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Literary Analysis Of The Poem Morte DArthur

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At first the poem “Morte d’Arthur,” or the “The Epic.” The speaker says he is going to or is at the home of Francis Allen on Christmas Eve. Also there are the people and Holmes; the poet, Everard Hall; as the host. They gather around the wassail-bowl (hot mulled cider) and discuss how the honor seems gone from Christmas. The speaker is tired from his day of ice-skating and falling, and he dozes off, waking to the parson lamenting the general lack of faith throughout the world. Francis jokes and says he holds faith in Everard, and Everard responds by saying he has faith in the cider. The speaker asks Everard what became of his great gift of poetry that was so evident in college, and Francis says that Everard had been working on twelve books about King Arthur but threw them into the fire. It seems that Everard thought “nothing new was said” and the books were mere “Homeric echoes, nothing-worth.” Francis says he has saved one book from the fire. The speaker’s ears prick up, and he remembers the talent of his friend. After some urging, the poet begins to read. The noise of battle goes on all day. All of the men of the Round Table have fallen in Lyonesse. King Arthur has also been wounded, and his last knight, Sir Bedivere, brings him to a chapel near the field in the “barren land.” The King speaks to Bedivere about the severing of the company of knights, the men he loved, and how they will never talk again of lordly deeds in Camelot. He tells Bedivere to take his sword

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