The Song of Arthur: Celtic Tales from the King's Court

by John Matthews

This companion to Celtic folklorist John Matthews' The Song of Taliesin (Quest 2001) features seventeen stories never before published in book form, interspersed with the author's original poetry in the style of the ancient past whence the tales spring. The book is a stunning retelling of legends, myths, and folktales drawn from the Welsh Mabinogion, the Taliesin tradition, The Book of Leinster, the story of Perceval, Malory's Morte d'Arthur, and other traditional sources. The stories are accompanied by excellent endnotes explaining sources and elucidating points of difficulty, but they stand beautifully on their own. Taken as a whole, they present the characters, themes, and events of Celtic, Grail, and Arthurian lore in an authentic literary voice that makes for great reading and great telling. The Ancient Wisdom flows forward in many forms. One of its streams is surely found in the Arthurian "quest for the Grail"---which is, at its core, the quest for enlightenment and spiritual mastery. Matthews' lucid refashioning of these tales is informed by his deep understanding of their esoteric center. Through them, the reader may clearly see the Ancient Wisdom shine.

Genres: Fiction, Arthurian

196 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2002

About the author

John Matthews is an historian, folklorist and author. He has been a full time writer since 1980 and has produced over ninety books on the Arthurian Legends and Grail Studies, as well as short stories and a volume of poetry. He has devoted much of the past thirty years to the study of Arthurian Traditions and myth in general. His best known and most widely read works are ‘Pirates’ (Carlton/Atheneum), No 1 children’s book on the New York Times Review best-seller list for 22 weeks in 2006, ‘The Grail, Quest for Eternal Life’ (Thames & Hudson, 1981) ‘The Encyclopaedia of Celtic Wisdom’ (Element, 1994) and ‘The Winter Solstice’ (Quest Books, 1999) which won the Benjamin Franklin Award for that year. His book ‘Celtic Warrior Chiefs’ was a New York Public Library recommended title for young people.

Reviews

[Toastkat · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't let the large text and relative thinness of this book fool you. It reads like a textbook, and anyone not closely familiar with Arthurian lore may become as extremely lost as I was. I don't hate this book, but I feel that it has a very limited audience, and only people who have a deep understanding and extensive knowledge of Arthurian lore will enjoy The Song of Arthur.