Famous King Arthur Poems by Famous Poets

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...t and died, 
And after him King Uther fought and died, 
But either failed to make the kingdom one. 
And after these King Arthur for a space, 
And through the puissance of his Table Round, 
Drew all their petty princedoms under him. 
Their king and head, and made a realm, and reigned. 

And thus the land of Cameliard was waste, 
Thick with wet woods, and many a beast therein, 
And none or few to scare or chase the beast; 
So that wild dog, and wolf and boar and bea...Read more of this...

...is is all woman's grief, 
That SHE is woman, whose disloyal life 
Hath wrought confusion in the Table Round 
Which good King Arthur founded, years ago, 
With signs and miracles and wonders, there 
At Camelot, ere the coming of the Queen.' 

Then thought the Queen within herself again, 
`Will the child kill me with her foolish prate?' 
But openly she spake and said to her, 
`O little maid, shut in by nunnery walls, 
What canst thou know of Kings and Tables Round, 
Or what ...Read more of this...

...thee.
Right well in heart they know thee for the King.
Arise, go forth and conquer as of old."

Then spake King Arthur to Sir Bedivere:
"Far other is this battle in the west
Whereto we move, than when we strove in youth,
And brake the petty kings, and fought with Rome,
Or thrust the heathen from the Roman wall,
And shook him thro' the north. Ill doom is mine
To war against my people and my knights.
The king who fights his people fights himself.
And th...Read more of this...

...ncelot laughed: "Thou knowest us then
Full well among a many men?"

"As quoth the lion to the mouse,"
The man said; "in King Arthur's House
Men are not names of men alone,
But coffers rather of deeds done."

The Queen smiled blithe of heart, and spake:
"Hast thou done deeds for ladies' sake?"

"Nay Dame," he said, "I am but young;
A little have I lived and sung
And seen thy face this happy noon."

The King said: "May we hearken soon
Some merry tale of thee? for I
Am s...Read more of this...

...So all day long the noise of battle roll'd
Among the mountains by the winter sea;
Until King Arthur's table, man by man,
Had fallen in Lyonnesse about their Lord,
King Arthur: then, because his wound was deep,
The bold Sir Bedivere uplifted him,
Sir Bedivere, the last of all his knights,
And bore him to a chapel nigh the field,
A broken chancel with a broken cross,
That stood on a dark strait of barren land.
On one side lay the ocean, and o...Read more of this...

...is their own;
And with such state, predictions from him fell,
As if he did decree, and not foretell.
This spoke King Arthur, who, if fame be true,
Could have compelled mankind to speak it too.
In this one Boadicca valor taught,
And spoke more nobly than her soldiers fought:
Tell me what hero could be more than she,
Who fell at once for fame and liberty?
Nor could a greater sacrifice belong,
Or to her children's, or her country's wrong.
This spoke Carac...Read more of this...

...King Arthur made new knights to fill the gap 
Left by the Holy Quest; and as he sat 
In hall at old Caerleon, the high doors 
Were softly sundered, and through these a youth, 
Pelleas, and the sweet smell of the fields 
Past, and the sunshine came along with him. 

`Make me thy knight, because I know, Sir King, 
All that belongs to knighthood, and I love...Read more of this...

...A legend handed down through five or six, 
And each of these a hundred winters old, 
From our Lord's time. And when King Arthur made 
His Table Round, and all men's hearts became 
Clean for a season, surely he had thought 
That now the Holy Grail would come again; 
But sin broke out. Ah, Christ, that it would come, 
And heal the world of all their wickedness! 
"O Father!" asked the maiden, "might it come 
To me by prayer and fasting?" "Nay," said he, 
"I know not, for...Read more of this...

...ain.


"Now do you know of Avalon 
That sailors call Japan? 
She holds as rare a chivalry
As ever bled for man.
King Arthur sleeps at Nikko hill
Where Iyeyasu lies,
And there the broad Pendragon flag
In deathless splendor flies."

"Nay, minstrel, but the great ships come 
From out the sunset sea. 
We cannot greet the souls they bring 
With welcome high and free. 
How can the Nippon nondescripts 
That weird and dreadful band 
Be aught but what we find them ...Read more of this...

...ee. 
Right well in heart they know thee for the King. 
Arise, go forth and conquer as of old.' 

Then spake King Arthur to Sir Bedivere: 
'Far other is this battle in the west 
Whereto we move, than when we strove in youth, 
And brake the petty kings, and fought with Rome, 
Or thrust the heathen from the Roman wall, 
And shook him through the north. Ill doom is mine 
To war against my people and my knights. 
The king who fights his people fights himself.Read more of this...

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