The Sea and Water
Water pops up really often in this poem, but its significance is never fully explained. Why is Guenevere's hair wet at the beginning? What's up with the elaborate, drawn-out image of a path to the...
The Red and Blue Cloths
The elaborate extended image of the two cloths – one red, one blue – is very important in the poem. At the beginning Guenevere asks her listeners to imagine that the difference between going t...
The Garden
Gardens are always important in Western literature, since according to the Judeo-Christian tradition everything began in one. We're talking about the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve were tempte...
Flame and Heat
There's a lot of heat in this poem, and we're not just talking about Guenevere's hotness. At the start of the poem, she's blushing so hard it's like her face is on fire, then there's a lot of disc...
Guenevere's Beauty
Guenevere keeps coming back to her undeniable beauty as her main point of defense. How does that work? Is it like when celebrities get caught breaking the law and their central excuse is, "Whatev...