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HELPS TO STUDY

The Lady of Shalott," written when Tennyson was young, is one of his most famous poems. It tells a story of wonder and magic. Camelot was the city where King Arthur lived and the knights of the Round Table gathered when they were not away on some adventure.

Read the poem carefully, using both eyes and ears. It is full of pictures select those you enjoy most. It is full of melody: select the lines or stanzas that seem to you most musical.

I. 1. What do the people on the road to Camelot see; first, along the riverside? second, on the river? third, in the middle of the river? 2. What do they never see? 3. Who know more than they about the Lady of Shalott? 4. What time of year is it? 5. Why do barges "slide" while the shallop "flits" or "skims"? 6. Why should people wish to go to Camelot? 7. What is meant by "bearded barley"? II. 1. How does the Lady spend her time? 2. Why doesn't she look out of the window? 3. What is the meaning of "shadows"? 4. What interesting sights does she see in the mirror? 5. What gives her pleasure? 6. What makes her feel lonely? III. 1. What do you know about Sir Lancelot from the story of Gareth? 2. What do we now learn about his face? his armor? his shield? his horse? 3. To what is his splendid appearance compared? 4. What is meant by "bearded meteor"? 5. How does the Lady of Shalott see him? 6. What does she do that she never has done before? 7. Why does she say, "The curse has come upon me"? IV. 1. How has the weather changed since Lancelot went by? 2. Tell the story of the Lady's journey to Camelot. 3. When does she start? When does she reach the wharf near the King's palace? 4. De

scribe her last song. 5. When Lancelot sees her, what does he do and say?

For Study with the Glossary. Proper Names: Shalott (sha lŏt'), Camelot (cam e lot'); Other Words: dusk, embowers, barges, trailed, shallop, casement, uplands, web, stay, shadows, abbot, ambling, pad, bower-eaves, gemmy, Galaxy, loom, waning, seër, trance, carol, burgher, dame, mused.

Phrases: brazen greaves, red-cross knight, blazoned baldric, bearded meteor, tirra lirra, glassy countenance, crossed themselves.

ALFRED LORD TENNYSON

ALFRED TENNYSON came of a poetical family. Of the twelve children, all seem to have had some gift at writing. One of the family games was to place their poems and stories under the dishes on the dinner table; then these were discovered and read aloud. From the time he was eight years old, Alfred wrote a great deal of verse, and before he was eighteen he and his brother Charles published a volume entitled Poems by the Two Brothers (1827). Two other volumes by Alfred followed in 1830 and 1832, and then for a long time the young poet published no more.

His father had died and Tennyson remained at home with his mother and younger brothers and sisters. Though he was not publishing, he was busy writing new poems, rewriting old ones, burning many, and carefully revising the rest. It was these ten years of painstaking work and self-criticism that perfected his art. In 1842 his old and new poems were collected in two volumes. There was no longer any doubt of his place among the great English poets. In 1850 his In Memoriam added to his reputation

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and won him the appointment as poet laureate, an honor made vacant by Wordsworth's death. The poet laureate is supposed to write poems on national occasions, and within a few years. Tennyson wrote many national and patriotic poems, among them the "Ode on the Duke of Wellington" and the "Charge of the Light Brigade."

After his marriage he went to live on the Isle of Wight. Here far from the city and close by the sea which he loved, he made his home. His children brought him happiness and the years were crowded with work. Each new volume served to increase his popularity and to win him new readers. And his long life enabled him to share the rewards of affection, admiration, and honor that his genius had won. He was made a baron by his friend Queen Victoria on the advice of another friend, the prime minister Gladstone. When he died at the age of eighty-one, all the world mourned.

Tennyson's poems are of many kinds and on many subjects. There are beautiful songs like "Sweet and Low" and the "Bugle Song," and there are many dramas and the "Idyls of the King," in which he retold the stories of King Arthur and the Round Table. No one except Sir Walter Scott has done more to make the Age of Chivalry interesting for modern readers; and with his brilliant pictures of knights and ladies Tennyson has not failed to set forth ideals for our guidance to-day. The "Lady of Shalott" and "Sir Galahad" also deal with persons of the Arthurian stories, and they show Tennyson at his best; for one is a series of highly colored pictures toned by sentiment, and the other is the presentation of a noble ideal. Tennyson, like many of the great poets, was a thinker and teacher as well as a singer.

THE PASSING OF ARTHUR

"The Passing of Arthur," like "The Adventure of Sir Gareth," is taken from Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur. Great changes have taken place in the Round Table. Sir Gawaine and many other noble knights are dead. Others have broken their vows. Sir Modred, the meanest of the knights, has become a traitor, and has told lies about the King and raised an army to fight against him.

The night before the battle the spirit of Sir Gawaine comes to King Arthur in a dream and warns him not to fight with Modred until Sir Lancelot should have time to come to his aid.

Now it was arranged that King Arthur and Sir Modred should meet between their hosts, and that each should bring forth fourteen persons with him. Before Arthur rode forth, he warned all his host: "If you see any sword drawn, look ye come on fiercely 5 and slay that traitor, Sir Modred, for I in no wise trust him."

In like wise Sir Modred warned his host, "If you see any sword drawn, look that ye come on fiercely and slay all that stand before you.'

King Arthur and Sir Modred and their companies met according to the appointment and were quickly busy making a treaty. Then right soon came an adder out of a little bush, and it stung a knight on the foot.

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