The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems Literary Elements

Guenevere herself is the Speaker and she is speaking from her own point of view.

The form of the poem is Terza Rima, a series of three-line stanzas in iambic pentameter.

In Line 100 of the poem Guenevere uses a simile of seaweed to describe her flowing hair.

In an example of assonance, the poet uses the words "commands" and "wands" within his rhyme scheme (line 33)

Guenevere emphasizes her beauty because she believes that the court will feel one so beautiful could not possibly do anything wrong; however, this is the opposite of how the court feels and it is believed that her beauty is something that she uses to tempt men like Lancelot and in this way she cannot be trusted. What she thinks of as an asset to be stressed upon is actually working against her.

Pre-Raphaelite poetry

The poem is set in Arthurian England, at King Arthur's Court, as Guenever is on trial for cheating on her husband.

The tone is filled with suspicion, and at the same time is almost pleading as Guenevere tries to convince the court that she has done nothing wrong and that they are mistaken in their belief about her.

Guenevere is the protagonist and the court of her husband the antagonists. However, in the view of the court, and to a certain degree, in the narrative, King Arthur is the protagonist and Guenevere the antagonist.

There is conflict between Sir Gawain and Sir Lancelot which suggests to Guenevere that Gawain might have cast aspersions on their friendship out of jealousy or as a strategy that he feels will find him favor with the king. There is conflict from the beginning of the poem to the end between Guenevere and the court to whom she is pleading her case.

At the end of the poem, Lancelot comes to Guenevere's aid which both reinforces the belief in their relationship but also demonstrates his love and loyalty to her.

The relationship that Guenevere has with Lancelot foreshadows the need for her to defend herself and also foreshadows her untimely demise.

Guenevere uses a general air of understatement with regard to the way in which she has developed a relationship with Lancelot; she seems to take the attitude that what's done is done, it's all water under the bridge and that no good can come of continuing to focus on it.

The poem alludes to Sir Thomas Mallory's "Le Morte D'Arthur" which tells of the death of King Arthur, and contains much of the same material regarding the rivalry between Gawain and Lancelot and also about the way in which the relationship between Lancelot and Guenevere contributed to the King's unhappiness.

King Arthur's Court is used to encompass the knights of his realm and all of those who sat at his Round Table.

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Guenevere announces that she is driven to the point of insanity by her own incredible beauty which is hyperbole in that although she might be a little full of herself, and pointing out that she was more beautiful than most women, it would be unlikely that anyone was beautiful enough to be mentally discombobulated by their own appearance.

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