For high school teachers and all who are interested in the Grail theme.

Why does the Parzival legend exercise such a lasting hold on the imagination? Perhaps in part because this medieval epic strikes a peculiarly modern tone: it is one of the first works to portray the inner development of its hero, and in so doing translated the dominant religious mythos of the West into terms amenable to individual imagination and experience. As we follow Parzival's transformation from a knight of the sword into a knight of the word, we see spiritual truths enacted in the language of life. We present this version of parzival as an offering to the human community in the belief that the timeless wisdom contained in the Grail legend makes it truly 'a vessel of grace.' ?Program notes from Chrysalis Production's 1998 staging of Parzival

Daniel Polikoff (PhD in Comparative Literature, Cornell) is a Rilke scholar, translator and poet. A graduate of the Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program, he has taught courses on Parzival in several Waldorf high schools.