For bold in heart and act and word was he
Whenever slander breathed against the King.
12. A GREAT WATER. This expression has occasioned much unnecessary
comment on the score of its alleged artificiality. There might be a gain
in definiteness in substituting "lake," or "river," as the case might be,
but there would be a corresponding loss in poetry and in meaning at this
particular place. "Had 'a great lake' been substituted for it, the
phrase would have needed to be translated by the mind into water of a
certain shape and size, before the picture was realized by the
imagination." (Brimley.) It would have, consequently, been more precise,
but "less poetic and pictorial."
If further justification for the expression were needed it might be
stated that "water" stands for lake in certain parts of England, e.g.
"Dewentwater," etc.; and, what is of more importance, that Malory uses
"water" in the same sense: "The king . . . . saw afore him in a great
water a little ship." _Morte d'Arthur_ iv. 6.
21. OF CAMELOT. Arthur's capital, as noted in _The Lady of Shalott_. In
speaking of the allegorical meaning of _The Idylls of the King_, Tennyson
states that "Camelot, for instance, a city of shadowy palaces, is
everywhere symbolical of the gradual growth of human beliefs and
institutions, and of the spiritual development of man." Always bear in
mind that Tennyson has also said: "There is no single fact or incident in
the Idylls, however seemingly mystical, which cannot be explained without
any mystery or allegory whatever."