When Galahad was still a child,
they let him run full free
and roam the castle holds and halls
and hear the minstrelsy.
So begins Malcolm Guite’s new book, Galahad and the Grail. The volume, intricately illustrated by Stephen Crotts, marks an unusual achievement for a few reasons. In this first book, Guite has composed an installment of a major Arthuriad—a comprehensive epic work of literature about the legends surrounding King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Many other writers have taken up the same task. But this version delivers a remarkably Christian emphasis, with unique focuses on grace, forgiveness, and healing.
And it brings all that without sacrificing the quality of the poetry or the tale. Galahad and the Grail is fun to read—especially out loud. When you open Galahad and the Grail, don’t expect a stuffy, indecipherable poem. Guite wrote the tale in ballad form—a type of poetry specifically designed to be read aloud, or even sung. The poem tells the story of Galahad, a pure-hearted knight of King Arthur’s Round Table, who at last brings healing and peace to his home and finds the Holy Grail. (Legendarily, this grail is the cup Jesus drank from at the Last Supper. In the times bards first told these stories, people often were fascinated by relics such as the supposed grail.)
WORLDteen talked with Guite via video call. He lives in North Walsham, Norfolk County, England, where he works as an Anglican priest and author. Arthurian legend sparked his imagination in boyhood when his mother taught him the ancient stories. He plans to complete the three other volumes of his Arthuriad in the next few years before he turns 70.
WORLDteen: How do you typically introduce yourself?
Guite: Most frequently I say I’m a poet and priest. I could add in a third p and say I’m a professor as well . . . I started wanting to be a poet when I was in my teens and by that time had lost my faith . . . Then I came back to faith, and then I realized eventually I had this call to priesthood.
WORLDteen: Can you describe your writing day?
Guite: I generally do about two or three walks a day . . . I’m walking through this woodland and I’ll often get lines coming to me and I might even work on a verse or two . . . I’m tasting it on the tongue . . . Then I get home and I go—depending on the weather—I go either up to the little study that I’m in now or out to my writing hut, which I call the Temple of Peace, more in hope than expectation. And when I get out I have a fountain pen. I like beautiful things, old things. This is all analog. We don’t get to the digital for quite some time.
WORLDteen: What do you wish Christians knew about Christian literature, and specifically about Arthur?
Guite: My mother just knew instinctively that the gospel was there in the great stories . . . I think the story of Galahad and the Grail particularly is a story about grace . . . grace to us when we’re still sinners.
Galahad and the Grail was published in April by Rabbit Room Press. Look for Guite’s next installment of Arthurian ballads, The Coming of Arthur, in November.
Why? The great stories of the world point to the Creator and the gospel story.
Recommended Reading: Savor the epic poem about King Arthur's Camelot by reading Galahad and the Grail by Malcolm Guite.
Click the “video” button at the top of the story to hear more of our interview with Malcolm Guite in a WORLDteen Sidebar video.
