DEAN BURROUGHS AND PARSIFAL.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18414, 22 June 1925, Page 10

DEAN BURROUGHS AND PARSIFAL.

TO THE tDITOR OP "TEE FBBSS." Sir, —In your ,brief report of Dean Burroughs's address at Canterbury College, the Dean is said to have referred to Parsifal as the "poor, fool." Of course ho must have said "pure fool." and it may not be superfluous to i explain the strange designation, as used iu "Parsifal," the crowning triumph of Wagner's amazing senilis. In revenge for the refusal of the Knights of the Holy Grail, to admit- liini io their number. the pagan magician, Klingsor, resolves' to destroy the order through the seductive wiles of certain daughters of evil, chief among whom is Kundry, who becomes almost irresistible under his supernatural influence. After many knights have fallen victims, Amfortas, the king, succumbs to Kundry, arid while under the spell of the Enchantress, is deprived of the sacred spear by Klingsor, who inflicts _ a wound upon the king which seems incurable, and gives him exquisite pain every time he exercises his kingly office in unveiling the Gra : l. He prays foi release from his sufferings, either by death, or through the appearance of the "pure fool." For, one day, while reverently bowing before tho sacred vessel, a (voice from Heaven revealed to him that ho would be live red when "the pure fool, by pity enlightened," came to his rescue. The "pure fool" is Parsifal, and ho is so called because he is strong enough in purity to defy the witcheries of Kundry of the devilish beauty. Thereby he saves her, and restores holiness to the land. By supernatural means, the sacred spear is wrested from Klingsor and given to Parsifal, who is anointed king and 1 guardian- of the Grail in place of Anifortas, whoso wound is healed by a ton'-h of tlie weanon. Parsifal svmbolises the redeeming power of holy love. Such was the super-man Dean Burroughs felicitouslv contrasted with the self-seeking, egotistical. and repulsive brut* that constitutes the super-man of Nietzsche.— Yours, etc., SAEGINSON. June 20th, 1925.