Периоды английской литературы. Карпова В.А. - 14 стр.

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       Probably the legend of Arthur grew out of the deeds of some
historical person. He was probably not a king, and it is very doubtful that his
name was Arthur. He was presumably a Welsh or Roman military leader of the
Celts in Wales against the Germanic invaders who overran Britain in the fifth
century. The deeds of this Welsh hero gradually grew into a vast body of
romantic story that provided a glorious past for the Britons to look back upon.
When Arthur developed into an important king, he yielded his position as a
personal hero to a group of great knights who surrounded him. King Arthur and
his knights came to represent all that was best in the age of chivalry, and the
stories of their deeds make up the most popular group of the great cycles of
medieval romance.
       At the end of the Middle Ages and the end of the long efflorescence of
medieval romance in many languages, Malory endeavoured to digest the
Arthurian romances into English prose using as his source an assortment of
French Arthurian prose romances.
       The stories of Arthur and his knights have attracted many British and
other writers. Malory's “Le Morte Darthur” was destined to transmit Arthurian
stories to many later English writers, notably Tennyson. Spenser used an
Arthurian background for his romantic epic “The Faerie Queene” (1590), and
Milton contemplated a national epic on Arthur.
       Interest in Arthur decreased in the eighteenth century, but Arthurian topics
were particularly popular in the nineteenth century. Tennyson's “Idylls of the
King” and E. A. Robinson's “Merlin”, “Lancelot”, and “Tristram” show how
different generations have modified the Arthurian stories to make them express
contemporary modes of thought and individual artistic ends. Arthurian themes
received powerful and sympathetic musical treatment in a opera by Dryden with
music by Purcell, “King Arthur”, and in some of Richard Wagner' s operas.
       The first English plays were called Miracle or Mystery Plays. Drama
derives its qualities from the age in which it is written. The age of the Miracles
was one in which religion was an integral part of communal life, and not only
influenced work and play, but was itself an important form of re-creation. The
Mystery Cycle represents what might perhaps be called a history of the world –
of mankind in relation to God – from the Creation to the Last Judgement. The
purpose of the performance was evidently that of a ritual, namely to give
significance or meaning to life for that year. Between the creation and the
Judgement the central mystical events are the birth, death and resurrection of
Christ. The whole corresponds, of course, to the cycle of the Christian year. The
annual performance was, it would seem, nothing less than the great occasion of
the year in the town – community life of the Middle Ages. The townspeople
performed it as an intrinsic part of the Corpus Christi procession at the height of
the year (June). It was clearly what gave significance to the life of each year for
both the individual and the community in which he belonged. Indeed, this Cycle
of events and participation in it each year was probably felt to be more important
to the townspeople than what we now look back to as the historical events of
that year.

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