New-York tribune., 1907-09-14
POETRY IN THE MAKING.
Il Good Study of the Gro7cth OF the
lArthrian Legends.

THE ARTHUR OF THE ENGLISH POETS; BY BY
Howard Maynadier. Svo PIP 494
Miffin & Co.
The grand old oak of English literature "'
no greener bough than the one on whlch tiie III
Vulnerable leaves, Of Arthurian iesehu w
grown From the lowest. most gnarled hmoS 10
the highest overtopping shoots Of the ia'SS'
sprig the leaves of this green bough ma! DC
seen peeping out, ever fresh. So closely nave
they entangled themselves with the leaves VI
every other limb and so great is their nulloeF
that were all the other arms Of the OAK loPP'N
off q respectable fourishing tree would sun I'
main; a triffe unsymmetrical, perhaps, but YET
a monarch of the forest. Since the Gays oi
Nennius Welsh monk and author OF the some
what romantic "'IIistoria Britcnum, British
bards have been weaving fantasies ABOUT li'e
name and achievements of that mighty and'
valorous King Arthur, who was successful IN
twelve successive battles against the heathen'
and in the twelfth at Mount Badon, did slay
with his own hand in one day nine hundred ana
sixty Of the enemy" Since the end OF the nlhlh
century in short, poems. stories and songs nave
heen necessarily ground forth by inspired anu
,,,,ipenired rhvmesters and minstrels for whom
the ancient records about the great KING anu
his knights of the Round Table have possessed
an irresistible fascination. Professor Maynadler
native French cycle and the old Germanic Nib
a,,,,ge, +etralogv are dead. far as popular
continent is concerned. Tennysons '1dylls OF the
King" Wagner's 'Lohengrin' Tristan ana
Isolde, and ..Parsifal" and even Mr.. Abbey's
mural paintings of the legend Of the Holy Grail
,,ro1-a the vitality and perennial beauty OF the
Arthurian tales
This history Of the origin and development or
these most English Of all English legends Is the
first in the field And. though not making any
nretence Of startling discoveries or revolutionary
interpretations, it has succeeded IN making
distinctly original story out Of the vast loose
mass of historical and literary records To Its
originality is added the grace Of an excellent
stvle hest maintained throughout the crltlcai
and apprecfatfve passages. The author mas
taken great pains TO portray the poets ana
historians at work in their fiction shops lie
has not merely chroncled the birth ana fortunes
of Arthurian stories and story writer's NhIi9
giving history its due accuracy he has sought
the feelings and impulses that have led the
noets n mould their raw material as they have
done The book thus becomes charming criu-
cal history Of the personality and style Of Ar
tf,7rian writer's as well as a record Of the le-
gend's vicssitudes
The author is convinced that Arthur is an MS
toricaI character, not pure myth. But he was
not by any means the great potentate OF legend;
probably half -barbarous chieftain. courageous
and rude living about the close Of the hfth CEN
fury His achievements were great enough 10
set friends and relatives talking, and where
there is talk there fiction begins. But 1t was a
long time after Arthur had gone to his celestial
battlefeds that the fantasies woven about his
name secured a place for themselves in litera-
ture. His deeds remained "old wives tales" full
six hundred years until that bold fabulist, Geor-
frey of Monmouth wrote his mysterious Pro
phecies Of Merlin and Historic Rcgum Britain
ni8," in which appeared an amazing aTna4gafn
Of yarns about old King Cole. Arthur, and nearly
everybody else about whom the chronicler could
not possibly have known anything authentic
With these two books began that magnificent
line Of ninstrelsy and full orchestral song IN
whose ripening climax tho men Of seven centur-
les afterward heard the horns Of Eliiand faint
Iy blowing" Knights and ladies contributed to
its melodies in the days of the Chronicles" and
the "Iais"; Chretien de Troies beautfed II with
a skill and love second only to Tennyson, per-
haps; many unknown French romancers Of the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries elaborated the
stories Of Merlin, the Grail and Tristan ana
Isolde with exquisite imagination; and from
their day to this, under the successive inspira-
ton Of Elizabethan enthusiasm. the newer pa
triotism and the modern romantics and phlIoso-
piers the theme has been gradually worked
tons
Professor Maynadiers presentation makes IL
easy for the reader to see how, with the grow
ing realization by poets that legendary themes
can be better used the settings for original
conceptions than topics for epic or lyric elab-
Grafton, the Arthuran legends have become more
and more pronouncedly dim tales. laden with ro-
mantle suggestions of castle walls and perilous
in fairy lands forlorn. plastic fancies whose
telling may be made TO teach whatever the poet
will. The Arthuran legends, we might say,
after reading this interesting volume. are no
longer legends but language. poetic words on
which TO hang ones most beautiful thoughts.
Though students OF literature will profit most
by Professor Maynadier's book, anybody who
loves the old story will find much charm in its
pages
ENGLAND'S LITERARY NEEDS.