Sintram and his Companions

His knights might be Sir Galahad – ‘My strength is as the strength of ten, Because my heart is pure.’ Evil comes to them as something to be conquered, generally as a form of magic enchantment, and his ‘wondrous fair maidens’ are worthy of them. Yet there is adventure enough to afford much pleasure, and often we have a touch of true genius, which has given actual ideas to the world, and precious ones. This genius is especially traceable in his two masterpieces, Sintram and Undine… . his wonderful romance, not exactly an allegory, where every circumstance can be fitted with an appropriate meaning, but with the sense of the struggle of life, with external temptation and hereditary inclination pervading all, while Grace and Prayer aid the effort.