ENGL 222 Lecture 20: Other Victorian Poems
Document Summary
Roland goes to the wasteland to face his greatest fears. He sees the soldiers who have passed and we are left wondering if he really sees them or not because there is no one else there to be an impartial judge. The whole point is to get us to question the idea of the visionary experience. It is particularly interesting in this piece because the vision is not some beautiful lush world, it is a lonely, desolate world where our protagonist cannot trust anyone he meets. The story ends with finding the dark tower which is underwhelming and ultimately melancholy. It is all about the link between romance and epic. The relationship between humanity and what is beyond human. The visionary quest of arthur"s nights and the holy grail.
