A Good Knight In Prison Analysis

The legend of King Arthur has been told for centuries. Passing on the legend from generation to generation however, has been difficult. The end of the Middle Ages accompanied a waning of interest in King Arthur (Fulton, 2009). This was partially due to nature of politics at the time (Taylor and Brewer, 1983). However, during the nineteenth century, the Legend of King Arthur was revived (Fulton, 2009). Through poetry, William Morris helped achieve this resurrection of King Arthur using many poetic devices (Fulton, 2009). This essay analysis William Morris’ role in Arthurian revival

Arthurian Revival
In Victorian Britain, medievalism sparked the literary and cultural phenomenon: Arthurian revival (Fulton, 2009). Culturally, Arthurian themes could be seen in the visual arts,

Common themes in his poem are love triangles, moral and politics dilemmas, violence, emotional crisis, rejection, magical charms and the defeat of love. Additionally, Morris employed a wide variety of “linguistic devices, narrative techniques, and shifting points of view to portray a decaying, war-torn world in which handsome suffering women and lonely men observe love from an embattled distance” (Boos, 1996). In The Defence of Guenevere, it is evident that Morris’ poems are often allusions or reflections of Malory’s texts. It is due to this quality that critics characterize Morris as having the “ability to decant new wine from an empty bottle” (Boos, 1996). Although Morris drew on Tennyson’s work, he also undermined Tennyson’s perception and portrayal of history (Boos, 1996). For Morris, clichéd portrayals of knightly courage, romantic love and heroism was boring if there was no element of momentous struggle or loss as it “gave voice to the deepest expression of human experience (Boos,