King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What is the difference between “history” and “myth”? What role does myth play in our understanding of history? What ideas are suggested by the phrase “national myth”?

Teaching Suggestion: Students are likely to have a solid understanding of the denotative differences between “history” and “myth.” They may initially claim, however, that there is no role for myth in our understanding of history. Encourage them to think more deeply about what history really is and about history as a story, shaped and reshaped in order to support culture as it changes. The purpose of the final question in this prompt is to introduce students to the idea of stories that form the basis of national identity, not to ask them to generate a precise definition of the phrase “national myth.”

• This transcript, an excerpt from a podcast with historian Nathan Connolly, explains how historical narratives can be as biased and inaccurate as any story.
• This article by Taylor Pace, hosted on the Arcadia website, explains the functions of national myths.