Lancelot IX by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Name: Lancelot IX
Author: Edwin Arlington Robinson

Lancelot returns with an army too late to save Arthur’s realm. At Dover he learns that Arthur and Modred have killed each other, that all the knights at Salisbury field have died except Bedivere, and that Camelot is gone. Reports tell him that Guinevere survived imprisonment in the Tower and has gone westward. Though Bors urges a return to France and condemns the ruin of their world, Lancelot tells the army to wait or go home, then rides alone in search of the Queen. As he travels west, memories of Guinevere overwhelm him. He recalls her as white and gold, the image through which he abandoned the Light that had once guided him. He recognizes that his desire has changed both his vision of her and his own life, yet he cannot stop following the image of her. At Almesbury, after weary searching, he finds her among nuns. She is no longer the Queen he imagined: she wears black, and her frightened blue eyes, pale face, and loss of her golden hair make the place seem like death. Guinevere tells him that there are no queens there, only a Mother, and insists that their former world is finished. She believes that she has long hindered Lancelot from following the Light, and asks forgiveness for loving him too much and refusing to let him go. Lancelot, shaken by her changed appearance and the coldness of the convent, asks whether this is the end of Arthur’s kingdom and proposes that they escape to France. Guinevere refuses. She says they cannot make one world from two or live more than one life, and that France would hold only a memory of her. She urges him to remember her as she was, white and gold, but not to let her come between him and the Gleam he must follow. She reflects on the suffering she endured in the Tower while Modred watched her, on the darkness brought by the King’s death, and on a vision of light that allowed men to read themselves through Time. She resolves to remain and pray, believing that she will someday have another light of her own. Lancelot regrets his harshness and says he would sacrifice his soul to restore one lost summer, but she answers that what is gone cannot be bought back, even with their souls. When a bell rings, Guinevere says it calls him to leave and her to stay. Lancelot tries to kiss her, but she refuses, fearing she might forget that she is not alone. They part, and Guinevere collapses afterward in her white cell. The nuns remember that she was the Queen and he was Lancelot, while the Mother says those who love God alone are safest, though none are safe until death. Outside, Lancelot is consumed by pity and love for the lonely face and hands he has left behind. He sees a land no longer Arthur’s and understands that no peace can reach his heart after the ruin of war. An inward Voice tells him that where the Light falls, death falls; that a world has died so another may live; and that there is no peace. He rides away from Almesbury under the stars, not toward Dover, led by the Voice. Though he briefly considers returning with his army to free Guinevere, the Voice tells him that he is not free and that in darkness comes the Light. He turns onward, sees Galahad alive in a mist of gold, and continues alone into darkness, where the Light comes.

By Edwin Arlington Robinson · First published 1927 · Genre: Narrative Poetry, Arthurian Literature, Tragic Poetry · 5,130 words

First lines

SO Lancelot, with a world's weight upon him,

Went heavily to that heaviest of all toil, / Which of itself tells hard in the beginning

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Lancelot IX is listed on Textopian as a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson, dated 1927 CE.

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Work type: Poem
Author: Edwin Arlington Robinson
Date: 1927 CE
Language: English
Genres: Narrative Poetry, Arthurian Literature, Tragic Poetry, Romantic Tragedy, Literary Modernist Poetry
Length: 5,130 words
Structure: 1 section, 343 paragraphs
Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

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Genres

Narrative Poetry — The work is a sustained verse narrative in blank-verse-like lines, recounting Lancelot's journey, encounter with Guinevere, and spiritual departure.
Arthurian Literature — It directly revisits the legends of Lancelot, Guinevere, Arthur, Mordred, Camelot, Bedivere, Galahad, and the fall of the Round Table.
Tragic Poetry — Its central action concerns irreversible loss: Arthur's death, Camelot's ruin, the lovers' final separation, and Lancelot's inability to recover either love or peace.
Romantic Tragedy — Lancelot and Guinevere's enduring but impossible love drives the emotional conflict, while their reunion confirms that their former world cannot be restored.