Life Events Part 7oo A laundry list: a cathedral, a house, a lake, a church, silk sleets, a victory Bob and I went to Salisbury cathedral, a Christian counterpoint to the pagan splendor of Stonehenge. It sits alone stark and compelling on the great Salisbury Plain. It was on the monks walk that runs alongside the right side of the cathedral that I felt most strongly the commitment of those Medieval monks to honor Gods presence and glory. We went to Thomas Hardys house that seemed oddly out of place for the time he lived there. I could see it on a suburban street seeking not to call attention to itself. Its proximity to Stonehenge reminded me of Tess lying on one of those huge fallen columns where she was arrested for the murder of Alec, the villain of the piece. Even though Tess of the Dubervilles is my favorite of Hardys novels, I have a perverse affection for Jude the Obscure who returned home one evening to find his children hanging in a closet. That scene was more than the English people could bear. After that Hardy did not write another novel, limiting his writing to poetry. We went to the lake where Merlin took Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake and embedded it in an anvil that was placed on top of a stone. Boys were encouraged to try to remove the sword since the one who did so would become king of England. Fifteen year old Arthur accomplished that feat and became King Arthur. The night after we visited the Almesbury Abbey Church where Guinievere retreated after Arthur died Bob and I spent the night in a small inn located in what was said to be Camelot. It was there that I am confident I discovered why Guinievere dumped Arthur for Lancelot. It wasnt because Lancelot was younger and more dashing than Arthur, but because she was tired of sliding off the silk sheets that covered her marriage bed. Jane Pelling, one of the English counselors who worked in the dormitory where I was in charge, told me that English people believe that if England is ever in peril, King Arthur will return to save the country. I thought it would be impolite to say that when England was threatened by the Nazis, it was American GIs not King Arthur who played a significant role in stopping Hitler from claiming victory in England.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 00:05:39 +0000
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