tyrannical pike in the moat.
What is a perch?
Merlyn first meets the Wart after he gets lost chasing this escaped bird during a falconry practice with Kay.
Who is Cully?
This central theme is illustrated by Merlyn’s method of turning the Wart into animals so he can experience different ways of life instead of just reading books.
What is education through experience (or empathy / understanding other perspectives)?
14th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica in Merlyn's room is an example of this.
What is Anachronism?
In Chapter V, this architectural term describes the heavy iron gate that could be lowered to block a castle entrance.
What is a portcullis?
This word describes a hawk that is perfectly alert and fit to hunt. Kay ignores Hob's warning that Cully has not yet reached this state.
What is Yarak?
Before pulling the sword, Wart helps Kay by running back to the inn to fetch a sword, but all the doors are locked because of this event.
What is the tournament?
This is Sir Ector’s biological son and the Wart’s foster brother, who becomes jealous of the Wart’s advantages.
Who is Kay?
The ant colony episode symbolizes this form of government that Merlyn wants the future king to reject.
What is totalitarianism (or fascism / mindless collectivism)?
T.H. White frequently uses this device by giving animals human-like societies and personalities to comment on human behavior.
What is anthropomorphism?
This commonly refers to the surrounding districts of a city, or historically, land bordering a forest.
What is Purlieus?
This is the name for the special room or building where trained hawks and falcons are kept and cared for (Wart visits Hob here).
What is the mews?
The specific lesson about leadership that Wart was taught to be wary of in his first transformation.
What is might makes right?
He arrives at Sir Ector’s castle after Sir Ector and Sir Grummore decide they need a new tutor because the old one had gone insane.
The wild geese transformation teaches the Wart about freedom and the absurdity of these human-made divisions that lead to war.
What are (national) borders?
The animal adventures function as these, short moral tales that teach lessons about power, government, and ethics.
What are fables / allegories?
This Latin term, used in the schoolroom curriculum, refers to logical textbooks based on Aristotle. Along with the Organon and Repetition, it formed part of the Wart's dreary Monday–Wednesday–Friday lessons.
What is Summulae Logicales?
This small falcon is the species into which Merlyn transforms the Wart for his first bird lesson.
What is a merlin?
This character does not appear in the revised edition of The Sword in the Stone but she is the arch-nemesis of Merlyn in the original version.
Who is Madame Mim?
This legendary outlaw and his band help the Wart and Kay during one of their woodland adventures.
Who is Robin Wood?
The sword in the stone is the central symbol of this idea—that the true king is chosen by destiny rather than force.
What is rightful kingship / destiny (or “right makes might”)?
This is the general setting of the novel.
What is old Merry England of Gramarye?
This is the political, economic, or cultural dominance/influence of one group, state, or nation over others.
What is Hegemony?
This covering is placed over a falcon’s head to keep it calm and quiet until it is ready to be flown.
What is a hood?
The Badger's parable says God granted Man the "Order of Dominion" — the power to use all other creatures as tools — because Man alone chose to remain this.
What is a naked tool?
He said this, "The only other thing... is to have a tutor... A tutor, you know, a fellow who teaches you."
Who is Sir Grummore Grummursum?
Overall, the novel contrasts “might” (force and tyranny, as seen in the pike and ants) with this philosophy that the Wart will later champion.
What is “might for right” (or justice / wise governance)?
The Dog Boy’s deep bond with the dogs and his intuitive understanding of their troubles symbolize this central idea promoted throughout the Wart’s education.
What is empathy (or understanding through direct experience / living among others)?
An archaic term for a small-to-medium-sized hunting hound that tracks game by scent. Originating from Middle English and Old French, this noun often refers specifically to a female scent hound used in medieval hunting, sometimes described as small, white, or valuable
What is brachet?
This powerful, high-flying falcon species is described as one of the most noble birds in the mews and is respected by the other raptors.
What is (a) peregrine (falcon)?
n Chapter IX, this word means a surgeon; White uses the archaic spelling when describing how injuries might be treated in the medieval world.
What is chirurgeon?
King Pellinore shares several qualities with this spiritual archetype. Name the archetype and identify at least three specific ways Pellinore fits this archetype.
What is a holy fool and what are Outward foolishness, Single-minded devotion, Rejection of worldly honor, tenderness toward the weak, Divine timing
The old pike in the moat symbolizes this dangerous philosophy of rule that Merlyn wants Arthur to avoid.
What is “might makes right” / tyranny / absolute power?
White uses the Dog Boy as an example of this literary device: giving a minor character vivid, realistic details to make the medieval world feel authentic and lived-in.
What is realism (or characterization / verisimilitude)?
White uses this word, meaning the droppings of a hunted animal, as part of his meticulous medieval hunting vocabulary — a detail that demonstrates his painstaking historical accuracy about the art of venery.
What is Fewmets?
This word describes the art of training and flying hawks; Sir Ector is described as an expert in this medieval skill.
What is austringer?
When the Wart faces a rigorous, militaristic initiation ceremony in the mews, where he is tested by senior falcons on his knowledge of raptor behavior and lineage, he is supported by this bird with this name, who helps him pass this test.
Who is the falcon Balan? and What is the Catechism?
This castle servant had his nose bitten off by this wild man as a child.
Who is the Dog Boy and Who is Wat?
White uses the ants in Chapter XIII to critique totalitarianism. The ant psalm parodies the biblical Psalms. What does this specific literary choice reveal about what White believes totalitarianism destroys first?
What is worship, awe, and the individual's relationship to something greater than the state?
In Chapter VI we read, "Up and up it went, not weaving as it would
have done with a snatching loose, but soaring, swimming, aspiring
to heaven, steady, golden and superb. Just as it had spent its
force, just as its ambition had been dimmed by destiny and it was
preparing to faint, to turn over, to pour back into the bosom of its
mother earth, a portent happened. A gore-crow came flapping
wearily before the approaching night. It came, it did not waver,
it took the arrow."
This is an example of these two literary devices.
What are Personification and Foreshadowing?
This word — meaning the tendency to believe that only one's own mind and experience are real — describes the philosophical trap the totalitarian ants fall into, since they cannot imagine any life or value outside the colony.
What is Solipsism?
The leather glove worn by the falconer.
What is gauntlet?
She was a pioneering British nurse and World War I heroine who saved the lives of soldiers from both Allied and German sides without distinction. Working in German-occupied Belgium, she helped over 200 Allied soldiers escape to neutral Holland. She was executed by a German firing squad on October 12, 1915
Who is Miss Edith Cavell?
Complete the quote and name the speaker. "Good dog, blank the blank, sleep now, old friend Beaumont, good old dog."
What us Beaumont the Valiant and who is Sir William Twyti?
White presents the joust in Chapter VII as deeply ridiculous — slow, clumsy, and ending in mutual embarrassment. What argument is White making about the glorification of knightly combat?
a theatrical, literary, or musical work designed to ridicule a serious subject through exaggeration, caricature, and mockery. Derived from the Italian burlesco (from burla, meaning "mockery" or "jest"), it began as a form of satire meant to make fun of high culture or serious topics.
What is a burlesque?