e,
Graven in the oldest tongue of all this world,
"Take me," but turn the blade and ye shall see,
And written in the speech ye speak yourself,
"Cast me away."

It has been variously held that Excalibur typifies temporal authority, or
spiritual power. The casting away of the sword, therefore, represents
the inevitable change in which human things are involved, and even faith
itself. Compare _Morte d'Arthur_, ll. 240-241.

Magical weapons and enchanted armour are a portion of the equipment of
almost all the great legendary heroes. Their swords and their horses
usually bear distinctive names. Roland's sword was _Durandal_, and
Charlemagne's was _Joyeuse_.

37. FLING HIM. The sword is viewed as possessing life.

THE MIDDLE MERE. Compare a similar classical construction in Oenone, l.
10, topmost Gargarus.

53-55. THE WINTER MOON--HILT. The frosty air made the moonlight more
than usually brilliant.

60. THIS WAY--MIND. An echo of Vergil's line, Aeneid, VIII. 20. _Atque
animum nunc huc celerem, nunc dividit illuc_. "And he divides his swift
mind now this way, now that."

63. MANY-KNOTTED WATER FLAGS. Dr. Sykes has a careful note on this
expression (_Select Poems of Tennyson_; Gage & Co.). "The epithet
many-knotted is difficult to explain. The possible explanations would
refer the description to (1) the root-stock of the flag, which shows
additional bulbs from year to year; (2) the joints in the flower stalks,
of which some half-dozen may be found on each stalk; (3) the large
seed-pods that terminate in stalks, a very noticeable feature when the
plant is sere; (4) the various bunches or knots of iris in a bed of the
plants, so that the whole phrase suggests a thickly matted bed of flags.
I favour the last interpretation, though Tennyson's fondness of technical
accuracy in his references makes the second more than possible."

70-71. I HEARD--CRAG. It is interesting to read Chapter V., Book XXI. of
Malory in connection with Tennyson's version of the story. He is
throughout true to the spirit of the original. _A propos_ of lines
70-71, we find in Malory: "What saw thou, there?" said the King. "Sir,"
he said, "I saw nothing but the waters wap and the waves wan." Tennyson,
in these two lines, gives us a consummate example of creative imitation.

84. COUNTING THE DEWY PEBBLES. This aptly describes the absorption of
his mind.

85 f. and 56-58 supra. Compare the description of Excalibur, and of