Links with Literature

The most obvious literary link with Avalon is the tale of King Arthur. Arthur and Guinevere are reputedly buried in the Abbey and a grave is centrally located to mark this spot. The most famous text is Sir Thomas Malory's (1405-1471)'Le Morte D'Arthur' - the death of Arthur, 1485.

Other links include Alfred Lord Tennyson's epic poem' The Idylls of the King' ( 1856-1885) and 'The Lady of Shallot' with its famous curse upon the woman in the tower who espies Sir Lancelot through her mirror:

'Out flew the web and floated wide-
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
"The curse is come upon me," cried
The Lady of Shalott.'

Another source is the Welsh 'Mabinogion', collated from medieval manuscripts in eleven stories and translated in English in the mid 19th century by Lady Charlotte Guest - a 'foreigner' from Uffington, Lincolnshire who lived in Wales, learnt the language and helped revive Welsh culture.

John Keats too immortalised the romantic ideal of the lost and wandering knight in search of the elusive, faery child - temptress (Goddess perhaps) in 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci' - The beautiful woman without mercy. Here the knight loses his soul to her and is destined to wander the Lake for eternity. The atmosphere and setting of this poem dramatically evoke the 'sedge'that 'hath withered on the lake' of Glastonbury and the Grail quest for eternal life through woman/ love/ goddess.

More recently is the feminist reading of the grail legend with the protagonist as thePriestess of Avalon, Morgaine, traditionally depicted as a witch or sorceress determined to bring about the demise of Arthur but now rewritten by Marion Bradley as a strong and powerful Priestess. As a young woman reading this book for the first time, I was mesmerised by this tale of a woman's initiation into the secrets of the Goddess and the ancient lore. All female characters are given a powerful, real voice and at last the very patriarchal, Christian legend is retold in a way that revives a sense of the power and magic of the mysteries of Avalon, home of the goddess. An evocative, intense and life transforming book this book completely changed my perspective and my view of myself as a young woman, I cannot recommend it enough. The language alone is spell binding..and like my journey it begins by the ocean in Cornwall and ends at the Isle of Avalon.

'Behind her, as she took up the bronze mirror again, she saw her sister in the door. Viviane had taken off the breeches she wore for riding, and put on a loose gown of undyed wool; her hair hung down, soft and dark as the wool of a black sheep. She looked small and fragile and aging, and her eyes were the eyes of a priestess in the cave of initation, years away and in another world... Igraine cut off the thought, impatiently.' pg.19

''She turned her face toward the guesthouse. Should she go there and breakfast with the nuns, speak perhaps of the old days at Camelot? Morgaine smiled gently. No. She was filled with the same tenderness for them as for the budding apple tree, but that time was passed. She turned her back on the convent, and walked down to the Lake, along the old path by the shore. Here was a place where the veil lying between the worlds was thin. She needed no longer to summon the barge- she need only step through the mists here, and be in Avalon. Her work was done.'' pg.876

Enjoy xx