Lancelot V by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Name: Lancelot V
Author: Edwin Arlington Robinson

Gawaine, Bedivere, and the King wait in grief and dread as violent sounds rise from the city. Sir Lucan arrives to report that, as the Queen was being led to a penal fire after receiving a final prayer, Lancelot attacked with horses, axes, and armed followers. The assault slaughtered many men, rescued the Queen, and carried her away while Lionel supported her in her collapse. Lucan names several dead companions, including Tor, Griflet, Aglovale, and Gillimer. When he finally reveals that Gawaine’s brothers Gareth and Gaheris are dead, Gawaine erupts in rage and seizes Lucan. He cannot accept that his unarmed brothers died while Lucan escaped, and insists that they were murdered. Lucan explains that they were trapped in the press of fighting men and horses, amid indiscriminate swords and axes; Lancelot may not have known whom he struck, or may have recognized them too late. Gawaine demands to know whether Lancelot himself killed them. Lucan answers that, by all human likelihood, Lancelot did not know on whom his axe was falling. Gawaine treats this as confirmation that Lancelot killed both brothers and turns his former admiration into bitter hatred. He condemns Lancelot as a “murderous friend” and resolves that the world will not keep him long. The King orders Bedivere and Lucan to help the overwhelmed Gawaine, then asks to remain alone with him. Inwardly, the King imagines Lancelot and Guinevere fleeing together to Joyous Gard, indifferent to the dead behind them. Yet he also feels desolate gratitude that the Queen survived, and briefly considers that their departure might bring peace, even at the cost of humiliation. Looking at Gawaine, however, he recognizes that peace is impossible: Gawaine’s hatred, Modred’s anger and ambition, and the deaths of Gareth and Gaheris will wreck the Round Table and destroy the world the King had loved.

By Edwin Arlington Robinson · First published 1927 · Genre: Narrative Poetry, Arthurian Literature, Tragic Poetry · 2,821 words

First lines

GAWAINE, his body trembling and his heart

Pounding as if he were a boy in battle, / Sat crouched as far away from everything

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Lancelot V 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, Dramatic Poetry, Legendary Fiction
Length: 2,821 words
Structure: 1 section, 216 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

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Genres

Narrative Poetry — The work is a sustained verse narrative in blank-verse-like lines, dramatizing a consequential episode through action, report, and reflection.
Arthurian Literature — It draws directly on the legends of King Arthur, Lancelot, Guinevere, Gawaine, Bedivere, Camelot, and the Round Table.
Tragic Poetry — The episode centers on irreversible death, betrayal, grief, revenge, and the foreseen collapse of Arthur's ideal kingdom.
Dramatic Poetry — Nearly all of the passage unfolds through heightened dialogue, monologue, staged entrances, and psychologically charged confrontation.