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Camelot

Arthurian Legend
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The legendary seat of King Arthur’s court in British myth, symbolizing chivalric ideals, unity, and eventual downfall.

Detailed Definition
Camelot epitomizes the golden age of chivalry, justice, and fellowship. In poetry, it functions as an idealized utopia—often contrasted with its inevitable fall—symbolizing humanity’s aspiration for harmony and the fragility of noble dreams.
Example
Example in poetry:
Camelot is “the city of the king” in Tennyson’s Idylls of the King; Malory describes it as Arthur’s chief court and seat of the Round Table; Poets depict Camelot as a golden age now lost to time; In elegiac verse, Camelot’s towers crumble like dreams; Modern poetry uses Camelot as shorthand for idealized community or doomed utopia; Frost and others reference Camelot to critique nostalgia for unattainable perfection.
Additional Notes
Camelot is the legendary seat of Arthur’s court, symbolizing unity, chivalry, and idealized governance; though its location is unspecified in early texts, it becomes central in Malory and Tennyson—poets deploy Camelot as a metaphor for lost utopias, fragile ideals, or the tension between order and chaos.
Other Meanings of “Camelot”
Also Known As
Caerleon (in some early texts) Lost Kingdom
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