The Vision of Sir Launfal

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1848

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Summary

Background

Poem Section Summaries & Analyses

Prelude to Part First

Part First

Prelude to Part Second

Part Second

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

An Ideal Summer’s Day

While “The Vision of Sir Launfal” contains various thematic concerns such as heroism, charity, and humanitarianism, the excerpt that begins, “And what is so rare as a day in June?” (Line 33) stands as an exemplary summation of one prevalent theme. This excerpt is often chosen for reading and recital alone and is the most well-known and well-loved part of the poem. In the style of the Romantic movement, Lowell idealizes nature and its power to offer humans a refuge from the toil and routine of everyday life in just a single line. The evocation of the perfect early summer day, therefore, with its riotous explosion of lifeforce, color, sights, and sounds underscores the rest of the poem.

From the outset, Lowell portrays the day as a harmonious scene, which Heaven, or God, desires to be “in tune” like instruments in an orchestra playing together. The many references to hearing and the production of the sounds of the countryside reinforce this notion of a symphony: “murmur,” “listen,” “sings,” “whispering,” “lowing,” “crowing,” and the perfection of the day can be appreciated through listening alone: “We may shut our eyes, but we cannot help knowing / That skies are clear and grass is growing” (Lines 67-68). Lowell layers details and elements of the pastoral countryside upon each other, attempting to share with the reader the speaker’s love of nature in all its splendor.

Various flora and fauna are included in this image, both wild and tamed. Plants include the wildflowers cowslip, buttercup, and dandelion, and the cultivated crop maize. The birds mentioned are the wild robin and the domesticated rooster, or chanticleer. The countryside depicted is a combination of wild and farmed elements, and all conspire to produce this idyllic scene. The implication here is that people are in harmony with the world, and that agriculture, rather than defiling and exploiting nature, can exist beside and as part of it. All aspects of the rural scene are portrayed as benign and joyful. The cumulative effect is that of a technicolor dream in which readers can immerse themselves alongside the speaker: “We sit in the warm shade and feel right well / How the sap creeps up and the blossoms swell” (Lines 65-66).

God’s Beneficence

Another thematic concern addressed in “The Vision of Sir Launfal” is God's beneficence. God wishes humans only happiness and lack of strife, a sentiment that ties to the popular line: “And what is so rare as a day in June?” (Line 33). The presence of God behind the perfection of the ideal June day is indicated early on, in the following excerpt: “Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune / And over it softly her warm ear lays” (Lines 35-36). The bounteous fecundity and growth depicted in the excerpt is portrayed as propelled by a “might” or power, and “An instinct within it that reaches and towers” (Line 40), a line referring at once to the natural processes of biology and to a nameless mystical force.

Later references to God reinforce the notion that the power behind the blossoming of this summer day is not merely organic but is directed by the deity. The God that propels nature to renewal and rebirth is a benign and charitable one, whose motives are to make humans happy: “We are happy now because God wills it” (Line 63). The pure and untroubled nature of God is recalled in the “unscarred heaven,” which is at once the clear blue sky, the glorious place of afterlife, and the home of a God who seeks only to appease the sorrows of human existence and uplift the spirit.

The Collaboration Between God and Nature in Restoring the Soul

The collaboration between nature, with its ability to comfort and to also punish Man, and God, is one of the main threads in the poem. While the quest for the Holy Grail is a common subject of the Romantic poets, Lowell was unique in his diversion away from the purely God/Knight relationship toward the inclusion of nature as a driving force in the transformation of Launfal from arrogant noble to a man of compassion. It is nature that colludes with God to teach Launfal his moral lesson. Launfal’s joyful spirit as he sets out on his journey is mirrored in the sunny day and bucolic setting, but it is winter and its privations that cause him to search his soul and reflect on his own uncharitable acts.

One subtheme of the poem is that nature itself can soothe the soul and uplift the human spirit. The Prelude to the Part First particularly expresses this message. While God is the driving force behind the rebirth and renewal expressed in the June day, this energy is transmitted through nature. The speaker does not commune directly with God but rather through the many manifestations of divine power present in the surroundings. At first, only the positive elements of the scene are depicted, but soon, references to human suffering and unease begin to appear: “We are happy now because God wills it; / No matter how barren the past may have been, / 'Tis enough for us now that the leaves are green” (Lines 62-64). The words “barren” and “green” contrast with each other. The implication is that as nature renews itself, so too can the human soul.

One stanza in particular contains several allusions to suffering: “Joy comes, grief goes, we know not how; / Everything is happy now” (Lines 81-82). These sentiments are relegated to the past, while the present moment surrounded by nature is sufficient for forgetting previous sorrow. The speaker says in Lines 83-84 that the natural state of humanity is happiness, and that this state lacks worry and is as uncomplicated as the simple colors of nature. The speaker then reiterates this message (Lines 85, 86, 88-89) by depicting scenes of sorrow and sadness departing. A last reference to the tumultuous emotions that humans experience, “the sulphurous rifts of passion and woe” (Line 91), likens our feelings to that of burning volcanic lava, which can however be cooled and healed by the natural element of snow.