Idylls of the King

Dedication The Coming of Arthur Gareth and Lynette The Marriage of Geraint Geraint and Enid Balin and Balan Merlin and Vivien Lancelot and Elaine The Holy Grail Pelleas and Etta...

Then Arthur charged his warrior whom he loved And honoured most, Sir Lancelot, to ride forth And bring the Queen;—and watched him from the gates: And Lancelot past away among th...

“Lo ye now! This fellow hath broken from some Abbey, where, God wot, he had not beef and brewis enow, However that might chance! but an he work, Like any pigeon will I cram his...

And fast away she fled. Then when he came upon her, spake, “Methought, Knave, when I watched thee striking on the bridge The savour of thy kitchen came upon me A little faintlie...

“O noble breast and all-puissant arms, Am I the cause, I the poor cause that men Reproach you, saying all your force is gone? I am the cause, because I dare not speak And tell h...

But when the third day from the hunting-morn Made a low splendour in the world, and wings Moved in her ivy, Enid, for she lay With her fair head in the dim-yellow light, Among t...

On a sudden, many a voice along the street, And heel against the pavement echoing, burst Their drowse; and either started while the door, Pushed from without, drave backward to...

“He hears the judgment of the King of kings,” Cried the wan Prince; “and lo, the powers of Doorm Are scattered,” and he pointed to the field, Where, huddled here and there on mo...

He took the selfsame track as Balan, saw The fountain where they sat together, sighed “Was I not better there with him?” and rode The skyless woods, but under open blue Came on...

She hated all the knights, and heard in thought Their lavish comment when her name was named. For once, when Arthur walking all alone, Vext at a rumour issued from herself Of so...

“Thou read the book, my pretty Vivien! O ay, it is but twenty pages long, But every page having an ample marge, And every marge enclosing in the midst A square of text that look...

“Nay, father, nay good father, shame me not Before this noble knight,” said young Lavaine, “For nothing. Surely I but played on Torre: He seemed so sullen, vext he could not go:...

He spake and parted. Wroth, but all in awe, For twenty strokes of the blood, without a word, Lingered that other, staring after him; Then shook his hair, strode off, and buzzed...

But the wild Queen, who saw not, burst away To weep and wail in secret; and the barge, On to the palace-doorway sliding, paused. There two stood armed, and kept the door; to who...

“But when the next day brake from under ground— O brother, had you known our Camelot, Built by old kings, age after age, so old The King himself had fears that it would fall, So...

“‘Deafer,’ said the blameless King, ‘Gawain, and blinder unto holy things Hope not to make thyself by idle vows, Being too blind to have desire to see. But if indeed there came...

“Would they have risen against me in their blood At the last day? I might have answered them Even before high God. O towers so strong, Huge, solid, would that even while I gaze...

And down the city Dagonet danced away; But through the slowly-mellowing avenues And solitary passes of the wood Rode Tristram toward Lyonnesse and the west. Before him fled the...

But when Sir Lancelot told This matter to the Queen, at first she laughed Lightly, to think of Modred’s dusty fall, Then shuddered, as the village wife who cries “I shudder, som...

And while she grovelled at his feet, She felt the King’s breath wander o’er her neck, And in the darkness o’er her fallen head, Perceived the waving of his hands that blest.

And slowly answered Arthur from the barge: “The old order changeth, yielding place to new, And God fulfils himself in many ways, Lest one good custom should corrupt the world. C...