The Once and Future King Literary Elements

Fantasy or adventure novel (as commonly classified), though with elements of comedy, psychological realism, and political allegory

England during the Middle Ages (a supernatural as opposed to a historical version); several narrative devices (including Merlyn's perspective and the comments of the narrator) relate this primary context to later periods of human history

White's novel employs third-person omniscient narration; Arthur's consciousness receives much attention, though the point of view also shifts to consider the perspectives of characters such as Lancelot, Gawaine, and Morgause, along with the situations of entire communities.

The tone and mood vary considerably as the books in The Once and Future King progress. For instance, The Sword in the Stone is mostly lighthearted and features moments of outlandish fantasy and comedy; some of the same comedy accompanies the more serious political content in The Queen of Air and Darkness, while both The Ill-Made Knight and The Candle in the Wind become increasingly thoughtful and melancholy.

Protagonists: Arthur (for much of the saga), Lancelot (for important segments of The Ill-Made Knight); Antagonists: King Lot (in The Queen of Air and Darkness), Mordred (in The Candle in the Wind), and various others who oppose Arthur's and Lancelot's idealistic projects

Arthur seeks to create a form of rational and virtuous governance that will replace the ideology ("Might equals right") that guides much of life in England. This project is accompanied by various challenges that the knights must face (detailed especially in The Ill-Made Knight) and is bound up with Arthur's eventual conflict with Mordred and the rest of the Orkney faction (central to the plot of The Candle in the Wind).

- For the entire saga: the battles that conclude The Candle in the Wind, most dramatically Lancelot's rescue of Guenever and the related, catastrophic slaying of Gaheris and Gareth
- For each book: Arthur finding and freeing Excalibur (The Sword in the Stone); Arthur's victory over Lot (The Queen of Air and Darkness); Lancelot's miracle of healing (The Ill-Made Knight); the rescue of Guenever (The Candle in the Wind)

- Merlyn repeatedly hints at future events, from the reassuring (King Pelinore's friendship with Sir Grummore) to the serious (his own imprisonment by Nimue).
- Mordred's cunning and devious manner clearly foreshadows his actions in undermining Arthur's order of the Round Table.

- The young King Arthur tends to understate the human cost of warfare (The Queen of Air and Darkness).
- Mordred's contempt for Arthur is ever-present but is played down in much of what he actually says to the king (The Candle in the Wind).

- There are repeated allusions to Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, which provides White with much of the basic structure for The Once and Future King.
- There are also frequent references to events and people (the Victorians, Einstein, Hitler) from well beyond the Middle Ages. Several of these allusions can be traced to Merlyn and to White's narrator, although others are built into the plot; for instance, both the ants (The Sword in the Stone) and Mordred's Thrashers (The Candle in the Wind) recall 20th-century totalitarianism.

White book features an abundance of physical descriptions, which can be placed in a few categories by type and function:

- Descriptions of dress, grooming, and mannerism that are meant to reflect the traits and psychologies of the major characters
- Panoramic views that explain the society around Arthur through references to specific figures and specific episodes (especially prominent in the early portions of The Candle in the Wind)
- Explanations that help readers to envision aspects of the Middle Ages custom and superstition (castles, arms, and items such as the spancel) which may be unfamiliar

- Greatness is achieved by those who are not actively seeking greatness (the end of The Sword in the Stone).
- The only way to replace the rule of violence is to exercise violence (a central point of The Queen of Air and Darkness and of The Ill-Made Knight).

- The various animal societies that the Wart observes are meant to parallel arrangements for human society (whether from the Middle Ages or from the 20th century).
- Wat and the dog boy parallel each other in being outcasts from human society, and in not having noses.
- The unicorn (killed by the boys of the Orkney faction) is mentioned as a parallel to Morgause (killed by the grown knights of the Orkney faction).
- Sir Galahad and Sir Bors parallel one another in holiness and in irritating their fellow knights.

- The Round Table is used to designate the entire new order of chivalry and civilization that Arthur has crafted (metonymy).
- The valorous feats performed by knights such as Lancelot are representative of a larger body of heroic deeds performed by Arthur's knights (synecdoche).
- Large social groups (Sir Ector's hardworking underlings, the Orkney natives, the denizens of Arthur's civilized England) are explained to the reader using a few representative members of such social groups (synecdoche).

White's novel presents several descriptions that play human and animal characteristics against one another. Below are a few examples:

- The various animals that Wart interacts with while transformed (hawks, fish, geese, and others) are presented as though they have well-formed human personalities and powers of expression.
- Merlyn's owl Archimedes can talk and has a human name taken from a Greek thinker and mathematician.
- The Questing Beast is capable of characteristically human emotions such as melancholy, jubilance, and romantic attachment