Professional Documents
Culture Documents
SUMMARY
During the time of writing there was a decline of religious faith (see
text given –‘Science and Religion’ and ‘Historical and Literary
Background’). Tennyson believed that poetry could fill that void. In
‘Morte d’Arthur’ there is a sense that there is no point clinging to
the old (as Bedivere wants to) and that one must move towards
accepting a new order and a new set of values and beliefs.
Tennyson uses the past as a way of discussing contemporary issues
and problems.
Most epics are concerned with the transmission of stories and with
the transmission of the values of a culture.
GLOSSARY
Brand – sword
Exacalibur – legendary sword given to Arthur by the lady of the lake
Lief – life
Mere – lake
Casque – helmet
Sunset imagery – the barge sails into the sunset suggesting ending
(death of Arthur) but also connotates sunrise (beginning of the new
order).