Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LE ROI EST MORT. VIVE LE ROI!, by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LE ROI EST MORT. VIVE LE ROI!, by             Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Why wait for arthur? He too long has slept
Last Line: "who shouts, ""the king is dead. Long live the king!"
Subject(s): Arthurian Legend; Death; Arthur, King; Dead, The


WHY wait for Arthur? He too long has slept.
He shall not hear you—no, nor heed your moan,
More than the wail of those fair Queens that kept
Their watch for him what months in Avalon!
He shall not wake for any mother's son
Nor mother's daughter of them all in tears,
His knights, his ladies. How then for this one,
You the last blossom of our world's lost years?
—Ah, let him sleep. For see how in the wood,
Under the dead oak, green new saplings spring,
How the thorn blossoms, while birds cry aloud
In scorn of grief. And, Lady, by the rood!
There rides a knight, new-armed and questing proud,
Who shouts, "The king is dead. Long live the King!"





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net