Arthurian Literature Portal (List View)

Figures and stories from Celtic mythology appear frequently in pop culture, books, games, and films. The phrase ‘Celtic mythology’ generally refers to the pre-Christian polytheistic beliefs held by the people living in the British Isles before the Roman invasion. However, not a single primary source has survived from the Celts themselves concerning their own mythology; all we have are later Roman and Christian texts describing Celtic cultures, and these are far from objective sources of information. The prevailing picture we have of a Celtic mythology is an amalgamation of a handful of medieval texts, and a world of historical imagination. As the leading scholar Mark Williams states, popular representations of Celtic mythology are often "retellings of retellings, in which dubious 'truths' about Celtic myth are endlessly recycled." So what can we know about the Celtic pantheon? Join me as I guide an exploration into the depths of British history and come face-to-face with Celtic mythology. This course offers a rich exploration of history and literature in conversation, designed for anyone drawn to mythology, pre-Christian belief systems, and the enduring allure of “Celtic” art and identity. Together we will uncover how and why these myths have been reshaped, misrepresented, and revived—and what that reveals about the cultures that told and retold them. Along the way, you may find not only a clearer understanding of these powerful narratives, but also fresh inspiration for your own creative and intellectual engagement with them. Course sessions: 1. Sources: Unpicking the Evidence 2. Webs of Irish, Welsh, Germanic and Norse Mythologies 3. Case Study: Brigid 4. Sacred Sites: Geography and Mythology 5. Material Evidence: Visual Art and Objects that tell Celtic Stories 6. Ossian and the Eighteenth-Century 7. The Fabulous Victorians 8. Scholarship to the Present and Beyond [show less]

“Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is rightwise king born of all England.” This series explores the culminating masterpiece of medieval Arthurian literature: Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur (1470). Drawing together the most noteworthy and celebrated threads of earlier versions, Malory tells Arthur’s story from boyhood to death in a narrative sequence that would influence later retellings for centuries, and in striking language that, for many, defines the Arthurian tradition. Working our way from beginning to end, the series covers all eight books or “tales” of Malory’s text in five modules. In addition to carefully reading the complete work, the series also provides context on Malory’s life and imprisonment during the Wars of the Roses, his book’s first publication in 1485 by English printer and editor William Caxton, and the remarkable twenty-first century discovery of the “Winchester Manuscript,” a now-standard but hitherto-unknown version of Malory’s text by medievalist Eugene Vinaver. [show less]

This module explores Sir Thomas Malory’s masterpiece of Arthurian literature, Le Morte Darthur (1471)—for many, the consummate retelling of the Arthur story. The first book of Mallory’s complete work, “The Tale of King Arthur,” includes such crucial Arthurian elements as the Sword in the Stone, the bestowal of Excalibur by the Lady of the Lake, and the founding of the Round Table. Interspersed among these are Arthur’s first encounter with the Questing Beast, an attempted usurpation by Morgan Le Fay, the tragic tale of the two brothers, Sir Balin and Sir Balan, and numerous other episodes and adventures. This module also provides context on Malory’s life time's, the story of the book’s first publication in 1485, and the remarkable discovery of Malory's lost manuscript in the twentieth century. [show less]

This module explores three short, stand-alone tales from Le Morte Darthur, depicting Arthur, his knights, and the wider world they inhabit. “The Tale of the Noble King Arthur that was Emperor,” shows Malory’s version of King Arthur as military leader and conqueror of Rome. Adapted from the late Middle English alliterative tradition, this tale was not included in Caxton’s original 15th century printing, but only discovered in 1934 with the finding of the lost Winchester Manuscript. “A Noble Tale of Sir Launcelot du Lake,” shows Lancelot’s kidnapping by Morgan Le Fay, and the political and romantic complications that arise as a result. Alternating between high romance and low farce, this tale shows key Arthurian players at their best and worst. And finally, “The Tale of Sir Gareth,” follows Gawain’s younger brother Gareth from obscure and seemingly-lowly origins, through dangers, trials, and mockery, to his eventual triumph as full-fledged knight. It is also, evidently the only tale, in the complete Morte Arthur that Malory invented himself! Note: Students may participate in this series in any month even if they did not take a previous class in the series. [show less]

To achieve the Holy Grail, Sir Lancelot, Sir Galahad and others must face formidable Black Knights, alluring temptresses, inscrutable hermits, and untold supernatural perils. This module examines two works created five-hundred-and-five years apart: “The Tale of the Sankgreal,” in Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur (1470) and Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). The former represents the culmination of three centuries of medieval Arthurian “Grail” literature. The latter—a triumph of twentieth-century absurdist comedy and one of the funniest movies of all time. But these contrasting visions of the Grail Quest also share striking and unexpected similarities in terms of plot, form, and tone. This course looks closely at Malory’s text and the Pythons’ oddly-faithful film reinterpretation, side by side. In so doing, we explore what Arthur, the Grail, and the Middle Ages meant to the original audiences of both works, what they mean to us today, and how changes in form and context radically shape how stories are told and understood. [show less]

“Yet some men say in many parts of England that King Arthur is not dead… and men say that he shall come again…” Is Arthur dead? Or was he taken to Avalon to be healed? And will he indeed come again one day? Written within the confines of a common prison, Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur (c. 1470) addresses these very questions—trying to make sense of Arthur's legendary reign and “piteous” death for a war-torn England at the very close of the Middle Ages. In reading Malory's widely beloved and arguably definitive retelling of the death of the Arthur, this course examines the final dissolution of the Round Table, from the doomed love affair of Lancelot and Guinevere to Arthur's fatal (or near-fatal) wounding by Mordred—a continuous narrative contained within the last two books of Malory's sprawling chronicle, “The Book of Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere” and the titular “The Most Piteous Tale of the Morte Arthur.” Told with a both poignant sense of loss and an undisguised enthusiasm for chivalric adventure, this lively and idiosyncratic tale of Arthur's death combines the best of all the Arthurian epics that preceded it, and would influence all those that would follow after. [show less]

C.S. Lewis is one of the most prolific and influential writers of the 20th century. And yet, in his early career as an Oxford don, he viewed himself as a failed poet. Moreover, his most canonical and transformational writing happened during the most stress-filled periods of his life. This short course allows students to peek into the writing life of C.S. Lewis. Our goal is to see through the lines of printed text by visiting the letters and archival remains of Lewis in a virtual setting. Most of C.S. Lewis's papers remain undigitized and unpublished, available only locally at archives in North America and England. As Professor Brenton Dickieson has visited these archives, he is able to invite students to appreciate C.S. Lewis's writing life by looking at the way that he consciously and unconsciously built his literary career. This course is for writers who are developing their own habits and literary life-prints, as well as folks who are curious about C.S. Lewis's life beyond the biographies and bestselling books. We are not doing text close readings, but looking at the “paratextual” information available to us: writing drafts, letters, diary entries, manuscripts and typescripts, title, and the like. Week 1: Lewis: Pen, Ink, Paper • C.S. Lewis’s Single-jointed Self-Conception as a Writer • What Lewis Says about his Writing Habits • Legendary Bonfires, Stuffed Dolls, and American Suckers: A Story of Lewis’s Papers and Manuscripts • The Screwtape MS. Story: Part 1 Week 2: Leaves, Bombs, Stains • The Screwtape MS. Story: Part 2 • “Villainous Handwriting”: Charlie Starr’s Lewis Handwriting and Rough Draft vs. Fair Draft • Reconsidering the Lindskoog Affair with Manuscript Evidence of “The Dark Tower” Week 3: Joy, Theft, Death • “The Quest of Bleheris”: Lewis’s Teenage Novel Week 4: • Is it True that Lewis Wrote in a Single Draft? • A Grief Observed • Tumbling Through the Wardrobe: The Discovery of Narnia • Arthurian Torso • A New Sketch of Lewis’s Writing Process(es) Note: This course includes a significant amount of visual material on the screen. Please contact the SPACE team if you have visual accessibility requirements and we will do everything we can to accommodate. [show less]

This course offers an in-depth look at the first complete “historical” narrative of the reign of King Arthur, Geoffrey’s Historia Regum Britanniae – as well as the centuries-long controversy this book generated. Comprising almost a quarter of Geoffrey’s History (Books 4 – 11), this crucial first account of the king includes the arrival of the Saxons in England, a battle of dragons, the boy Merlin’s prophetic visions, Arthur’s magically-contrived conception, his conquest of Rome, and his overthrown and death at the hands of his nephew Mordred. This course will also look at the battle of books that ensued following the appearance of Geoffrey’s work, with some contemporary chroniclers alleging that Geoffrey had simply made the whole thing up, and others rallying to Geoffrey’s (and Arthur’s) defense. [show less]

This course tracks Lancelot's development from hero of a medieval romance (part tale of adventure, part comedy of manners) to center of a political and moral tragedy. We look in detail at three texts: Chrétien de Troyes's Lancelot: The Knight of the Cart (c. 1180), Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur (1470) and Tennyson's Idylls of the King (1859). Sir Lancelot, as everyone knows, is Arthur’s best and bravest knight—and also, the lover of Arthur’s wife, Guinevere. Examining this pivotal irony of the Arthurian tradition, this course tracks the development of Lancelot as both a character and a literary concept across three major works: In Lancelot: The Knight of the Cart, master of French Arthurian romance, Chrétien de Troyes, invents a hero who loves Queen Guinevere beyond all bounds of reason—so much that he will face deadly perils and (worse yet) social humiliation to prove his devotion. Sir Thomas Malory’s late medieval “Tale of Lancelot and Elayne” (part of his sprawling epic, Le Morte Darthur) introduces a would-be rival for Lancelot’s affections in the form of Elayne, the Fair Maid of Astolat. While retaining a few comic touches from earlier versions, this retelling cannot escape the doomed nature of Lancelot’s affair with the Queen. Finally, Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem “Lancelot and Elayne” (part of his Idylls of the King) depicts Lancelot and Guinevere’s betrayal of their king as the moral rot at the foundation of a perfect but unsustainable society—and in so doing, reveals a Victorian sense of worlds away from Chrétien’s light-hearted original. This module contains a mixture of lecture and discussion, with one lecture for each of the three works, and the rest of the meetings focusing on discussion. Modules 1-3: Chrétien, Lancelot, Knight of the Cart (1 lecture, 2 discussions) Modules 4-6: Malory, Le Morte Darthur (1 lecture, 2 discussions) Modules 7-8: Tennyson, Idylls of the King (1 lecture, 1 discussion) [show less]

The story of the Holy Grail that was sought by King Arthur’s knights begins with this tale: Chretien de Troyes’s “Perceval, or the Story of the Grail.” This coming-of-age story follows the adventures of Perceval, as he moves from rustic ignorance of his own identity into full-fledged knighthood. As series of mistakes, triumphs, and misadventures leads him almost (but not quite) to the discovery of that most holy of relics. His journey of spiritual understanding, like the quest for the Holy Grail itself, remains incomplete as Chretien’s unfinished romance breaks off in mid-sentence. This course, however, continues Perceval’s story through the numerous continuations of additions by which different authors brought to the tale within a century of its first appearance. Note on Text: While most of Prof. Daley’s courses are flexible with regard to edition, in this case there is only one English translation that provides the complete text of Chretien’s “Perceval,” and all of the surviving translations: Nigel Bryant’s The Complete Story of the Grail, listed below. [show less]

Explore the craft, impact, and meaning of literature through a personalized tutorial in Literature & Storytelling. Whether you're analyzing a classic novel, developing a comparative study of myths and epics, or researching contemporary fiction, our preceptors will help you deepen your understanding of narrative, genre, theme, and interpretation. Tutorials can focus on literary analysis, theory, close reading, or creative-critical intersections. Whether you’re preparing for graduate school, crafting a paper, or simply diving deeper into your favorite texts, this tutorial invites you to read widely, think critically, and grow as a literary thinker. [show less]

Descend into the medieval ‘Dark Zone,’ a world beneath the surface where dragons coil, cave-witches curse, and the earth itself becomes a site of danger, revelation, and transformation. This course plunges into the rich subterranean imagination of Old and Middle English literature, tracing caves, hollows, and underground spaces from the tenth through the sixteenth century. Moving between sweeping thematic frameworks and analytical close reading, we will examine how caves function as mythic thresholds, spiritual testing grounds, and spaces of exile, prophecy, and refuge. Through attentive readings of canonical and lesser-known texts, students will discover how medieval writers used the underground to think through fear, faith, gender, power, and the limits of the known world. Session 1: Let’s go spelunking! Plato’s Republic, Jung and more Session 2: Primordial ‘Earth halls’ in Old English poetry Session 3: Subterranean worlds in Beowulf Session 4: Arthurian Caves Session 5: Mapping Sir Gawain and the Green Knight's Green Chapel Session 6: Saturn’s “derke cote”: occult caves in Chaucer’s poetry Session 7: Anchorites and cave-witches Session 8: Wookey Hole: a case study of a cave, history, and cultural imagination through time [show less]

J.R.R. Tolkien famously 'found' his legendarium, translating and editing The Red Book of Westmarch for his twentieth century readers. This is not the first time an author has 'forged' a 'lost' literary history as James Macpherson's 'Ossian' documents from the 1760s started a craze for forgeries. Thomas Chatterton's Rowley and Turgot manuscripts similarly fed off the Ossian controversy while questioning what it really meant to 'forge' a document. The module will follow an 8-lesson structure as follows: • Lecture 1: The 1760s, the Age of Forgery • Workshop 1: Which Red Book are we reading? • Lecture 2: The Growth of Romantic Nationalism • Workshop 2: The Book of Lost Tales: a mythology for which England? • Lecture 3: Oral Traditions: Immortality and Youth • Workshop 3: Vocalising Myth and History • Lecture 4: Textual Traditions: Mortal Anxiety and Tangible History • Workshop 4: Writing myth and history Note: The hybrid 8-lesson structure above is the new format for this module moving forward. [show less]