the following poem is my own, and, to serve its purposes, I
have enlarged the circle of competition in search of the
miraculous cup in such a manner as to include not only other
persons than the heroes of the Round Table, but also a
period of time subsequent to the date of King Arthur's
reign."

In the last sentence there is a sly suggestion of Lowell's
playfulness. Of course every one may compete in the search for the
Grail, and the "time subsequent to King Arthur's reign" includes the
present time. The Romance of King Arthur is the _Morte Darthur_ of Sir
Thomas Malory. Lowell's specific indebtedness to the medieval romances
extended only to the use of the symbol of consecration to some noble
purpose in the search for the Grail, and to the name of his hero. It
is a free version of older French romances belonging to the Arthurian
cycle. _Sir Launfal_ is the title of a poem written by Sir Thomas
Chestre in the reign of Henry VI, which may be found in Ritson's
_Ancient English Metrical Romances_. There is nothing suggestive of
Lowell's poem except the quality of generosity in the hero, who--

"gaf gyftys largelyche,
Gold and sylver; and clodes ryche,
To squyer and to knight."

One of Lowell's earlier poems, _The Search_, contains the germ of _The
Vision of Sir Launfal_. It represents a search for Christ, first in
nature's fair woods and fields, then in the "proud world" amid "power
and wealth," and the search finally ends in "a hovel rude" where--

"The King I sought for meekly stood: