I have been reading Tennyson's Idylls of the King lately, and I really enjoy them. For those of you who haven't heard about this book, it is really the Mort de Arthur put into poetry. Tennyson took Mallory's book and edited it and changed it into a poem. I just finished an edited version of Mort de Arthur in Bulfinch's Age of Chivalry, and I liked it too, but I think Tennyson's is better! (Howard Pyle's slightly modernized version is also really good.) Anyway, here is one of my favorite verses. Enid sings this shortly before she meets Geraint. (By the way, Enid and Geraint is one of my favorite stories.)
'Turn, Fortune, turn thy wheel and lower the proud,
Turn thy wild wheel, through sunshine, rain and cloud
Thy wheel and thee we neither love nor hate.
Turn, Fortune, turn thy wheel with smile or frown,
With that wild wheel, we go not up or down,
Our hoard is little, but our hearts are great.
Smile, and we smile, the lords of many lands,
Frown, and we smile, the lords of our own hands
For man is man and master of his fate.
Turn, Fortune, turn thy wheel above the staring crowd,
Thy wheel and thou are shadows in the cloud,
Thy wheel and thee we neither love nor hate.'
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Hi there dearest Raora! : ) I finally got your blog open as well as your comment box! We got our highspeed hooked up so I'll be able to comment, though I know you're having lots of fun visiting with friends and only one pc! :(
ReplyDeleteLove you lots!
Jocelyn