THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING

By T.H. White

TERENCE HANBURY (T.H.) WHITE

B

orn May 29, 1906 in Bombay, India

A

t age 5, White’s parents took him to England to live with his maternal

grandparents while they returned to India.

E

stablished his reputation as a writer after his version of the Arthurian

legend.

B

egan OFK after re-reading Mallory’s Le Morte D’Arthur

THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING

“

The Sword in the Stone” –1938

“The Witch in the Wood” –1939

Later named “The Queen of Air and Darkness”

“

The Ill-Made Knight” –1940

“

The Candle in the Wind” –1958 • This was published with the other three books as a tetralogy.

T

he Book of Merlyn was published posthumously in 1977.

W

hite worked on this project for 20 years.

OTHER WORKS

E

ngland Have My Bones (1936)

M

istress Masham’s Repose (1947)

T

he Age of Scandal (1950)

T

he Goshawk (1951)

T

he Scandal-mongers (1952)

T

he Book of Beasts (1954)

T

he Godstone and the Blackymor (1959)

THE LEGEND OF ARTHUR

T

he real Arthur was a composite of two people: • Ambrosius Aureliannus

• Governor of Britons in the mid 400s AD

• Artorius • Romanized Briton• Military leader in 5th Century England• Became a legend by slaughtering the invading Anglo-

Saxons at the Battle of Badon Hill. • Because of this, the Saxons did not fight for over 30

years.

ARTHUR IN LITERATURE

7th Century: A Welsh poem, “The Gododdin,” portrayed Arthur as a

fierce warrior

9th Century: A Welsh monk named Nennius wrote “This History of the

Britons,” in which Arthur is the leader of British armies against the

Saxon invaders. He wins 12 battles and dies at Camiann.

1

137: Geoffrey of Monmouth (England) writes The History of the Kings

of Britain• Contains Merlyn as an enchanter, Uther Pendragon as Arthur’s father,

sword called Caliburn, Guenever as Arthur’s wife, etc.

MORE LITERATURE

1

170’s: Chretien de Troyes (France) • writes about various romances in Arthur’s courts.• Lancelot mentioned for the first time • Camelot mentioned for the first time • Morgan le Fay as Arthur’s sister • Holy Grail

1

200s: Unknown author in France writes The Vulgate Cycle • Galahad achieves the Grail and is son of Lancelot• Merlyn becomes prophet and enchanter• Mordred is Arthur’s son• Arthur is carried to sea• Final battle on Salisbury Lake

MORE LITERATURE

1

469: Sir Thomas Malory (France) writes Le Morte D’Arthur• Ideals of chivaly are embodied in knights of the Round Table• Morgan le Fay is evil and tries to kill Arthur

1

859-1885: Lord Alred Tennyson (England) writes The Idylls of the King • Tennyson applied the legend of Arthur to his time period to teach people

lessons of right and wrong (morals).

W

hat pieces of these legends can be found in OFK? Which authors are

directly mentioned in OFK?

TRISTAN

T

he tale of Tristan (or Tristram, “sad man”) and Isolde (La

Beale Isould) predates and influenced the story of Lancelot

and Guenever..

T

ristan’s character is similar to that of Lancelot.

I

solde’s character is similar to that of Guenever.

A BIT OF COMEDY

The qualities of a good knight, according to Malory

How T.H. White makes fun of those qualities in “TSITS”

Hawking

Hunting

Fighting

Harping and Singing

Intelligence

PLOT DIAGRAM – FILL IN

Exposition

Initial Incident

Rising Action

Climax

Falling Action

Resolution/ Denouement

CONFLICTS

Man vs. Self?

Man vs. Man?

Man vs. Society?

Man vs. Nature?

Man vs. Fate? (Free Will vs. Fate)

THEMES

E

ducation is of high importance.

R

ight should triumph over Might. Might must be controlled.

W

ar is wrong unless it is fought to defend oneself.

F

ate and Free Will play equal roles in determining a person’s

destiny.

OFK AS A GREEK TRAGEDY

T

he ancient Greeks believed that the gods controlled a man’s fate, but

they also believed that a man is responsible for his or her own sin.

F

ree Will: Arthur pays for his sin of incest through Mordred’s treachery

F

ate: Uther raped Igraine, and Arthur has to deal with her angry

descendants.

S

imilar to Oedipus