Home › Glossary › Letter L

Lancelot

Arthurian Legend
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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 peerless Knight of the Round Table, famed for his chivalry and illicit love with Queen Guinevere, embodying courtly ideal and flaw.

Detailed Definition
Lancelot’s affair with Guinevere caused the downfall of Camelot, despite his unmatched prowess and loyalty. In poetry, he embodies the conflict between love and duty, honor and desire.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Idylls of the King,” Lancelot’s love for Guinevere fractures Camelot; In T.H. White’s “The Once and Future King,” Lancelot embodies conflicted honor; In W.H. Auden’s “The Quest,” Lancelot symbolizes the tension between love and duty; In modern poetry, Lancelot often represents the flawed hero; In Derek Walcott’s “Omeros,” Lancelot appears as Caribbean lover; In Tracy K. Smith’s “Watershed,” Lancelot’s betrayal echoes in relational fragility.
Additional Notes
Lancelot, Arthur’s greatest knight and Guinevere’s lover, embodies courtly love, divided loyalty, and the tension between human frailty and heroic ideal; poets portray his inner conflict (e.g., Malory, Tennyson) to explore honor, sin, and redemption—his epithet “Lancelot of the Lake” ties him to mysterious origins and the impossibility of perfection.
Also Known As
Knight of the Lake Greatest of Knights Guinevere’s Lover
Skip to main content