Questions About Le Morte d'Arthur: King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Le Morte d'Arthur, please sign up.

Answered Questions (4)

What does it mean to "dress" a shield? I generally understand the other customs in the book, but Prof. Google is no help with this oft-repeated phrase.

LennyGA 'to dress' means 'to set in place' or 'to set one's self'. On page 25 of my version it says "[...] and dressed his shield and took a spear [...]" So i…more'to dress' means 'to set in place' or 'to set one's self'. On page 25 of my version it says "[...] and dressed his shield and took a spear [...]" So in that case it is 'to set his shield in place'(less)

flag

Curious to know if this is a full version of the book? I do not wish for an edited edition.

Michael The "Oxford World Classics" Edition, Helen Cooper, ed., 1998 is abridged. The text is based on the Winchester Manuscript, so it is a bit more accurate…moreThe "Oxford World Classics" Edition, Helen Cooper, ed., 1998 is abridged. The text is based on the Winchester Manuscript, so it is a bit more accurate than the Caxton edition (1485), but the editor chose to edit the text (in addition to modernising it to mostly Modern English) to remove certain scenes that she felt were not germane to the overall story and to remove lengthy lists of knights or other participants to certain events within the story.

For example, on page 18 [Caxton's chapter 17], within the "How Uther Begot King Arthur" chapter, the notes show the following editorial omission: "a short section is omitted, in which twenty-one knights attack the eleven kings".

All of the omissions are explained in the Notes section at the end of the book, and none of them disrupts the overall story (they're not missed), but I would have preferred to have an unabridged version, with notes that describe how such-and-so section is extraneous to the larger story, but lets me decide whether to read it or skip it, and how much emphasis to place on it based on my reading.

An unabridged edition would have been better. Although, when we read Malory, we are reading his abridgement of his French sources, so I suppose if I really want unabridged, I have to read the real originals. (less)

flag

What is a bracher? The bra her bit the white hart and the lady cried and wanted her bracher back.

The Usual You have a slight typo there, I think. A brachet is a hunting dog.

flag

WHY DID MALORY CHOOSE TO BE A GOOD WRITER ?

Asher Burns It's generally a good choice in the authorial profession…moreIt's generally a good choice in the authorial profession(less)

flag

Unanswered Questions

About Goodreads Q&A

Ask and answer questions about books!

You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.

See Featured Authors Answering Questions

Learn more