Part 6
Merlin smiled, Faintly, and for the moment: "Dagonet, I need your word as one of Arthur's knights That you will go on with me to the end Of my short way, and say unto no man Or woman that you found or saw me here. No good would follow, for a doubt would live Unstifled of my loyalty to him Whose deeds are wrought for those who are to come; And many who see not what I have seen, Or what you see tonight, would prattle on For ever, and their children after them, Of what might once have been had I gone down With you to Camelot to see the King. I came to see the King,--but why see kings? All this that was to be is what I saw Before there was an Arthur to be king, And so to be a mirror wherein men May see themselves, and pause. If they see not, Or if they do see and they ponder not,-- I saw; but I was neither Fate nor God. I saw too much; and this would be the end, Were there to be an end. I saw myself-- A sight no other man has ever seen; And through the dark that lay beyond myself I saw two fires that are to light the world." On Dagonet the silent hand of Merlin Weighed now as living iron that held him down With a primeval power. Doubt, wonderment, Impatience, and a self-accusing sorrow Born of an ancient love, possessed and held him Until his love was more than he could name, And he was Merlin's fool, not Arthur's now: "Say what you will, I say that I'm the fool Of Merlin, King of Nowhere; which is Here. With you for king and me for court, what else Have we to sigh for but a place to sleep? I know a tavern that will take us in; And on the morrow I shall follow you Until I die for you. And when I die ..."-- "Well, Dagonet, the King is listening."-- And Dagonet answered, hearing in the words Of Merlin a grave humor and a sound Of graver pity, "I shall die a fool." He heard what might have been a father's laugh, Faintly behind him; and the living weight Of Merlin's hand was lifted. They arose, And, saying nothing, found a groping way Down through the gloom together. Fiercer now, The wind was like a flying animal That beat the two of them incessantly With icy wings, and bit them as they went. The rock above them was an empty place Where neither seer nor fool should view again The stricken city. Colder blew the wind Across the world, and on it heavier lay The shadow and the burden of the night; And there was darkness over Camelot.
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The Man Against the Sky
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It has been some years since Mr. Robinson has given us a new collection of poems. Those who remember "Captain Craig, A Book of Poems," a volume which brought to its author the heartiest of congratulations, placing him at once in the rank of those American writers whose contributions to literature are of permanent value, will welcome this new work and will find that their anticipation of it and hopes for it have been realized.
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The Porcupine: A Drama in Three Acts
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Edwin Arlington Robinson's comedy "Van Zorn" proved him to be one of the most accomplished of the younger generation of American dramatists. Of this play the _Boston Transcript_ said "It is an effective presentation of modern life in New York City, in which a poet shows his skill of playwriting ... he brings to the American drama to-day a thing it sadly lacks, and that is character." In manner and technique Mr. Robinson's new play "The Porcupine" recalls some of the work of Ibsen. Written adroitly and with the literary cleverness exhibited in "Van Zorn" it tells a story of a domestic entanglement in a dramatic fashion well calculated to hold the reader's attention.
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Van Zorn: A Comedy
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"An effective presentation of modern life in New York City, in which a poet shows his skill at prose playwriting ... he brings into the American drama to-day a thing it sadly lacks, and that is character."--_Boston Transcript._
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Captain Craig, A Book of Poems
_Revised edition with additional poems, 12mo, cloth, $1.25_
"There are few poets writing in English to-day whose work is so permeated by individual charm as is Mr. Robinson's. Always one feels the presence of a man behind the poet--a man who knows life and people and things and writes of them clearly, with a subtle poetic insight that is not visible in the work of any other living writer."--_Brooklyn Daily Eagle._
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