King Arthur, the mythological figure associated with Camelot, may have been based on a 5th to 6th century British warrior who staved off invading Saxons. Read here.
Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer whose identity remains uncertain, but whose name is famous as that of the author of Le Morte Darthur, the first prose account in English of the rise and fall of the legendary king Arthur and the fellowship of the Round Table.
Arthur was the first born son of King Uther Pendragon and heir to the throne. However these were very troubled times and Merlin, a wise magician, advised that the baby Arthur should be raised in a secret place and that none should know his true identity. Continue reading here.
A ballad is a type of poem that tells a story and was traditionally set to music. English language ballads are typically composed of four-line stanzas that follow an ABCB rhyme scheme. Read here. Its distinctive style crystallized in Europe in the late Middle Ages and persists to the present day in communities where literacy, urban contacts, and mass media have little affected the habit of folk singing. Read here.
"Scarborough Fair," popularized in the United States by the 1960s singer-songwriting duo Simon & Garfunkel, is an English folk song about a market fair that took place in the town of Scarborough in Yorkshire during medieval times. Read here.
"Fast fading violets cover'd up in leaves; And mid-May's eldest child, The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine, The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves." John Keats
