The Arthurian Legend
The Arthurian Legend is perhaps the most popular of all parts of English Literature.
 Hollywood never tires of bringing back the great tales every few years, of Arthur and the Round Table; of Lancelot, Elaine, and Guinevere; of the Quest for the Holy Grail.
The scene above is from The Knights of the Round Table, a 1954 MGM classic.  While it's not the most accurate film version of the story, it is a film which fits in with my Philosphy of Classroom Movies, so you will see a number of ideas illustrated by scenes from that film.

Many of these slideshow images have links.  Please click on them.
 
Earliest versions of the Arthur Myth can be found at The Celtic Twilight.
Le Morte D'Arthur by Thomas Mallory
Idylls of the King by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
At the turn of the century, Mark Twain wrote the classic parody of the Arthurian Age, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.
 
 The Once and Future King
Howard Pyle Illustrations
 
Click on the above picture for more information about the Holy Grail.
One of the better speeches in literature about the quest, can be found in Dale Wasserman's Man of La Mancha.
Other Grail Myths
 
 
Please click the image for more details.
More information about Arthur
The Lady of the Lake lives in eternal peace in a magical kingdom that has been hidden by a magic spell which makes all vistors believe she is in a lake.  She plays key roles in several stories.
 
Please click on the graphic for information on women in Arthurian England.
Women from Man of La Mancha
Chivalry, from Camelot
 
More on Chivalry
 
T.H. White on Chivalry
The Code of Chivalry, as sworn in Dragonheart.
 
Click on Graphic for more information.
Song of Nimue from Camelot.
Click on the image to hear Guenevere's song from Camelot.
More material on Guenevere
 
Click on the image to hear the very revealing "C'est Moi" from Camelot.
Click here for more on Lancelot.
Or here for even more: Lancelot
 Lancelot was loved by The Lady of Shalott.  Here she is in a painting by John William Waterhouse (Clicking on the image will take you to Tennyson's poems.)
 
And this is how she appears in The Knights of the Round Table:
 
One chair at the Round Table is labeled "This Seige Perilous" because if any knight other than the noblest knight in the world sat in it, he would be struck dead.  The seat is finally taken by Galahad, the offspring of Elaine's purity and the good she saw in Lancelot.
 
 
Here are some links to more information about Morgan Le Fey and Mordred.
 
Please click on the image to hear "Avalon" from Dragonheart.
Click here to hear Arthur's last words from Camelot.

For More information . . .

There are a number of pages devoted to King Arthur and his Knights on the web, but one of the best is The Quest! by University of Idaho's Arthurian Legend Club, Caliburn, advised by Dr. Rick Fehrenbacher, and maintained by Caliburn's chair, Erin M. Ogden.  Many of my links are to this wonderful site.

Another great site is The Camelot Project at the University of Rochester, designed by Alan Lupack, Curator of the Robbins Library, and Barbara Tepa Lupack.

A Great source for on-line texts is The Celtic Twilight

Another good source is Arthuriana A-Z

And a really great text to answer just about any question:  Bulfinch's Age of Chivalry

 
Go to the Multimedia Classroom


A chivalry page by one of my students, Andrew Saxon
 
The Multimedia Classroom is proud to be associated with Amazon.com.  Books and videos to accompany my lessons may be obtained by clicking on the logo.

 

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