The Last Tournament Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEEFEG HIEJKLELEMENOPLQREEE EH STUVV EWEVEEXYWZA2 A2A2A2A2B2 VEA2C2YB2 EE D2E2L WVLEWVLVB2F2G2VA2EA2 A2VA2H2A2 LLLI2J2A2K2WVG2WA2EW A2EEV LL2L M2B2LLA2A2EA2A2WEA2A 2 A2EVEEN2A2 EEA2EWA2WVEA2W A2VEO2WV P2LVQ2K2VWWA2EVEB2EL EWEEVWEEEER2A2

Dagonet the fool whom Gawain in his moodA
Had made mock knight of Arthur's Table RoundB
At Camelot high above the yellowing woodsC
Danced like a withered leaf before the hallD
And toward him from the hall with harp in handE
And from the crown thereof a carcanetE
Of ruby swaying to and fro the prizeF
Of Tristram in the jousts of yesterdayE
Came Tristram saying Why skip ye so Sir Fool 'G
-
For Arthur and Sir Lancelot riding onceH
Far down beneath a winding wall of rockI
Heard a child wail A stump of oak half deadE
From roots like some black coil of carven snakesJ
Clutched at the crag and started through mid airK
Bearing an eagle's nest and through the treeL
Rushed ever a rainy wind and through the windE
Pierced ever a child's cry and crag and treeL
Scaling Sir Lancelot from the perilous nestE
This ruby necklace thrice around her neckM
And all unscarred from beak or talon broughtE
A maiden babe which Arthur pitying tookN
Then gave it to his Queen to rear the QueenO
But coldly acquiescing in her white armsP
Received and after loved it tenderlyL
And named it Nestling so forgot herselfQ
A moment and her cares till that young lifeR
Being smitten in mid heaven with mortal coldE
Past from her and in time the carcanetE
Vext her with plaintive memories of the childE
So she delivering it to Arthur saidE
Take thou the jewels of this dead innocenceH
And make them an thou wilt a tourney prize '-
-
To whom the King Peace to thine eagle borneS
Dead nestling and this honour after deathT
Following thy will but O my Queen I museU
Why ye not wear on arm or neck or zoneV
Those diamonds that I rescued from the tarnV
And Lancelot won methought for thee to wear '-
-
Would rather you had let them fall ' she criedE
Plunge and be lost ill fated as they wereW
A bitterness to me ye look amazedE
Not knowing they were lost as soon as givenV
Slid from my hands when I was leaning outE
Above the river that unhappy childE
Past in her barge but rosier luck will goX
With these rich jewels seeing that they cameY
Not from the skeleton of a brother slayerW
But the sweet body of a maiden babeZ
Perchance who knows the purest of thy knightsA2
May win them for the purest of my maids '-
-
She ended and the cry of a great joustsA2
With trumpet blowings ran on all the waysA2
From Camelot in among the faded fieldsA2
To furthest towers and everywhere the knightsA2
Armed for a day of glory before the KingB2
-
But on the hither side of that loud mornV
Into the hall staggered his visage ribbedE
From ear to ear with dogwhip weals his noseA2
Bridge broken one eye out and one hand offC2
And one with shattered fingers dangling lameY
A churl to whom indignantly the KingB2
-
My churl for whom Christ died what evil beastE
Hath drawn his claws athwart thy face or fiendE
Man was it who marred heaven's image in thee thus '-
-
Then sputtering through the hedge of splintered teethD2
Yet strangers to the tongue and with blunt stumpE2
Pitch blackened sawing the air said the maimed churlL
-
He took them and he drave them to his towerW
Some hold he was a table knight of thineV
A hundred goodly ones the Red Knight heL
Lord I was tending swine and the Red KnightE
Brake in upon me and drave them to his towerW
And when I called upon thy name as oneV
That doest right by gentle and by churlL
Maimed me and mauled and would outright have slainV
Save that he sware me to a message sayingB2
'Tell thou the King and all his liars that IF2
Have founded my Round Table in the NorthG2
And whatsoever his own knights have swornV
My knights have sworn the counter to it and sayA2
My tower is full of harlots like his courtE
But mine are worthier seeing they professA2
To be none other than themselves and sayA2
My knights are all adulterers like his ownV
But mine are truer seeing they professA2
To be none other and say his hour is comeH2
The heathen are upon him his long lanceA2
Broken and his Excalibur a straw ''-
-
Then Arthur turned to Kay the seneschalL
Take thou my churl and tend him curiouslyL
Like a king's heir till all his hurts be wholeL
The heathen but that ever climbing waveI2
Hurled back again so often in empty foamJ2
Hath lain for years at rest and renegadesA2
Thieves bandits leavings of confusion whomK2
The wholesome realm is purged of otherwhereW
Friends through your manhood and your fealty nowV
Make their last head like Satan in the NorthG2
My younger knights new made in whom your flowerW
Waits to be solid fruit of golden deedsA2
Move with me toward their quelling which achievedE
The loneliest ways are safe from shore to shoreW
But thou Sir Lancelot sitting in my placeA2
Enchaired tomorrow arbitrate the fieldE
For wherefore shouldst thou care to mingle with itE
Only to yield my Queen her own againV
Speak Lancelot thou art silent is it well '-
-
Thereto Sir Lancelot answered It is wellL
Yet better if the King abide and leaveL2
The leading of his younger knights to meL
Else for the King has willed it it is well '-
-
Then Arthur rose and Lancelot followed himM2
And while they stood without the doors the KingB2
Turned to him saying Is it then so wellL
Or mine the blame that oft I seem as heL
Of whom was written 'A sound is in his ears'A2
The foot that loiters bidden go the glanceA2
That only seems half loyal to commandE
A manner somewhat fallen from reverenceA2
Or have I dreamed the bearing of our knightsA2
Tells of a manhood ever less and lowerW
Or whence the fear lest this my realm uprearedE
By noble deeds at one with noble vowsA2
From flat confusion and brute violencesA2
Reel back into the beast and be no more '-
-
He spoke and taking all his younger knightsA2
Down the slope city rode and sharply turnedE
North by the gate In her high bower the QueenV
Working a tapestry lifted up her headE
Watched her lord pass and knew not that she sighedE
Then ran across her memory the strange rhymeN2
Of bygone Merlin Where is he who knowsA2
From the great deep to the great deep he goes '-
-
But when the morning of a tournamentE
By these in earnest those in mockery calledE
The Tournament of the Dead InnocenceA2
Brake with a wet wind blowing LancelotE
Round whose sick head all night like birds of preyW
The words of Arthur flying shrieked aroseA2
And down a streetway hung with folds of pureW
White samite and by fountains running wineV
Where children sat in white with cups of goldE
Moved to the lists and there with slow sad stepsA2
Ascending filled his double dragoned chairW
-
He glanced and saw the stately galleriesA2
Dame damsel each through worship of their QueenV
White robed in honour of the stainless childE
And some with scattered jewels like a bankO2
Of maiden snow mingled with sparks of fireW
He looked but once and vailed his eyes againV
-
The sudden trumpet sounded as in a dreamP2
To ears but half awaked then one low rollL
Of Autumn thunder and the jousts beganV
And ever the wind blew and yellowing leafQ2
And gloom and gleam and shower and shorn plumeK2
Went down it Sighing weariedly as oneV
Who sits and gazes on a faded fireW
When all the goodlier guests are past awayW
Sat their great umpire looking o'er the listsA2
He saw the laws that ruled the tournamentE
Broken but spake not once a knight cast downV
Before his throne of arbitration cursedE
The dead babe and the follies of the KingB2
And once the laces of a helmet crackedE
And showed him like a vermin in its holeL
Modred a narrow face anon he heardE
The voice that billowed round the barriers roarW
An ocean sounding welcome to one knightE
But newly entered taller than the restE
And armoured all in forest green whereonV
There tript a hundred tiny silver deerW
And wearing but a holly spray for crestE
With ever scattering berries and on shieldE
A spear a harp a bugle Tristram lateE
From overseas in Brittany returnedE
And marriage with a princess of that realmR2
Isolt the White Sir Tristram of the WoodsA2

Alfred Lord Tennyson



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