Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Malcolm Guite is a poet and Anglican priest. He is a Life Fellow of Girton College, Cambridge and lives in Norfolk, England. He lectures widely in England and North America on Theology and Literature. His books include Sounding the Seasons; Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year (Canterbury 2012). The Singing Bowl; Collected Poems (Canterbury 2013) and Parable and Paradox (Canterbury Press 2016) and Mariner: A Voyage with Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Hodder 2017) After Prayer (Canterbury Press 2019) and The Word Within the Words (DLT 2021) and Lifting The Veil, Square Halo, 2021.
In 2023 he was awarded the Archbishop Lanfranc Medal for Education and Scholarship by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
He is presently working on Merlin’s Isle: an Arthuriad a four volume epic poem on The Arthurian legends
He has a Youtube series called ‘A Spell in the Library’ at youtube.com/c/MalcolmGuitespell
Listen to this episode on the Symbolic World podcast:
-Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/3gYKw6vFmaZ7hG36RabVJF?si=m3xOPZ1YQSygexntQwUQbQ
-Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/466-malcolm-guite-old-stories-know-secrets-that-we/id1386867488?i=1000777344494
Galahad and the Holy Grail: store.rabbitroom.com/products/merlins-isle
Patrons of The Symbolic World can watch the 30 minute documentary here: thesymbolicworld.com/premium-content/merlins-isle
Subscribe here if you’re not already a patron: thesymbolicworld.com/subscribe
Register for Universal History Masterclass during the month of July and get 15% off: thesymbolicworld.com/courses/universal-history-masterclass
🔓 Become a patron to support us and unlock exclusive monthly symbolism content: thesymbolicworld.com/subscribe
💻 Website and blog: thesymbolicworld.com
Timestamps:
00:00 – Coming up
01:29 – Introduction
03:05 – Malcolm Guite’s Calling as Priest and Poet
06:39 – Can the Imagination Be Dangerous?
09:27 – Imagination as the Organ of Meaning
11:58 – Fantasy, Escapism, and Enchantment
15:46 – Why Arthurian Stories Resist Modernization
19:57 – Galahad and the Grail
21:20 – What Arthurian Stories Reveal About Human Brokenness
23:27 – The Scope of Malcolm’s Arthurian Project
26:05 – The Dolorous Stroke and the Origin of the Wasteland
30:54 – “You Live in Just Such a World”
33:20 – The Wasteland as a Pattern of Reality
37:51 – Recovering the Christian Meaning of the Grail
40:44 – Universal History Masterclass
42:42 – Why Malcolm Chose the Ballad Form
44:59 – The Collapse of the Materialist Worldview
49:41 – Remembering Without Falling into Unreason
51:46 – Tradition as Active Remembrance
53:19 – Tradition as the Roots of a Living Tree
54:40 – How Irony Destroys Old Stories
57:56 – Daring to Be Naive Again
58:28 – The Four-Volume Arthurian Series
59:54 – Why the Beauty of the Book Matters
01:01:10 – Chivalry, Masculinity, and the Civilized Warrior
01:02:23 – Fellow Travelers in the Recovery of Meaning
Our website designers: resonancehq.io
My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson: matthewwilkinson.net
Malcolm Guite is a poet and Anglican priest. He is a Life Fellow of Girton College, Cambridge and lives in Norfolk, England. He lectures widely in England and North America on Theology and Literature. His books include Sounding the Seasons; Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year (Canterbury 2012). The Singing Bowl; Collected Poems (Canterbury 2013) and Parable and Paradox (Canterbury Press 2016) and Mariner: A Voyage with Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Hodder 2017) After Prayer (Canterbury Press 2019) and The Word Within the Words (DLT 2021) and Lifting The Veil, Square Halo, 2021.
In 2023 he was awarded the Archbishop Lanfranc Medal for Education and Scholarship by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
He is presently working on Merlin’s Isle: an Arthuriad a four volume epic poem on The Arthurian legends
He has a Youtube series called ‘A Spell in the Library’ at youtube.com/c/MalcolmGuitespell
Listen to this episode on the Symbolic World podcast:
-Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/3gYKw6vFmaZ7hG36RabVJF?si=m3xOPZ1YQSygexntQwUQbQ
-Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/466-malcolm-guite-old-stories-know-secrets-that-we/id1386867488?i=1000777344494
Galahad and the Holy Grail: store.rabbitroom.com/products/merlins-isle
Patrons of The Symbolic World can watch the 30 minute documentary here: thesymbolicworld.com/premium-content/merlins-isle
Subscribe here if you’re not already a patron: thesymbolicworld.com/subscribe
Register for Universal History Masterclass during the month of July and get 15% off: thesymbolicworld.com/courses/universal-history-masterclass
🔓 Become a patron to support us and unlock exclusive monthly symbolism content: thesymbolicworld.com/subscribe
💻 Website and blog: thesymbolicworld.com
Timestamps:
00:00 – Coming up
01:29 – Introduction
03:05 – Malcolm Guite’s Calling as Priest and Poet
06:39 – Can the Imagination Be Dangerous?
09:27 – Imagination as the Organ of Meaning
11:58 – Fantasy, Escapism, and Enchantment
15:46 – Why Arthurian Stories Resist Modernization
19:57 – Galahad and the Grail
21:20 – What Arthurian Stories Reveal About Human Brokenness
23:27 – The Scope of Malcolm’s Arthurian Project
26:05 – The Dolorous Stroke and the Origin of the Wasteland
30:54 – “You Live in Just Such a World”
33:20 – The Wasteland as a Pattern of Reality
37:51 – Recovering the Christian Meaning of the Grail
40:44 – Universal History Masterclass
42:42 – Why Malcolm Chose the Ballad Form
44:59 – The Collapse of the Materialist Worldview
49:41 – Remembering Without Falling into Unreason
51:46 – Tradition as Active Remembrance
53:19 – Tradition as the Roots of a Living Tree
54:40 – How Irony Destroys Old Stories
57:56 – Daring to Be Naive Again
58:28 – The Four-Volume Arthurian Series
59:54 – Why the Beauty of the Book Matters
01:01:10 – Chivalry, Masculinity, and the Civilized Warrior
01:02:23 – Fellow Travelers in the Recovery of Meaning
Our website designers: resonancehq.io
My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson: matthewwilkinson.net
