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The Dolorous Stroke

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 catastrophic blow struck by Sir Balin that wounds the Fisher King and blights the land, symbolizing broken covenant.

Detailed Definition
The Stroke is the original sin of Arthurian Britain. In poetry, it symbolizes the catastrophic consequences of rash action—its echo through generations underscoring how one moment of violence can blight an entire realm.
Example
Example in poetry:
The Dolorous Stroke is Balin’s blow that wounds the Fisher King and desolates the land; A line: “One stroke—the Dolorous Stroke—and the world turned to ash”; In the Vulgate Cycle, it initiates the Grail Quest’s necessity; Poets use it to symbolize irreversible error with cosmic consequence; The Dolorous Stroke echoes through time, awaiting healing; Tennyson alludes to it as the wound that “bled the land dry.”
Additional Notes
The Dolorous Stroke is Balin’s fatal blow to King Pellam, which wounds the land and initiates the Grail narrative; it exemplifies unintended consequence—poets treat it as the mythic origin of Camelot’s decline, linking personal error to cosmic disorder.
Also Known As
Dolorous Blow Wounding Stroke
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