But any person who can read the _Morte d'Arthur_, and fail to be
impressed by its splendid pictures, and subdued to admiration by the
dignity of its language, need scarcely hope for pleasure from any poetry.


THE EPIC

3. SACRED BUSH. The mistletoe. This plant was sacred to the Celtic
tribes, and was an object of particular veneration with the Druids,
especially when associated with the oak-tree.

8. OR GONE=either gone.

18. THE GENERAL DECAY OF FAITH. The story of Arthur is intended to show
how faith survives, although the form be changed. See esp. _Morte
d'Arthur_, ll. 240-242.

27-28. 'HE BURNT--SOME TWELVE BOOKS.' This must not be taken literally.
See, however, p. xxxiii. of the Biographical Sketch, as to Tennyson's
hesitation in treating the subject.

48-51. This is self-portraiture. Lord Tennyson's method of reading was
impressive though peculiar.


MORTE D'ARTHUR

THE ARTHURIAN LEGEND. Throughout the mediaeval period three great cycles
of stories commanded the imagination of the poets. Of these cycles one,
the tale of Troy in its curious mediaeval guise, attested the potent