The Fall of Arthur, the only venture by J.R.R. Tolkien into the legends of Arthu
r King of Britain, may well be regarded as his finest and most skilful achieveme
nt in the use of the Old English alliterative metre, in which he brought to his
transforming perceptions of the old narratives a pervasive sense of the grave an
d fateful nature of all that is told: of Arthur's expedition overseas into dista
nt heathen lands, of Guinevere's flight from Camelot, of the great sea-battle on
Arthur's return to Britain, in the portrait of the traitor Mordred, in the torm
ented doubts of Lancelot in his French castle.
