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| Gareth and Lynette, photograph by Julia Margaret Cameron (1874) (Metropolitan Museum) |
Note: Tennyson's highly readable Idylls of the King is a stirring revisiting of twelve of the tales of King Arthur, from a modern (Victorian) point of view. "Gareth and Lynnette" is one of the best of them.
Get Ready: Have you ever been truly frightened of something (or someone), only to discover that in fact there was nothing at all to fear?
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| The Return of Ulysses, by E. M. Synge (1909) (Wikipedia) Note his old dog Argos licking his hand (just before dying), one of my favorite scenes in all of literature. |
Note: We often hear stories of heroes in their full vigor of life, but don't think about what happens to them when the adventure is over. In this stunning poem, Tennyson does just that with Odysseus, a hero in the works of Homer.
Get Ready: Have you ever read something, or heard a song, or seen a show or film, that you thought was boring, and then--maybe years later--read or heard or seen it again and been surprised by how good it is? What changed, the work or you?
