He rides at adventure. Arriving at the half-ruined
castle of Pellam, that dubious devotee, he hears Garlon insult
Guinevere, but restrains himself. Next day, again insulted for
bearing "the crown scandalous" on his shield, he strikes Garlon down,
is pursued, seizes the sacred spear, and escapes. Vivien meets him
in the woods, drops scandal in his ears, and so maddens him that he
defaces his shield with the crown of Guinevere. Her song, and her
words,
"This fire of Heaven,
This old sun-worship, boy, will rise again,
And beat the cross to earth, and break the King
And all his Table,"
might be forced into an allegory of the revived pride of life, at the
Renaissance and after. The maddened yells of Balin strike the ear of
Balan, who thinks he has met the foul knight Garlon, that
"Tramples on the goodly shield to show
His loathing of our Order and the Queen."
They fight, fatally wound, and finally recognise each other: Balan
trying to restore Balin's faith in Guinevere, who is merely slandered
by Garlon and Vivien. Balin acknowledges that his wildness has been
their common bane, and they die, "either locked in either's arms."
There is nothing in Malory, nor in any other source, so far as I am
aware, which suggested to Tennyson the clou of the situation--the use
of Guinevere's crown as a cognisance by Balin. This device enables
the poet to weave the rather confused and unintelligible adventures
of Balin and Balan into the scheme, and to make it a stage in the
progress of his fable.
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