The Holy Grail legend in literature with particular reference to Lord Alfred Tennyson and Thomas Stearns Eliot

Abstract

This dissertation deals with the development of the Holy Grail legend in literature throughout the generations. Particularly following the twelfth century many authors, specifically Geoffrey of Monmouth, Robert de Boron, Chretien de Troyes, and Sir Thomas Malory, have attempted to depict their own take on the legend based on their own imagination but also on the ongoing conditions of the time they are writing in. Following its demise in the fifteenth century, it was subsequently revived in the Victorian era specifically in Lord Alfred Tennyson’s Idylls of the King who is fundamentally concerned with the potential corruption of the Grail and thus with mankind’s salvation. Consequently, in the twentieth century, following the First World War, many found themselves living in a decaying world, one which Thomas Stearns Eliot perfectly epitomizes in his renowned work The Wasteland. Contrary to Tennyson’s interpretation however, the acquirement of the Grail and thus one’s imminent loss becomes in Eliot’s composition the ultimate symbol for survival. Conclusively, such a legend is one which is also applicable today as it deals with issues which any individual, especially a Christian, may turn to in order to further strengthen the spiritual connection with God. Ultimately however, the legend on its own becomes insignificant since the true worth does not lie in the Grail itself, but rather in Christ’s preeminent sacrifice on the cross which brought about mankind’s salvation and thus ultimate meaning to life itself.