Meaning of his honour rooted in dishonour stood, and faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.
Answers
Senior Member
English, USA
It might help if I rearrange it a little, so that the poetic and literary word order (gotta love Tennyson:))becomes a slightly more straightforward word order:
His honour stood rooted in dishonour,
And unfaithful faith kept him true, falsely.
In other words, his attempts at being honorable were not genuine, since they had their origins in some sort of dishonorable activity or state. And although it seemed as though he "kept faith" [stayed true, served honorably and loyally] with someone or something, in reality his faith was fake, and he stayed true to a false ideal.
Does that make sense?
“His honour rooted in dishonour stood, and faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.”
This line is written by the Tennyson and through these lines, the poet describes that concept of honour is not genuine and they had their origins in some short of dishonourable activity.
So if someone served honourably and loyally with other people then it his faith and that is not the fake, moreover he stayed true to a false ideal.