How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #7
She half-foresaw that he, the subtle beast,
Would track her guild until he found, and hers
Would be for evermore a name of scorn.
Henceforward rarely could she front in hall,
Or elsewhere, Mordred’s narrow foxy face,
Heart-hiding smile, and gray persistent eye.
(“Guinevere,” 58-63)
This passage compares Mordred to an animal stalking his prey (that would be Guinevere). Like Vivien, Mordred is described as an animal. He is a different kind of animal, though. While Vivien is a serpent who coils around her prey, Mordred is a mammalian predator who hides in the shadows waiting to pounce. The role of bodily contact in Vivien’s predatory strategy contrasts with Mordred’s more intellectual, covert approach.
Quote #8
‘And all whereon I lean’d in wife and friend
Is traitor to my peace, and all my realm
Reels back into the beast, and is no more.’
(“Passing of Arthur,” 24-26)
Arthur reflects that his realm is reeling “back into the beast,” marking his conception of himself as a tamer of the wilderness. “The Coming of Arthur” described Britain as overtaken by wild animals. But what Arthur means when he says that it is going “back into the beast” isn’t just this literal sense in which Britain once again becomes wild. He's also referring to how the animal within man is rearing its ugly head.