King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table (1953)

First line:

~ After wicked King Vortigern had first invited the Saxons to settle in Britain and help him to fight the Picts and Scots, the land was never long at peace ~

I managed to finish [King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table] but I did not enjoy it at all. I literally slogged through most of it.

I think it was partly the old style English. The brevity of the stories bothered me. Each chapter is devoted to one mythological episode such as 'Sir Tristam and the Fair Iseult' or 'Sir Gawain and the Lady Ragnell' and these stories, to my mind, all run together with not enough character development to make me actually care about what happens to any of them. Each one basically involves one Knight killing another Knight, usually by beheading, to save the lady.

I know this is written for children but I can't imagine being able to get through this until much later in life.

There is one thing that I enjoyed about this book and that was the wood-cut illustrations which were, I thought, quite unusual ( )

ing Arthur is one of the greatest legends of all time. From the magical moment when Arthur releases the sword in the stone to the quest for the Holy Grail and the final tragedy of the Last Battle, Roger Lancelyn Green brings the enchanting world of King Arthur stunningly to life. One of the greatest legends of all time. ( )

A pretty basic re-telling of the Arthurian tales. Nicely organised in four sections:- The Coming of Arthur (his birth, the sword in the stone and the early days of his reign); The Knights of the Round Table (quests and so on); The Quest of the Holy Grail and The Departing of Arthur.

There is a very medieval feel to this re-telling. All the familiar characters are here and there are lovely woodcut-like illustrations by Lotte Reiniger which add to the feel. As a basic introduction to the Arthurian tales this is a good book but there is nothing spectacular about it. ( )

I always read this first, in preparation for reading Charles Williams' Arthurian poetry, "Taliessin Through Logres" and "The Region of Summer Stars". However, Roger Lancelyn Green's book is great reading on its own account. Perhaps, it's because I'm a Christian--whatever the reason, Green's modern yet faithful accounts of these traditional stories affect me emotionally when I read them.
At which point, I suppose, I'm in the perfect mental state to work through Williams' complex and allusive poetry as I search for even more of the spiritual depth in the Arthurian saga. ( )

The wonderful woodcut-like illustrations, made by cutting out black paper, add greatly to the atmosphere of this book. A good introduction to Arthur for all ages.