In T. H. White’s The Once and Future King and The Book of Merlyn, education is a key theme. This thesis will consider the influence of White’s own time as an educator between 1930 and 1936 on his presentation of education in these texts. Through close textual reading, and a consideration of modern pedagogical and andragogical theory to enhance the analysis, I will look at the different modes of education in White’s Arthurian saga. We will see three distinct forms of education, each characterised by a different mode of delivery. In Book One of The Once and Future King, The Sword in the Stone, Merlyn uses transformations, or learning by experience, to teach the young Wart foundational knowledge that will inform the rest of his education and his future reign. In Book Two, The Queen of Air and Darkness, Merlyn employs discussions and debate in order to make the freshly crowned King Arthur think about what constitutes a good monarch. Finally, in Book Five, The Book of Merlyn, Merlyn uses lectures to force the king to consider the brutality of man. This thesis will argue that White’s depiction of education, from mode of delivery to student-teacher relationship, is informed by his own experience as a teacher, as well as the fact that he was writing in the years immediately before and after the start of World War II. As White himself had conflicting views on the war, being a pacifist who sympathised with the need to fight fascism, he decided that his Arthurian saga was to be his contribution to the war effort. The aim of this thesis is to show that in order to find an antidote to war, the education in the text is designed to teach readers as well as Arthur.
“You Will Have to Think the Rest Yourself”: Education in T. H. White’s The Once and Future King and The Book of Merlyn
Varley, S. M. (Author). 13 May 2025
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)