or any cry of Christian heard thereon,
Nor yet of heathen; only the wan wave
Broke in among dead faces, to and fro
Swaying the helpless hands, and up and down
Tumbling the hollow helmets of the fallen,
And shiver'd brands that once had fought with Rome,
And rolling far along the gloomy shores
The voice of days of old and days to be.

The King speaks despairingly to Bedivere, who answering, swears to him
undying allegiance, and points to the traitor, Modred, who still stands
unharmed:

Thereupon:--

the King
Made at the man: then Modred smote his liege
Hard on the helm which many a heathen sword
Had beaten thin; while Arthur at one blow,
Striking the last stroke with Excalibur,
Slew him, and all but slain himself, he fell.

4. LYONNESSE. The geography of the _Idylls of the King_ is designedly
vague. The region of Lyonnesse was supposed to be adjacent to Cornwall,
and the sea now covers it. The Scilly Islands are held to have been the
western limit of this fabulous country.

6. THE BOLD SIR BEDIVERE. The epithet "bold" is used repeatedly in this
vaguely descriptive fashion with Sir Bedivere's name. Cf. lines 39, 69,
115, 151, 226. The use of "permanent epithets" in narrative poetry has
been consecrated by the example of Homer, who constantly employs such
expressions as "the swift-footed Achilles," "wide-ruling Agamemnon," etc.

Bedivere is described in _The Coming of Arthur_ as follows:--

For bold in heart and act and word was he
Whenever slander breathed against the King.

12. A GREAT WATER. This expression has occasioned much unnecessary
comment on the score of its alleged artificiality. There might be a gain
in definiteness in substituting "lake," or "river," as the case might be,
but there would be a corresponding loss in poetry and in meaning at this
particular place. "Had 'a great lake' been substituted for it, the
phrase would have needed to be translated by the mind into water of a
certain shape and size, before the picture was realized by the
imagination." (Brimley.) It would have, consequently, been more precise,
but "less poetic and pictorial."

If further justification for the expression were needed it might be
stated that "water" stands for lake in certain parts of England, e.g.
"Dewentwater," etc.; and, what is of more importance, that Malory uses
"water" in the same sense: "The king . . . . saw afore him in a great
water a little ship." _Morte d'Arthu