Merlin III by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Name: Merlin III
Author: Edwin Arlington Robinson

King Arthur paces alone in his palace, brooding over troubles he senses closing in on Camelot, with only Merlin and the weary knight Dagonet nearby. Arthur reflects that Merlin, once the wisest of men, has been transformed by Vivian into a perfumed, silk-robed sybarite, and the King mourns that this Merlin belongs to Vivian rather than to him. Merlin, sensing Arthur's unspoken bitterness, warns him not to let despair poison him further, reminding Arthur that as King he cannot afford to starve himself on grief, lest he lose his throne through the watching eyes of false friends. Arthur bows his head under the private anguish that only a leader who has failed can feel, then answers that Merlin alone may speak such hard truths to him. He confesses his sorrow and guilt for having ignored Merlin's past counsel, and reproaches Merlin for retreating into a "smaller life" of love and laughter while abandoning his prophetic burden. Stung, Arthur demands to know why Merlin torments him with bitter words instead of comfort, comparing himself to a helpless king watching rats devour his own fingers. Merlin answers with pity, telling Arthur that the entanglement of Lancelot and Guinevere cannot be undone by any mortal power, and that violent years are approaching which will erupt into war. He urges Arthur not to waste the intervening time in fear, warning that if Arthur's resolve proves weaker than the coming hatred, and his remorse heavier than his sword, he will lose both Camelot and his crown. Merlin then reveals that the time is near for the knight destined to achieve the Grail, the Siege Perilous now awaiting him, and that this knight will be the son of Lancelot. Merlin further discloses that it is not Lancelot but Modred, Arthur's own son by his sister Morgause, who plots Arthur's destruction, hiding his hatred behind false oaths of allegiance. Merlin urges Arthur to distrust Modred and to plant and harvest what he has been told, or else fail to survive the peril the son of Morgause represents. Merlin also tells Arthur that Guinevere is now to be considered Arthur's kingdom, not to be surrendered, and that he can say no more, not even to his former confessor Blaise the Hermit. Arthur presses for more, sensing Merlin holds back further knowledge, but accepts what he has heard, lamenting that he has built his reign "on sand and mud" and will never see the Grail himself. Merlin agrees that he too will never see it, having already "seen too much," and that he does not ask for more. That night, arrangements are made for Merlin's early departure back to Brittany. Arthur wanders the palace consumed by loneliness and doubt, questioning whether he can trust any of his knights, naming Bedivere, Tor, Bors, Percival, Lamorak, Griflet, Gareth, and Gawaine, and fearing he has made them all potential enemies through his own failures. He resolves to trust only Dagonet and summons him to sing an old song. Dagonet, frightened and grieving with a fool's intuitive understanding of the doom hanging over Camelot, confesses he cannot sing and falls weeping at Arthur's feet. Arthur gently releases him from the command and sends him to bed, then reflects bitterly that his only remaining friend is a man others regard as a fool, wondering if that makes him a fool as well. Left alone, Arthur cannot find sleep, tormented by memories of Guinevere's cold rebuke the day before after she invoked Lancelot's name, and by imagined voices of watchers, sailors, and sentries invoking blessings on a king who no longer feels fit to be saved. In the dark he conjures rising fears and memories that will fade only with dawn, enduring a night of anguish born from Merlin's revelations, deeper than any doom-struck felon's last night, as he mourns illusions now permanently dead.

By Edwin Arlington Robinson · First published 1917 · Genre: Narrative Poetry, Arthurian Literature, Dramatic Poetry · 3,061 words

First lines

KING ARTHUR, as he paced a lonely floor

That rolled a muffled echo, as he fancied, / All through the palace and out through the world, / Might now have wondered hard, could he have heard

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Genres

Narrative Poetry — The work is composed entirely in verse form with consistent poetic structure, meter, and rhyme scheme, presenting a story through poetic language rather than prose.
Arthurian Literature — This is explicitly part of Robinson's Arthurian cycle, retelling legendary events involving King Arthur, Merlin, Lancelot, and Guinevere with focus on the collapse of Camelot.
Dramatic Poetry — The work employs dramatic dialogue and monologue extensively, presenting conflict and character interaction through direct speech in poetic form rather than narrative exposition.
Tragedy — The central themes involve inevitable doom, the fall of kingdoms, betrayal, lost love, and characters aware of their tragic fates; the tone progressively darkens toward catastrophe.

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Merlin III is listed on Textopian as a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson, dated 1917 CE.

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Work type: Poem
Author: Edwin Arlington Robinson
Date: 1917 CE
Language: English
Genres: Narrative Poetry, Arthurian Literature, Dramatic Poetry, Tragedy, Medieval Romance
Length: 3,061 words
Structure: 1 section, 221 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

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