A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's CourtHarper and Bros., 1889 - 433 pages A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled A Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Some early editions are titled A Yankee at the Court of King Arthur.In the book, a Yankee engineer from Connecticut is accidentally transported back in time to the court of King Arthur, where he fools the inhabitants of that time into thinking that he is a magician, and soon uses his knowledge of modern technology to become a "magician" in earnest, stunning the English of the Early Middle Ages with such feats as demolitions, fireworks, and the shoring up of a holy well. He attempts to modernize the past, but in the end he is unable to prevent the death of Arthur and an interdict against him by the Catholic Church of the time, which grows fearful of his power.Twain wrote the book as a burlesque of Romantic notions of chivalry after being inspired by a dream in which he was a knight himself, severely inconvenienced by the weight and cumbersome nature of his armor. |
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Common terms and phrases
Aglovale Agravaine armor Arthur asked awful Bagdemagus began Boss boys Camelot castle centuries CHAPTER Church Clarence clothes course court damsel dead death Dowley dream enchantment eyes face fact fair lord fence fetched Guenever hand hang hath head heard heart hermit holy horse hundred killed king King Arthur king's knew knights laugh live look lord magician Marco matter ment Merlin mind miracle monks Mordred Morgan le Fay never nobility noble Pellinore person poor pretty priest queen ready rest rode Sandy Sir Dinadan Sir Gareth Sir Gawaine Sir Kay Sir Launcelot Sir Lucan Sir Marhaus Sir Mordred Sir Sagramor Sir Tor slave smote soon sort spear stand stood struck sword talk tell thee thing thou thought tion told took trouble turned unto wages wanted wire woman wonder word