Merlin VI by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Name: Merlin VI
Author: Edwin Arlington Robinson

In Merlin VI, Merlin returns from Camelot to Vivian, claiming he has finished with kings and can no longer speak their language, yet he cannot escape thoughts of Arthur, history, Fate, and the consequences of what he has helped create. Vivian notices that he has returned changed: his eyes no longer carry the weary sadness of the Merlin who remembered kings and seemed tempted to leave her for worldly deeds. She presses him for news of Camelot and mocks the King, Sir Dagonet, Blaise, thunder, and the serious burdens Merlin associates with his former life. Although Merlin loves Vivian intensely, he becomes desolate whenever she is absent. Broceliande, once a paradise, feels like a prison-yard and an empty house. He senses an unseen threatening presence, at first a fear of coming sorrow and later identified as Change. Walking with Vivian in an autumn garden, he tries to recapture their earlier happiness, but his memories and foreknowledge intrude. At Vivian’s request, Merlin tells a story of a king. The king wins a neighboring queen, produces a “mongrel son and nephew” and a destructive reptile, then makes another woman queen though her allegiance to his favorite knight will bring ruin. Merlin says that this king’s kingdom is built upon “living sin,” and that the Dragon worshipped by the world is not divine but sinful. Vivian resents his new emphasis on sin and kings. She refuses to let Camelot’s corruption invade their refuge, accusing Merlin of bringing the world’s wounds into their private life. Merlin realizes that he has been driven toward this confrontation by Fate. He tries to say that he meant the world, not Vivian or himself, but she hears condemnation and distance in his words. She recalls his earlier remarks about “specks,” proposes that he make her queen and give her half the world, and declares that she cannot serve a ruler who forgets he is king. She names Arthur, Modred, Lancelot, and Guinevere as part of the “speckled” world Merlin has made into a moral example. Comparing Broceliande to Eden, she says that they now have a man, a woman, and a Tree of Knowledge, then leaves him. Alone, Merlin understands that his cold angel is Change. He reflects that a man who sees too much may see too late the path he has taken. His prophetic sight has shown him distant light, death, struggle, and the Grail revealed to Lancelot’s undying child, but it has not saved him from his own fate. He foresees himself driven from paradise, growing old, laboring toward death, and finally digging his own grave. He admits that Time, which he has resisted for so long, has caught him. For many days Merlin repeatedly tells Vivian that he loves her and must depart from Broceliande, though he remains there. Vivian watches him with kindness, disbelief, and pain, wondering how the great, strange, powerful Merlin she loved could have become so deferential and broken. At the fountain he tells her his final story: he is old. He says that he will return to Camelot, see the King once more, perhaps see Vivian once more, and then go away forever. He believes he saw too far when he made Arthur king; Fate has used him as he used Time, and neither he nor God can take vengeance on Fate. When he kisses Vivian, her lips are cold and unresponsive. The next morning Merlin appears in his pilgrim robe and tells Vivian that he and Blaise are going down to the shore, though Blaise will return. He asks her to spare Blaise and says he can be no more than what he was or say more than he has said. Recalling that she once sent him away to wander when he spoke too long, he says he now goes on another wandering and prays that all may be well with her. Vivian, grieved and suddenly afraid, asks if he is going. After the distant wheels depart, she quietly closes the gate.

By Edwin Arlington Robinson · First published 1917 · Genre: Narrative Poetry, Arthurian Literature, Mythological Retelling · 5,290 words

First lines

"NO kings are coming on their hands and knees, / Nor yet on horses or in chariots,

To carry me away from you again,"

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Merlin VI 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, Mythological Retelling, Dramatic Poetry, Tragedy
Length: 5,290 words
Structure: 1 section, 410 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

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Genres

Narrative Poetry — The work tells a sustained story in verse, advancing through dialogue, description, reflection, and a consequential episode in Merlin and Vivian's relationship.
Arthurian Literature — It is set within the Matter of Britain and centers on Merlin, Vivian, Arthur, Camelot, Lancelot, Guinevere, Modred, and the approaching collapse of Arthur's kingdom.
Mythological Retelling — Robinson reimagines legendary Arthurian material, giving familiar mythic figures psychologically complex and modernized inner lives.
Dramatic Poetry — Much of the poem unfolds as an intense dramatic scene dominated by direct speech, interpersonal conflict, irony, and emotional revelation.