WAEC/NECO Non-African Poetry 2016-2020 by B.C. NWACHUKWU

NON-AFRICAN POETRY
THE SCHOOL BOY – WILLIAM BLAKE
BACKGROUND OF THE POET
William Blake was born in 1757 in London.  Blake did not attend any conventional school but was educated at home.  When it was obvious that he had interest in painting, his parents sent him to a drawing school.  He started writing poetry at the age of twelve.  Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. The Bible had remained Blake’s source of inspiration due to its influence on his life.  In 1789, Blake published an anthology, Songs of Innocence and in 1794, he published Songs of Experience.  He died in 1827.

William Blake- THE SCHOOL BOY
I love to rise in a summer morn
 When the birds sing on every tree;
 The distant huntsman winds his horn,
 And the sky-lark sings with me.
 O! what sweet company.             5

But to go to school in a summer morn,
 O! it drives all joy away;
 Under a cruel eye outworn,
 The little ones spend the day
 In sighing and dismay. 10

Ah! then at times I drooping sit,
 And spend many an anxious hour,
 Nor in my book can I take delight,
 Nor sit in learning's bower,
 Worn thro' with the dreary shower. 15

How can the bird that is born for joy
 Sit in a cage and sing?
 Hear can a child, when fears annoy,
 But droop his tender wing,
 And forget his youthful spring? 20

O! father & mother, if buds are nip'd
 And blossoms blown away,
 And if the tender plants are strip'd
 Of their joy in the springing day,
 By sorrow and care's dismay, 25

How shall the summer arise in joy,
 Or the summer fruits appear?
 Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy,
 Or bless the mellowing year,
 When the blasts of winter appear? 30

ANALYTICAL SUMMARY
William Blake’s “The School Boy” presents the image of a boy who derives joy in rising early during summer.  This boy is not just fascinated with the rising but with the melodies which the birds of the air render and the interesting tune from the hunter’s horn as the hunter blows it.  This boy expresses his sole desire to be happy and free like the birds and the huntsman. He does not want to be restricted by the laws and supervisions of his teachers and parents.  He, therefore, declares his love for the early hours of the summer because of the melodious songs of the birds.”
“The School Boy” discusses a boy’s highly restricted and regulated life at his school compound and his determination to be free from the restricted environment.  For him, the school is a prison yard where he encounters the fierce eyes of the teacher which deprives him of his happiness.  He is tired of sitting down read and carrying chairs.  He detests everything about school.  For the boy, he wants to be like the bird that rejoices very early without anyone stopping it.  The moment of restriction in the boy’s life makes it a matter of sorrow and pain.  The poem is, therefore, a movement from sorrow to joy in the life of a young boy who wishes to be free from any inhibitions in his life.
STANZA BY STANZA ANALYSIS
In the first stanza of the poem, the poet speaker announces his willingness to wake up in the summer morning to enjoy the company of nature and its melody.  The poet uses the image of the birds, the “sky-lark” and “the huntsman” to portray the beauty in nature as witnessed by the boy: The persona says:
I love to rise in a summer morn
When the birds sing on every tree;
The distant huntsman winds his horn,
And the sky-lark sings with me.
O! What Sweet company. (lines 1 – 5)

The boy feels emotionally redeemed with the admiration of nature.
In stanza two, the speaker reveals a state of emotional cloud in his life while in school.  He is unhappy each time he remembers about going to school.  The boy’s early joy in stanza one is destroyed by his thought of going to school.  It reads:
But to go to school in a summer morn,
O! It derives all joy away;
Under a cruel eye outworn,
The little ones spend the day
In sighing and dismay (lines 6 – 10)

He is terrified by the watchful eyes of his teachers.  To show this unhappiness, the children in the school spend their time in the school sighing in displeasure.
In stanza three, the boy becomes depressed with school activities. While in school, under stress, the boy becomes sad and weak almost falling off his seat.  He is anxious to be free from the classroom activities. He sees everything associated with the classroom as boring and dull:
Ah! Then at times I drooping sit,
And spend many anxious hour,
Nor in my book can I take delight,
Nor sit in learning’s bower,
Worn thro’ with the dreary shower (lines 11 – 15).

The boy’s lack of enthusiasm to study in the school is seen in such expressions as: “drooping sit” meaning lack of concentration.  “Learning’s bower” meaning the teacher’s direct instruction, “Worn thro’ with the dreary shower” meaning that the school is dull and boring.
In stanza four, the poet speaker rhetorically asked questions bordering on the boy’s freedom and emotional disturbances in the school.  A child, as one knows, likes playing freely but in this stanza, the child seems not to be free and this gives rise to the questions.  In lines 16 and 17, the speaker asks: “How can the bird that is born for you/sit in a cage and sing?”  The poet uses the image of the bird to portray a child seeking for freedom in an environment that seems to be strict.  A bird is meant for flight and should be allowed to practice flight.  The wings should be used to exercise this free movement.  Again, the speaker asks in lines 18 – 20 thus:
How can a child, when fears annoy,
But drop his tender wing,
And forget his youthful spring?

It is due to the school’s strict observance to rules and regulation in the school that make the boy to detest with passion the school and its regimented environment.
The last two stanzas are also filled with emotional questions bothering on the boy’s freedom, his life as a child and his would be life as an adult.  In stanza five, he complains to his parents about his strict regulation in the school:
O! father & mother, if buds are nip’d
And blossoms away,
And if the tender plants
Of their joy in the springing day,
By sorrow and care’s dismay, (lines 21 – 25).

The joys and experience in summer is orchestrated by the things done during the early years of the boy.  If those activities are not done when he is a boy, his adult stage is going to be distorted because of his inactivity during his childhood days.  This implies that if the boy is not given liberty for youthful expedition, the boy will not be able to tell the tale of how he enjoyed his youth.  For this reason, such a child may not be happy at his adult stage.  The poet puts it thus:
How shall the summer arise in joy,
Or the summer fruits appear
Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy,
Or bless the mellowing year,
When the blasts of winter appear? (lines 26 – 30).

FORM AND STRUCTURE
Blake’s “The School Boy” is written in six stanzas of five lines each.  It has an irregular and rhyme.  The first stanza illustrates the boy’s happy mood in a summer morning.  From stanza two to the last stanza, the boy is emotionally traumatised as he remembers going to school during summer.
TONE & MOOD
The poet persona’s tone is calm while the mood is that of mixed feeling, feelings of happiness and sadness.  It is happiness because of the joyful tone and meditation on the bird’s songs, sadness because of the pains of studying in the presence of the teacher.  The general mood of the poem is that of protest from the boy who wishes to be free from the strict observance of the teacher.
FIGURES OF SPEECH AND SOUND DEVICES
ASSONANCE
The following vowel sounds are repeated:
“Love…summer” /^/ sound – line 1
“Distant… wind” /i/ sound – line 3

ALLITERATION
The following consonant sounds are repeated in the poem to create rhythm:
“Blossoms… blown” /b/ sound – line 22
“When... winter” /w/ sound – line 30
“School… summer” /s/ sound – line 6
“His… horn” /h/ sound – line 3
“Sit… sing” /s/ sound – line 17
“Bird… born” /b/ sound – line 16
“Gather… grief” /g/ sound – line 28

PERSONIFICATION
The poet uses personification to make his feelings well appreciated.  For instance in line 4, the poet attributes human qualities to the bird by saying “And the skylark sings with me.” He also gives human qualities to the plants and the summer.  “And if the tender plants are strip’d/of their joy in the springing day” lines 23 – 24).
IMAGERY
“The School Boy” is replete with imageries which help to bring out the poet’s message.  The imageries are mostly auditory.  The following examples in include:
“birds sing” – line 2
“winds his horn” – line 3
“sit and sing” – line 7
“…sighing and dismay” line 10

The above auditory imageries show the mood of the feeling of the boy represented by birds.  Similarly, the image of freedom in the poem is depicted by the summer when the birds sing with joy. The “cage” symbolises the school while the bird symbolises the boy.
RHETORICAL QUESTION
The poem is imbued with a lot of rhetorical questions.  They are as follows:
How can the bird that is born for joy
Sit in a cage and sing?
How can a child, when fears annoy
But droops his tender wing
And forget his youthful spring? (lines 16 – 20)

These questions portray the boy’s anxiety and his interest to be free from restrictions. The last stanza of the poem also rhetorically describes boy’s intention to be free:
How shall the summer arise in joy,
Or the summer fruits appear
Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy
Or bless the mellowing year,
When the blasts of winter appear? (line 26 – 30)

REPETITION
The following words and phrases are repeated in the poem:
“Summer” lines 1, 6, 26 & 27
“Tender” lines 19 & 23
“Or” lines 27, 28 & 29
“Joy” lines 7, 16, 24 & 26
“Bird” lines 2 & 16
“How can” lines 15 & 18
“How shall” lines 26 & 28
“Summer morn” lines 1 & 6
“Dismay” lines 10 & 25
“Appear” lines 27 & 30

THEMES
1. Nature cannot be cheated
2. Quest for freedom
3. Restriction
4. If you do not enjoy your childhood/youth, you will be sad in your old age.
5. The love for nature
6. Nature is therapeutic.

REVISION QUESTIONS
1. Discuss the poetic devices used in this poem.
2. What is the central theme of this poem?
3. Comment on the poet’s style
4. Attempt a critical overview of the poem
5. Comment on the tone of the poem
6. What is the dominant mood in “The School Boy”?


CROSSING THE BAR – ALFRED TENNYSON
BACKGROUND OF THE POET
Lord Alfred Tennyson was born on August 6, 1809 in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England.  He showed an early talent for writing.  At an early age of twelve, he wrote a 6,000 line epic poem.  His father, Reverend George Tennyson tutored his sons in classical and modern languages.  In 1827, Tennyson went to Trinity College, Cambridge. At the age of forty-one, Tennyson had established himself as the most popular poet of the Victorian era.

Alfred Tennyson- CROSSING THE BAR
Sunset and evening star
    And one clear call for me!
 And may there be no moaning of the bar,
    When I put out to sea,

 But such a tide as moving seems asleep, 5
    Too full for sound and foam,
 When that which drew from out the boundless deep
    Turns again home.

 Twilight and evening bell,
    And after that the dark! 10
 And may there be no sadness of farewell,
    When I embark;

 For though from out our bourne of Time and Place
    The flood may bear me far,
 I hope to see my Pilot face to face 15
    When I have crossed the bar.



ANALYTICAL SUMMARY
Tennyson wrote “Crossing the Bar” in 1889, three years before his death.  The poem describes the passage of time from the physical to the spiritual.  Life is physical and death is spiritual while the “sandbar” is the metaphor for this passage of time. It is the poet’s philosophical disposition towards death and life.  A sand bar is a ridge of sand built up by currents along a shore.  In order to get to the shore, the waves have to come in contact against the sand bar thereby creating a metaphor of sadness and regret. The poet calls this metaphoric sound as “moaning of the bar” (line 3).  “Crossing the Bar” as used in this poem implies dying (the act of dying).  Drawing from the diction of sea-faring, the poet describes dying as an act of crossing a big sea from where one is (this world) to another destination (the great beyond).
There is always a bar, a kind of gate which opens into a sea at the harbour where one crosses to board a ship bound to one’s destination (the other side).  Thus, the poem metaphorically illustrates how human beings enter into the grave or die and how they appear in the great beyond having undergone transformation.

STANZA BY STANZA ANALYSIS
Stanza one of this poem demonstrates the persona’s willingness to die.  This death is such that would come without noise.  This shows that there would be no wailing for him.  The setting of the sun and the appearance of the evening star are indications that the day is dying.  The world would soon be thrown into darkness.  This implies that the persona has seen signs that he would soon die.  Thus, he is naturally called to undertake a sea journey to cross from here to the other world.  The persona sees the act of dying as the act of crossing a sea which serves as a boundary between the physical and spiritual realms of existence.  The poet says:
Sunset and evening star
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea, (lines 1 – 4)

In stanza two, the poet speaker wishes to die peacefully without attracting people’s sympathy.  He says:
But such a tide as moving seems as’leep
Too full for sound and foam (lines 5 & 6)

The speaker wishes to have stress free death.  While crossing the bridge, he does not want noise to draw people close.  “That which drew from out the boundless deep” in line 7 connotes the coffin which looks like a ship about to sail on the “sea”.  This metaphorically becomes the passage through which the speaker enters the great beyond.  “Turns again home” in line 8 implies that the ship (coffin) takes him to mother earth from where he came to earth.  In this second stanza, the speaker also wishes for a tide that is so full that it cannot contain the sound of the sea wave and therefore seems asleep when all that has been carried from the boundless depths of the ocean returns back out to the depths.
The speaker announces the close of the day with the evening bell, which will be followed by darkness in the third stanza.  He hopes that no one will cry when he departs:
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark (lines 8 – 12)

Though the speaker may be carried beyond the limits of time and space, he retains the hope that he will look upon the face of his “pilot” when he crosses the bar in the fourth stanza.  He foresees an everlasting happiness in the life after death and this makes him declares that:
For though from out our bourne of time and place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar (lines 13 – 16)

FORM AND STRUCTURE
Tennyson’s “Crossing the Bar” is written in four stanzas of sixteen lines.  Each stanza consists of a quatrain.  The first and third stanzas are linked to each other as are the second and fourth stanzas.  Both the first and third stanzas begin with two symbols of the outset of night: “Sunset and evening star” in stanza one line one and “twilight and evening bell” in stanza three, line nine.  The rhyme for the first and third lines of the first stanza repeats in the second and fourth lines of the last stanza.  The rhyming pattern is a follows: ABAB CDCD EFEF GAGA.

TONE AND MOOD
The tone of the poem is that of calmness of the mind while the poet speaker awaits the gloom of death.  The poet’s mood is that of quite resignation to death.  There is also the mood of determination and hope to enter into the heavenly paradise where the speaker will see his “pilot”.
The poet uses a lot of imageries and symbolisms that portray his subject matter and themes.  An example is the imagery of “Crossing the Bar” which suggests moving away from the original place of abode to another place probably the spiritual existence.  “Crossing” alone connotes the act of Christian piety shown by Catholics as a sign of faith.  “Sunset” and evening star” refer to the close of the day but in the poem they symbolically represent the death of the poet speaker.  Pilot is used to depict the image of God.  Similarly, “twilight and evening bell” suggest the call of death when the speaker has completed his work on this earth.  The sandbar is seen as a symbol for that which divides life and death.
PERSONIFICATION
Examples from the poem include:
“… no moaning of the bar” line 3
“… such a tide as moving seems asleep” line 5
“The flood may bear me far” line 14


METAPHOR
“Sunset and evening star” line 1
“Twilight and evening bell” line 9.

REPETITION
Some words and phrases are repeated in the poem for emphatic purpose.  They include:
“And may there be no” – lines 4 & 11
“Evening” – line 1 & 9
“The bar” – lines 3 & 16
“When I” – lines 4, 12 & 16
“And” – lines 2, 3, 6, 9, 10 & 11.

ALLITERATION
“sunset … star” - /s/ sound-line 1
“clear … call” - /k/ sound-line 2
“may … moaning” - /m/ sound-line 3
“full for … foam” - /f/ sound-line 6
“for … from” - /f/ sound-line 13
“may … me” /f/ sound-line 14
“face to face /f/ sound-line 15

DICTION
The language of the poem is simple and straight to the point.  The poem uses metaphorical words to represent the speaker’s desire to die and such metaphors are emblematic as the speaker listens to the sound of the evening bell at the close of the day.  This informs us that the speaker is about to die.  The metaphor of the sand bar is a barrier between life and death but this barrier we are told will not stop the speaker from crossing the bar of death.  This shows the speaker’s willingness to follow the spiritual call of nature.
THEMES
1. Transition
2. No need to cry for the dead
3. Life does not end here on earth
4. Death.

REVISION QUESTIONS
1. Discuss the image of the “sandbar” and “crossing the bar” in the poem.
2. Discuss the structure of the poem
3. Discuss any four poetic devices used in the poem.
4. How did the poet approach the subject matter of death?
5. Comment on any two themes in the poem.
6. Discuss the poet’s use of symbolism in the poem.


THE PULLEY – GEORGE HERBERT
BACKGROUND OF THE POET
George Herbert was Welsh- born English poet, orator and Anglican Priest.  He was born in 1603.  His writings are replete with metaphysical imageries.  He was born into an artistic and wealthy family.  For this reason, he received a good education and in 1609, he got admission into Trinity College Cambridge.  He excelled in languages, rhetoric and music.  Herbert’s intellectual power attracted King James and he was asked to serve in the Parliament for two years. After the death of King James, his interest to become an Anglican Clergy was renewed.  In 1630, he became a Minister in the Anglican Church of England, spending the rest of his life as the Rector of the little Church of St. Peter.  Throughout his life, he wrote religious poems characterised by apt language of expression and the use of conceits.
George Herbert- THE PULLEY
WHEN God at first made man,
Having a glass of blessings standing by,
‘Let us’, said he, ‘pour on him all we can:
Let the world’s riches, which dispersed lie,
                               Contract into a span.’ 5

So strength first made a way;
Then beauty flowed, then wisdom, honour, pleasure;
When almost all was out, God made a stay,
Perceiving that, alone of all his treasure,
                                   Rest in the bottom lay. 10

‘For if I should’, said he,
‘Bestow this jewel also on my creature,
He would adore my gifts instead of me,
And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature:
                              So both should losers be. 15

‘Yet let him keep the rest,
But keep them with repining restlessness;
Let him be rich and weary, that at least,
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
                                            May toss him to my breast’ 20



ANALYTICAL SUMMARY
“The Pulley” is a metaphysical poem written in clear and perfect images.  It could be regarded as a religious poem that talks about man’s relationship with God.  This religious notion is made manifest through scientific laws of physics as it is evident in the title of the poem itself.  The poem is an allusion to the creation of man in the book of Genesis.  The poem illustrates the creation story from the very first day to the seventh day when God rested.  The poet speaker is of the view that God does not want to arrogate the power of resting to man as he does on the seventh day.  God feels that if man is given the opportunity to have rest, he would not value his creator.  The poem reads like a folktale and could be re-titled “Why man does not rest”.  Man would attach much importance of God’s gift than to God if he is allowed to have rest on earth.
In the context of the mechanical operation of a machine, a pulley whose force draws the weight it bears to itself, the withholding of rest from man is the force, a kind of pulley which draws man closer to God when it would have seem impossible through other means.  One may be tempted to say that due to sin God made it impossible for man to have rest; though this may diminish the force and importance of the poem.  What is metaphysical about the poem is that the theme is conveyed through a mechanical image which demonstrates a basic principle in the laws physics.  The poem’s force comes out through the use of the metaphysical conceit, a pulley which draws man close to God.

STANZA BY STANZA ANALYSIS
Stanza one begins with a biblical allusion to the creation of man in the book of Genesis.  God out of his benevolence created man and gave him all the good things he need.  The persona plays on the creator’s words in the creation story: “Let us make man in our own image” (Genesis 1:26).  In stanza one, we see this replayed by the persona.  This makes it clear that God did not allow man to come into this world without anything. He bestows on him all good things for his use.  The persona says:
When God at first made man,
Having a glass of blessings standing by,
‘Let us’, said he, ‘pour on him all we can:
Let the world’s riches, which dispersed lie,
Contract into a span’ (lines 1 – 5).

This stanza reminds of the untainted gifts of God because His blessings “dispersed lie”.  This shows that everything God gave man is good.
In the second stanza, the persona demonstrates God’s love for man by revealing those blessings God has given man.  By implication God gave man power over all creatures.  The poet says in line 1 thus “So strength first made a way”.  The poet enumerates the blessings of God on man as “…beauty, wisdom, honour and pleasure” (line 7).  The poet goes on to indicate that God rested after creating man: “God made a stay” (line 8).
In stanza three, the persona tries to echo God himself by quoting God directly on the religious implication of the pulley.  In this regard, the persona observes that if God gives man the jewel of “rest”, man will adore the gifts instead of God.  God intentionally withdraws this “jewel” from man in order to pull man to himself.  In this regard, the pulley symbolically represents the longing for the spiritual food in the life of the persona.  In recreating the voice of God, the persona makes the pulley that inner voice in man that reminds him of his religious obligation towards his creator.  We hear the voice of God quoted in the poem:
‘For if I should’, said he,
‘Bestow this Jewel also on my creature,
He would adore my gifts instead of me,
And rest in Nature, not the God of nature:
(lines 11 – 14).

In stanza four, God prefers that man should be rich and tired so that in his tiredness, he will remember God as the Supreme Being who in Psalm 121:4 does not sleep.  Echoing the voice of God, the persona quotes that “weariness may toss him to my breast” (lines 19 – 20).  The persona appropriates the word “toss” to portray man’s imperfection as against God’s perfection.  This also indicates man’s restless nature and the abiding influence of God on man.  He invariably uses the pulley to force man to turn to God since he cannot find rest any other place.  This stanza explores human psychology as it pertains to the worship of God.  Man tends to seek the face of God when they are in either material, physical or spiritual difficulties.  This is why today we see people going from one church to the other for solutions to their problems.  It is, therefore, imperative to note that these problems are what mainly pull people to God.  The persona echoes thus:
‘Yet let him keep the rest,
But keep them with repining restlessness
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to my breast’
(line 16, 17, 19 & 20).

FORM AND STRUCTURE
“The Pulley” is composed in five stanzas of twenty lines.  Each stanza is a quintet (five lines poem) and has its own rhyming scheme.  The general rhyming pattern in the poem reads: ababa, cdcdc, efefe, ghghg.  Stanza one is an echo of God’s creation story in the Bible when God invites the trinity to join Him in creating man.  Stanza two tells us about the gift that God bestows on man.  Stanza three restricts certain benefit of God from man and that benefit which the speaker calls “Jewel” is rest.  In stanza four, the reason for restricting man from rest is made manifest.  In other words, man should not give the glory of God to nature.

TONE AND MOOD
The tone of the poem is mild while the mood is a mixed one; that of warmth and uncertainty.  Warmth because of the happiness God derives from his creation of man.  The mood of uncertainty is created due to God’s withdrawal of ‘rest’ from man for man may adore nature instead of God.

FIGURES OF SPEECH & SOUND DEVICES
METAPHOR
The title of the poem is metaphorical because the poet tries to compare the pulley with God without obviously stating it.  As a pulley pulls load of item to a position; so does God pull man close to Himself.  “The Pulley” in the poem is seemed as that link that binds man together with his creator.
REPETITION
The following words appear severally in the poem:
“God” – lines 1, 8 & 14
“Let” – lines 3, 4, 16 & 18
“Nature” – line 14
“First” – lines 1 & 6
“So” – lines 6 & 15
“Rest” – lines 10, 14 & 16
“Yet” – lines 16 & 19

ASSONANCE
“Made a way” - /ei/ sound – line 6
“Made a stay” /ei/ sound – line 8
“So both” /әu/ sound – line 15
“Yet let” /e/ sound – line 16
“Him … rich” /i/ - line 18

ALLUSION
The poem “The Pulley” is an allusion to the biblical creation story of man.  The poem is, therefore, a biblical allusion.
ALLITERATION
“Made man” /m/ sound – line 1
“So strength” /s/ sound – line 6
“Blessings … by” /b/ sound – line 2
“Nature, not the God of nature” /n/ sound – line 14
“Repining restlessness” /r/ sound – line 17
“May … my” /m/ sound – line 20.

THE USE OF CONCEIT
The pulley is used as a metaphysical conceit or imagery which draws man slowly to his creator.
THEMES
1. Man and his creator
2. The supernatural power of God
3. God’s abundant gifts
4. Dangers of infidelity.

REVISION QUESTIONS
1. How does the poem reflect on infidelity of man’s faith in God?
2. Discuss the poetic devices employed in the poem.
3. How does “the pulley” explore God’s creation account of man?
4. Comment on the language of the poem
5. How does the poem express God’s love for man?
6. Discuss the structure of the poem
7. Discuss any religious theme in the poem.


BIRCHES – ROBERT FROST
BACKGROUND OF THE POEM
Robert Frost was born on March 26, 1874 in San Francisco.  As an American poet, Frost first published in England and later in America.  His writings mainly depict rural life in their complex social and philosophical themes.  Frost excelled in many fields such as teaching, journalism, farming and shoe making.  He is regarded as one of the most popular poets of the twentieth century.  He was honoured severally during his life time.  For instance, he received four Pulitzer Prizes for poetry.  In 1960, he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his outstanding creativity in poetry.  He died in 1963.
Robert Frost- BIRCHES
When I see birches bend to left and right
 Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
 I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.
 But swinging doesn’t bend them down to stay
 As ice storms do. Often you must have seen them
 Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning
 After a rain. They click upon themselves
 As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored
 As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.
 Soon the sun’s warmth makes them shed crystal shells
 Shattering and avalanching on the snow crust—
 Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away
 You’d think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.
 They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load,
 And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed
 So low for long, they never right themselves:
 You may see their trunks arching in the woods
 Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground
 Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair
 Before them over their heads to dry in the sun.
 But I was going to say when Truth broke in
 With all her matter of fact about the ice storm,
 I should prefer to have some boy bend them
 As he went out and in to fetch the cows—
 Some boy too far from town to learn baseball,
 Whose only play was what he found himself,
 Summer or winter, and could play alone.
 One by one he subdued his father’s trees
 By riding them down over and over again
 Until he took the stiffness out of them,
 And not one but hung limp, not one was left
 For him to conquer. He learned all there was
 To learn about not launching out too soon
 And so not carrying the tree away
 Clear to the ground. He always kept his poise
 To the top branches, climbing carefully
 With the same pains you use to fill a cup
 Up to the brim, and even above the brim.
 Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish,
 Kicking his way down through the air to the ground.
 So was I once myself a swinger of birches.
 And so I dream of going back to be.
 It’s when I’m weary of considerations,
 And life is too much like a pathless wood
 Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs
 Broken across it, and one eye is weeping
 From a twig’s having lashed across it open.
 I’d like to get away from earth awhile
 And then come back to it and begin over.
 May not fate willfully misunderstand me
 And half grant what I wish and snatch me away
 Not to return. Earth’s the right place for love:
 I don’t know where it’s likely to go better.
 I’d like to go by climbing a birch tree,
 And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk
Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
 But dipped its top and set me down again.
 That would be good both going and coming back.
 One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.

ANALYTICAL SUMMARY
The poem “Birches” treats a universal theme of freedom through the mind of the child.  The poet speaker watches the movement of this tree or flower as it swings in the wind.  This movement recreates in the poet’s imagination the force between the physical and the spiritual realm of existence.  It reveals the mental picture of the poet speaker about flight and return.  The speaker however, likens the motion of the birches to the boy swinging.  The speaker says in lines 1 – 3 that as he sees the birches fall and rise due to the force of the wind, he wishes to see some children making the movement:
When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.

The speaker in his imagination discovers that the swinging does not bend the tree permanently as ice-storms can do.  He tells his mental audience that they may have seen where birches are loaded with ice.  The poet speaker is forcing his audience to contemplate on the world of birches after rain.  This seems to be the subject matter of the poem.  For the boy whom the speaker compares his action of swinging on the birches to the natural bending of the tree, it is a play, but for the contemplative mind; it is a journey towards transcendence.
LINE BY LINE ANALYSIS
The poem opens with mental observation of the speaker of the birches.  The first three lines of the poem give us the portrait of the tree as wind forces it to fall and rise.  This downward and upward movement of the tree reminds the speaker of some little children playing on the tree:
When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.

We realise that the movement “doesn’t bend them down to stay as ice storm do.” (lines 4 – 5).  The poetic speaker draws our attention the whole character of the birches when they are disturbed by nature.  We see them “loaded with ice a sunny winter morning/After a rain” (lines 5 – 7).  The speaker goes on to tell us what happens to the trees after the “ice storm”.  In the process of freeing themselves from the ice, the birches struggle upon themselves, turn their colours, shed off their barks.  Lines 7 – 13 demonstrate the birches’ desire to be free from the domain of difficulties.  The lines read thus:
They click upon themselves
As the breeze rises and turn many coloured
As the stire cracks and crazes their enamel
…the sun’s warmth makes them shed crystal shells
Shattering and avalanching on the snow crust.

The speaker resorts to nature in order to get the trees from the stormy ice.  Though, the ice itself is part of nature, it becomes problematic for this escape to take place.  However, the speaker applies the heavy weight of the sun to break off the ice on the birches.  He compares the cracking ice to shattering glass that falls like avalanche.  The speaker also likens the shattered ice below the tree to a heap of waste glass being taken away.
In line 13, the speaker sees the falling off of the ice from the birch tree like the dome of a church falling off.  The image of a "dome" is symbolic due to its beauty and structure which does not stand the test of time.  In other words, every good thing must perish on a certain day.  The speaker says that looking at the way the ice falls off the birch tree "You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen" (line 13).  Line 14 - 16 make us understand that once the action of ice on the birches remain long, it affects the stature of the birches due to long time of bending as a result they will not be straight again though they do not break, they only bend:
They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load,
And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed
So low for long, they never right themselves.

In lines 17 - 20, the speaker presents a clear picture of the birches as the ice melts into liquid.  He says that their leaves make a come back.  The speaker again compares the trees to young girls drying their hair in the sun.  These girls take a religious posture of prayer as they dry their hairs in the sun.  He puts it thus:
You may see their trunks arching in the woods
Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground
Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair
Before them over their heads to dry in the sun

The speaker in lines 21 - 22 decides to change the subject matter of the poem to something transcendental about truth.  This transcendental truth is seen via nature, "the ice storm":
But I was going to say when Truth broke in
With all her matter of fact about the ice storm

The speaker in his imagination wishes to have the boy bend the birches instead of the wind.  In other words, he is moving away from nature.  The truth he mentions in line 21 begins to manifest as he attempts to ponder on who actually bends the trees.  He thinks of a boy who rears cows but doesn't know how to play baseball.  This analysis is taken from lines 23 - 27.   The speaker goes on to tell us more about the boy.  He says the boy does not have friends and lives on an isolated environment.  What comes to mind here is that the speaker is by implication referring the boy to Frost himself hence he prefers a contemplative mood as he explores his natural environment:
I should prefer to have some boy bend them,
As he went out and in to fetch the cows,
Some boy too far from town to learn baseball,
Whose only play was what he found himself,
Summer or winter, and could play alone.

From lines 28 - 32, we see that inward truth coming to reality.  Hence, the speaker mentally sees the boy going into his father's farm and in the process, he climbs the trees and his weight bends them down to the ground.  The speaker uses the word "riding" to portray the force with which the boy's weight bends the trees down to the ground:
One by one he subdued his father's trees
By riding them down over and over again
Until he took the stiffness out of them,
And not one but hung limp, not one was left,
For him to conquer.

From lines 32 - 35, the boy perfects in the act of climbing and swaying of the trees.  He carefully climbs to the top without bending the birches at the early stage of climbing.  Frost dwells a little on metaphysical without fully mentioning it.  There are three images in these lines that make the poem a little bit metaphysical in nature.  The action of the tree is seen as physics, the root of the tree is the biological factor while the boy becomes the load that is carried by the lever:
He learned all there was
To learn about not launching out too soon
And so not carrying the tree away
Clear to the ground.  He always kept his poise

Similarly, from lines 35 – 38, we begin to get a clearer picture of how the boy gets perfected in the act of swinging the trees.  “He always kept his poise”/To the top branches, climbing carefully” (lines 35 & 36).  The speaker compares this perfection to the act of pouring liquid into a cup until it gets to the brims “With the same pains you use to fill a cup”/ “Up to the brim, and even above the brim” (lines 37 & 38).
The boy metaphorically holds part of the tree which act as a pulley that pulls him to the ground.  Here, nature and science are combined again to bring down the boy from the tree.  Lines 39 and 40 read thus:
Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish,
Kicking his way down through the air to the ground

There is a shift from innocence to experience in lines 41 and 42 where the speaker meditates on the time past when the little boy used to swing on the birch tree to the time present when the speaker himself can no longer climb trees due to old age.  The speaker wishes to rewind the hand of the clock so that he can play on the birch tree.  The speaker is very much contemplative about time and nature:
So was I once myself a swinger of birches
And so I dream of going back to be.

Due to old age, the speaker wishes again to be in that carefree world of a child when nothing seems to bother him.  This is explicitly made known in 43 – 44.  Next he compares life to a “pathless wood” where one wanders without any specific direction provided:
It’s when I’m weary of considerations,
And life is too much like a pathless wood

When one wanders through a “pathless wood”, there are obstacles that the person will meet on the way.  The dangers are seen in lines 45 – 47 and they are metaphorically represented by “cobwebs” and “weeping of the eyes”.
The speaker’s contemplation to return to his childhood experience of swaying the birch tree is seen as an escape from the natural world.  He wants a new life though he rejects the self delusion of extreme imagination and therefore holds strong to the earth.  He says “earth’s is the right place to love” (line 52).  This ending part of “Birches” shows an intense contemplative mood of the speaker as he finds it difficult to make his escape permanent:
I’d like to get away from earth awhile
And then come back to it and begin over
May not fate willfully misunderstand me
And half grant what I wish and snatch me away
Not to return (lines 48 – 52).

The last part of the poem is a demonstration of the speaker’s willingness to ascend to eternity but this is cut short because of the fear of permanent exit on earth, for this reason he wishes to view heaven through the top of the birch tree where he is enjoying the swaying of the tree:
I’d like to go by climbing a birch tree,
Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
But dipped its top and set me down again
That would be good both going and coming back.
One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.
(lines 54, 56 – 59).

Finally, the end of Frost’s “Birches” is a push towards the limits of worldly possibility.
FORM AND STRUCTURE
The poem is written in verse.  It consists of 59 lines.  There is no structural divisions in the poem. It depicts the movement of a boy struggling to be free from the mortal pain to eternity but he becomes glued to mortality.
TONE AND MOOD
The poet’s tone is that of resignation and imaginative while the poem creates a mood of loneliness and isolation.  All these are viewed through the contemplative mood of the poet.
FIGURES OF SPEECH AND SOUND DEVICES
METAPHOR
The first part of the poem is filled with metaphoric expression.  In line 6, poet metaphorically describes the birch tree in winter time as “loaded with ice”.  The word “enamel” in line 9 is used in a metaphoric way to compare the bark of the tree that cracks.  Lines 11 & 12 metaphorically compares “snow” to “broken glass” which must be taken away.
PERSONIFICATION
The birches are given human qualities in lines 15 & 16. “They are bowed”.  “They never right themselves”.  “Truth broke in” line 21.
SIMILE
“…As ice storms do…” lines 4 – 5
“…As the breeze rises…”
“…As the stir cracks…” lines 7 – 9
“Like girls on hands…” lines 18 – 19
“And life is too much like a pathless wood” line 44

ALLITERATION
“birches bend” /b/ sound line 1
“cracks and crazes” /k/ sound line 9
“soon … sun’s /s/ sound line 10
“far from” /f/ sound line 25
“to the top” /t/ sound line 36
“climbing carefully” /k/ sound line 36
“feet first” /f/ sound line 39
“black branches” /b/ sound line 55
“till … tree” /t/ sound line 56.

ASSONANCE
“one by one” /۸/ sound line 28
“one … one” /۸/ sound line 31
“over and over” /әu/ sound line 29

REPETITION
“one” – lines 28, 31 & 59
“swinging” – lines 3 & 4
“ice” – lines 5 & 6
“as they” – lines 8 & 9.

THEMES
1. Youth
2. Imagination
3. Man and nature
4. Isolation
5. Life and death.

REVISION QUESTIONS
1. What does “Birches” tell us about the importance of balance and timing?
2. What can you learn from nature?
3. Why do you think the poet considers earth a place for lover?
4. Discuss the theme of imagination in the poem.
5. Discuss any four poetic devices in the poem.
6. Discuss the poet’s use of metaphor.






SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO A SUMMER’S DAY
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
BACKGROUND OF THE POET
William Shakespeare was born at Stratford – Upon – Avon, Warwickshire county of England in April 1564.  The exact date of his birth was not recorded.  He was the third child of Mr. John Shakespeare and Mary Arden.  He attended Stratford Grammar School.  Later, Shakespeare moved to London where he acquired a reputation in 1592.  In 1593, he published his first poem Venus and Adonis.  He was an accomplished poet and playwright.  He died in 1616.

William Shakespeare
SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO A SUMMER’S DAY?
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st.
      So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
      So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

ANALYTICAL SUMMARY
Shakespeare’s “Shall I compare thee to A Summer’s Day” is popularly known as Sonnet 18.  It is a love and a praise poem.  The speaker tries to immortalise the lover who he uses very emotional and loving words to address.  The eulogy in the poem is evocative of the power of love or beauty on the beholder.  The poem begins with an emphatic rhetorical question, if he should compare the beloved to a day in summer. Summer is the warmest season of the year in Europe.  He uses words that elevate human feelings to describe the woman or lady in question.  He sees the summer as a short weather but for the lover, her beauty will not fade away.  This poem explores the theme of stability of love and the power to immortalise the beloved.  It is important to note that the gender of the speaker’s beloved is not known.



LINE BY LINE ANALYSIS
In lines 1 & 2, the poet speaker tries to ask or wonder if he should compare his love with a summer’s day: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” (line 1).  Instead of dwelling on the question further, he goes ahead to provide us with the emotional description of the lover.  The person in question is very attractive and humane.  The speaker says: “Thou art more lovely and more temperate” (line 2).  The speaker is carried away by the beauty of “thee” and for this reason did not wait for a reply to his question.  He speaks as if the addressee is there with him.
Lines 3 – 4 begin to see nature as human being with hands that can shake the “flower buds of May”.  He again describes the summer as being short.  That is to say that the summer period does not last long:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.

Lines 5 and 6, the speaker personifies nature again through the qualities of summer weather.  He metaphorically calls the sun “the eyes of heaven” not minding its fierce nature. At some point, the sun is hiding from the earth due to the movement of the cloud.  This causes its gold colour to dim.  The speaker says that:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines
And often is his gold complexion dimmed.

The speaker only describes the lover in brief but widens his horizon in describing summer.
The speaker philosophically tells us in lines 7 and 8 about the mortality of beauty.  In these lines, we discover that beauty itself can fade away with time either by accident or by natural convention: “And every fair from fair sometime declines”/ “By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed”.
We see a turn of events in lines 9 and 10. Here, the speaker argues that the beauty of his beloved will not fade like that of the summer that fades within a short time.  he tells us that his beloved in the context of the poem is not subject to the rules laid out in the poem about limitations of nature rather his beloved’s beauty will not lose its credence:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st.

By implication lines 9 and 10 resonate in line 4 to explore the logic behind every beauty.  In line 4, the speaker says that nature leases out a short time for summer period while lines 9 and 10 give us the impression that the speaker’s beloved will not return the beauty which he/she borrowed from nature.
Furthermore, the speaker in lines 11 and 12 introduces death, that spiritual essence that will conquer beauty.  But the speaker does not resign to death for the beloved’s beauty in his/her immortality.  The speaker is metaphorically speaking about the beauty of the beloved in the poetic or artistic form hence every work of art is immortal:
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st

The last couplet of the poem emphasis what the speaker notes in line 12 about immortality of art.  According to him, the lines he has written for his beloved will remain imprint for all generations to read and appreciate the beauty of the beloved in question. He has ended up immortalizing the beloved:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this give life to thee.

FORM AND STRUCTURE
The poem is a fourteen line poem.  In other words, it is a sonnet.  It consists of three quatrains and a couplet.  In the first quatrain, the speaker compares the beauty of a lover to a summer’s day and discovers that the lover is more lovely than the summer.
The second quatrain deals with the nature of the sun.  It is said to be the “eye of heaven” which shines and dims at times making things hot.  In the third quatrain, the speaker asserts that the beauty of his beloved will not fade like that of the summer.  The concluding couplet immortalizes the speaker’s beloved.  His creativity, poetry gives life to the beloved so much so that anytime this poem is read the beloved comes to life again and again.  The rhyming pattern of the poem is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
TONE AND MOOD
The tone and mood of the poem is characterised by a sense of optimism and affection.  The tone is mild with structures that explore the speaker’s emotional outburst to the beloved.  The mood of optimism is built on the speaker’s strong affirmation that he has immortalized the beloved through his verse and for this reason, his beloved lives on.
FIGURES OF SPEECH AND SOUND DEVICES
PERSONIFICATION
“Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May” line 3.  The wind is attributed to human being. “The eye of heaven” line 5.  The sum is given human quality of eye.
“… death brag …” line 11.  Death is seen as a human being that brags.
PARALLELISM
The concluding couplet of the poem is a parallel structure due to the repetition at the beginning of the lines:
“So long as men can breathe or eyes can see”
“So long lives this, and this gives life to thee”

HYPERBOLE
The opening line of the poem is an exaggeration of beauty of the speaker’s beloved:
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.

SYMBOLISM/IMAGERY
The poet uses symbolism and imagery for poetic effect and to make his subject matter clear.  “Eye of heaven” line 5 symbolises the sun.  “Eternal lines” is symbolic of poetry.  This is seen in line 12.
REPETITION
“Summer’s” – lines 1 & 4
“Thou” – lines 2, 10, 11 & 12
“Fair” – line 7
“So long” – lines 13 & 14
“Thee” – lines 1 & 14
“Eye” – lines 5 & 13.

ALLITERATION
“more … more” /m/ sound line 2
“chance … changing” /ts/ sound line 8
“hot … heaven” /h/ sound line 5
“lone … lives … life” /l/ sound line 14
“fair from fair” /f/ sound line 7.

THEMES
1. Man and his natural world
2. The beauty of nature
3. Immortality of art
4. Time
5. Love.

REVISION QUESTIONS
1. Discuss in detail the poet’s use of imagery.
2. Comment on the form and structure of the poem.
3. Discuss the theme of immortality of art.
4. How many parts have this sonnet?  Discuss them.
5. Give a detailed analysis of the poem.
6. Discuss any three poetic devices in the poem.




WILLIAM MORRIS- THE PROUD KING
ARGUMENT
A CERTAIN King, blinded by pride, thought that he was something more than man, if not equal to God; but such a judgment fell on him that none knew him for king, and he suffered many things, till in the end, humbling himself, he regained his kingdom and honour.
IN a far country that I cannot name,
 And on a year long ages past away,
 A King there dwelt, in rest and ease and fame,
 And richer than the Emperor is to-day:
 The very thought of what this man might say,
 From dusk to dawn kept many a lord awake,
 For fear of him did many a great man quake.

Young was he when he first sat on the throne,
 And he was wedded to a noble wife,
 But at the daïs must he sit alone,
 Nor durst a man speak to him for his life,
 Except with leave: nought knew he change or strife,
 But that the years passed silently away,
 And in his black beard gathered specks of grey

Now so it chanced, upon a May morning,
 Wakeful he lay when yet low was the sun,
 Looking distraught at many a royal thing,
 And counting up his titles one by one,
 And thinking much of things that he had done;
 For full of life he felt, and hale and strong,
 And knew that none durst say-when he did wrong.

For no man now could give him dread or doubt,
 The land was ’neath his sceptre far and wide,
 And at his beck would well-armed myriads shout.
 Then swelled his vain, unthinking heart with pride,
 Until at last he raised him up and cried,
 “What need have I for temple or for priest,
 Am I not God, whiles that I live at least.”

And yet withal that dead his fathers were,
 He needs must think, that quick the years pass by;
 But he, who seldom yet had seen death near
 Or heard his name, said, “Still I may not die
 Though underneath the earth my fathers lie;
 My sire indeed was called a mighty king,
 Yet in regard of mine, a little thing

“His kingdom was; moreover his grandsire
 To him was but a prince of narrow lands,
 Whose father, though to things he did aspire
 Beyond most men, a great knight of his hands,
 Yet ruled some little town where now there stands
 The kennel of my dogs; then may not I
 Rise higher yet, nor like poor wretches die?

“Since up the ladder ever we have gone
 Step after step nor fallen back again;
 And there are tales of people who have won
 A life enduring, without care or pain,
 Or any man to make their wishes vain;
 Perchance this prize unwitting now I hold;
 For times change fast, the world is waxen old.”

So ’mid these thoughts once more he fell asleep,
 And when he woke again, high was the sun,
 Then quickly from his gold bed did he leap,
 And of his former thoughts remembered none,
 But said, “To-day through green woods will we run,
 Nor shall to-day be worse than yesterday,
 But better it may be, for game and play.”

So for the hunt was he apparelled,
 And forth he rode with heart right well at ease;
 And many a strong, deep-chested hound they led,
 Over the dewy grass betwixt the trees,
 And fair white horses fit for the white knees
 Of Her the ancients fabled rides a-nights
 Betwixt the setting and the rising lights.

Now following up a mighty hart and swift
 The King rode long upon that morning tide,
 And since his horse was worth a kingdom’s gift,
 It chanced him all his servants to outride,
 Until unto a shaded river-side
 He came alone at hottest of the sun,
 When all the freshness of the day was done.

Dismounting there, and seeing so far adown
 The red-finned fishes o’er the gravel play,
 It seemed that moment worth his royal crown
 To hide there from the burning of the day,
 Wherefore he did off all his rich array,
 And tied his horse unto a neighbouring tree,
 And in the water sported leisurely.

But when he was fulfilled of this delight
 He gat him to the bank well satisfied,
 And thought to do on him his raiment bright
 And homeward to his royal house to ride;
 But ‘mazed and angry, looking far and wide
 Nought saw he of his horse and rich attire,
 And ’gainst the thief ’gan threaten vengeance dire.

But little help his fury was to him,
 So lustily he ’gan to shout and cry;
 None answered, still the lazy chub did swim
 By inches ’gainst the stream; away did fly
 The small pied bird, but nathless stayed anigh,
 And o’er the stream still plied his fluttering trade,
 Of such a helpless man not much afraid.

Weary of crying in that lonely place
 He ceased at last, and thinking what to do,
 E’en as he was, up stream he set his face,
 Since not far off a certain house he knew
 Where dwelt his ranger, a lord leal and true,
 Who many a bounty at his hands had had,
 And now to do him ease would be right glad.

Thither he hastened on, and as he went
 The hot sun sorely burned his naked skin,
 The whiles he thought, “When he to me has lent
 Fine raiment, and at ease I sit within
 His coolest chamber clad in linen thin,
 And drinking wine, the best that he has got,
 I shall forget this troublous day and hot.”

Now note, that while he thus was on his way,
 And still his people for their master sought,
 There met them one who in the King’s array
 Bestrode his very horse, and as they thought
 Was none but he in good time to them brought,
 Therefore they hailed him King, and so all rode
 From out the forest to his fair abode.

And there in royal guise he sat at meat,
 Served, as his wont was, ’neath the canopy,
 And there the hounds fawned round about his feet,
 And there that city’s elders did he see,
 And with his lords took counsel what should be;
 And there at supper when the day waxed dim
 The Queen within his chamber greeted him.


LEAVE we him there; for to the ranger’s gate
 The other came, and on the horn he blew,
 Till peered the wary porter through the grate
 To see if he, perchance, the blower knew,
 Before he should the wicket-gate undo;
 But when he saw him standing there, he cried,
 “What dost thou friend, to show us all thine hide?

“We list not buy to-day or flesh or fell;
 Go home and get thyself a shirt at least,
 If thou wouldst aught, for saith our vicar well,
 That God hath given clothes e’en to the beast.”
 Therewith he turned to go, but as he ceased
 The King cried out, “Open, O foolish man!
 I am thy lord and King, Jovinian;

“Go now, and tell thy master I am here
 Desiring food and clothes, and in this plight,
 And then hereafter need’st thou have no fear,
 Because thou didst not know me at first sight.”
 “Yea, yea, I am but dreaming in the night,”
 The carle said, “and I bid thee, friend, to dream,
 Come through! here is no gate, it doth but seem.”

With that his visage vanished from the grate;
 But when the King now found himself alone,
 He hurled himself against the mighty gate,
 And beat upon it madly with a stone,
 Half wondering midst his rage, how any one
 Could live, if longed-for things he chanced to lack;
 But midst all this, at last the gate flew back,

And there the porter stood, brown-bill in hand,
 And said, “Ah, fool, thou makest this ado,
 Wishing before my lord’s high seat to stand;
 Thou shalt be gladder soon hereby to go,
 Or surely nought of handy blows I know.
 Come, willy nilly, thou shalt tell this tale
 Unto my lord, if aught it may avail.”

With that his staff he handled, as if he
 Would smite the King, and said, “Get on before!
 St Mary! now thou goest full leisurely,
 Who, erewhile, fain wouldst batter down the door.
 See now, if ere this matter is passed o’er,
 I come to harm, yet thou shalt not escape,
 Thy back is broad enow to pay thy jape.”

Half blind with rage the King before him passed,
But nought of all he doomed him to durst say,
Lest he from rest nigh won should yet be cast,
So with a swelling heart he took his way,
Thinking right soon his shame to cast away,
And the carie followed still, ill satisfied
With such a wretched losel to abide.

Fair was the ranger’s house and new and white,
 And by the King built scarce a year agone,
 And carved about for this same lord’s delight
 With woodland stories deftly wrought in stone;
 There oft the King was wont to come alone,
 For much he loved this lord, who erst had been
 A landless squire, a servant of the Queen.

Now long a lord and clad in rich attire,
 In his fair hall he sat before the wine
 Watching the evening sun’s yet burning fire,
 Through the close branches of his pleasance shine,
 In that mood when man thinks himself divine,
 Remembering not whereto we all must come,
 Not thinking aught but of his happy home.

From just outside loud mocking merriment
 He heard midst this; and therewithal a squire
 Came hurrying up, his laughter scarcely spent,
 Who said, “My lord, a man in such attire
 As Adam’s, ere he took the devil’s hire,
 Who saith that thou wilt know him for the King,
 Up from the gate John Porter needs must bring.

“He to the King is nothing like in aught
 But that his beard he weareth in such guise
 As doth my lord: wilt thou that he be brought?
 Perchance some treason ’neath his madness lies.”
 “Yea,” saith the ranger, “that may well be wise,
 But haste, for this eve am I well at ease,
 Nor would be wearied with such folk as these.”

Then went the squire, and coming back again,
 The porter and the naked King brought in,
 Who thinking now that this should end his pain,
 Forgat his fury and the porter’s sin,
 And said, “Thou wonderest how I came to win
 This raiment, that kings long have ceased to wear,
 Since Noah’s flood has altered all the air?

“Well, thou shalt know, but first I pray thee, Hugh,
 Reach me that cloak that lieth on the board,
 For certes, though thy folk are leal and true,
 It seemeth that they deem a mighty lord
 Is made by crown, and silken robe, and sword;
 Lo, such are borel folk; but thou and I
 Fail not to know the signs of majesty.

“Thou risest not! thou lookest strange on me!
 Ah, what is this? Who reigneth in my stead?
 How long hast thou been plotting secretly?
 Then slay me now, for if I be not dead
 Armies will rise up when I nod my head.
 Slay me! — or cast thy treachery away,
 And have anew my favour from this day.”

“Why should I tell thee that thou ne’er wast king?
 The ranger said, “Thou knowest not what I say;
 Poor man, I pray God help thee in this thing,
 And, ere thou diest send thee some good day;
 Nor hence unholpen shalt thou go away.
 Good fellows, this poor creature is but mad,
 Take him, and in a coat let him be clad;

“And give him meat and drink, and on this night
 Beneath some roof of ours let him abide,
 For some day God may set his folly right.”
 Then spread the King his arms abroad and cried,
 “Woe to thy food, thy house, and thee betide,
 Thou loathsome traitor! Get ye from the hall,
 Lest smitten by God’s hand this roof should fall;

“Yea, if the world be but an idle dream,
 And God deals nought with it, yet shall ye see
 Red flame from out these careen windows stream.
 I, I, will burn this vile place utterly,
 And strewn with salt the poisonous earth shall be,
 That such a wretch of such a man has made,
 That so such Judases may grow afraid.”

Thus raving, those who held him he shook off
 And rushed from out the hall, nigh mad indeed,
 And gained the gate, not heeding blow or scoff,
 Nor longer of his nakedness took heed,
 But ran, he knew not where, at headlong speed.
 Till, when at last his strength was fully spent,
 Worn out, he fell beneath a woody bent.

But for the ranger, left alone in peace,
 He bade his folk bring in the minstrelsy;
 And thinking of his life, and fair increase
 Of all his goods, a happy man was he,
 And towards his master felt right lovingly,
 And said, “This luckless madman will avail
 When next I see the King for one more tale.”


MEANWHILE the real King by the road-side lay,
 Panting, confused, scarce knowing if he dreamed,
 Until at last, when vanished was the day,
 Through the dark night far off a bright light gleamed;
 Which growing quickly, down the road there streamed
 The glare of torches, held by men who ran
 Before the litter of a mighty man.

These mixed with soldiers soon the road did fill,
 And on their harness could the King behold
 The badge of one erst wont to do his will,
 A counsellor, a gatherer-up of gold,
 Who underneath his rule had now grown old:
 Then wrath and bitterness so filled his heart,
 That from his wretched lair he needs must start;

And o’er the clatter shrilly did he cry,
 “Well met, Duke Peter! ever art thou wise;
 Surely thou wilt not let a day go by
 Ere thou art good friends with mine enemies;
 O fit to rule within a land of lies,
 Go on thy journey, make thyself more meet
 To sit in hell beneath the devil’s feet!”

But as he ceased a soldier drew anear,
 And smote him flatling with his sheathed sword,
 And said, “Speak louder, that my lord may hear,
 And give thee wages for thy ribald word!
 Come forth, for I must show thee to my lord,
 For he may think thee more than mad indeed,
 Who of men’s ways hast taken wondrous heed.”

Now was the litter stayed midmost the road,
 And round about, the torches in a ring
 Were gathered, and their flickering light now glowed
 In gold and gems and many a lordly thing,
 And showed that face well known unto the King,
 That, smiling yesterday, right humble words
 Had spoken midst the concourse of the lords.

But now he said, “Man, thou wert cursing me
 If these folk heard aright; what wilt thou then,
 Deem’st thou that I have done some wrong to thee,
 Or hast thou scathe from any of my men?
 In any case tell all thy tale again
 When on the judgment-seat thou see’st me sit,
 And I will give no careless ear to it.”

“The night is dark, and in the summer wind
 The torches flicker; canst thou see my face?
 Bid them draw nigher yet, and call to mind
 Who gave thee all thy riches and thy place —
 — Well — if thou canst, deny me, with such grace
 As by the fire-light Peter swore of old,
 When in that Maundy-week the night was cold —

“— Alas! canst thou not see I am the King?”
 So spoke he, as their eyes met mid the blaze,
 And the King saw the dread foreshadowing
 Within the elder’s proud and stony gaze,
 Of what those lips, thin with the lapse of days,
 Should utter now; nor better it befell —
 “Friend, a strange story thou art pleased to tell;

“Thy luck it is thou tellest it to me,
 Who deem thee mad and let thee go thy way:
 The King is not a man to pity thee,
 Or on thy folly thy fool’s tale to lay:
 Poor fool! take this, and with the light of day
 Buy food and raiment of some labouring clown,
 And by my counsel keep thee from the town,

“For fear thy madness break out in some place
 Where folk thy body to the judge must hale,
 And then indeed wert thou in evil case —
 Press on, sirs! or the time will not avail.”
 — There stood the King, with limbs that ’gan to fail,
 Speechless, and holding in his trembling hand
 A coin new stamped for people of the land;

Thereon, with sceptre, crown, and royal robe,
 The image of a King, himself, was wrought;
 His jewelled feet upon a quartered globe,
 As though by him all men were vain and nought.
 One moment the red glare the silver caught,
 As the lord ceased, the next his hurrying folk
 The flaring circle round the litter broke.

The next, their shadows barred a patch of light,
 Fast vanishing, all else around was black;
 And the poor wretch, left lonely with the night,
 Muttered, “I wish the day would ne’er come back,
 If all that once I had I now must lack:
 Ah God! how long is it since I was King,
 Nor lacked enough to wish for anything?”

Then down the lonely road he wandered yet,
 Following the vanished lights, he scarce knew why,
 Till he began his sorrows to forget,
 And, steeped in drowsiness, at last drew nigh
 A grassy bank, where, worn with misery,
 He slept the dreamless sleep of weariness,
 That many a time such wretches’ eyes will bless.

BUT at the dawn he woke, nor knew at first
 What ugly chain of grief had brought him there,
 Nor why he felt so wretched and accursed;
 At last remembering, the fresh morning air,
 The rising sun, and all things fresh and fair,
 Yet caused some little hope in him to rise,
 That end might come to these new miseries.

So looking round about, he saw that he
 To his own city gates was come anear;
 Then he arose and going warily,
 And hiding now and then for very fear
 Of folk who bore their goods and country cheer,
 Unto the city’s market, at the last
 Unto a stone’s -throw of the gate he passed.

But when he drew unto the very gate,
 Into the throng of country-folk he came
 Who for the opening of the door did wait,
 Of whom some mocked, and some cried at him shame,
 And some would know his country and his name;
 But one into his waggon drew him up,
 And gave him milk from out a beechen cup,

And asked him of his name and misery;
 Then in his throat a swelling passion rose,
 Which yet he swallowed down, and, “Friend,” said he,
 “Last night I had the hap to meet the foes
 Of God and man, who robbed me, and with blows
 Stripped off my weed and left me on the way:
 Thomas the Pilgrim am I called to-day.

“A merchant am I of another town,
 And rich enow to pay thee for thy deed,
 If at the King’s door thou wilt set me down,
 For there a squire I know, who at my need
 Will give me food and drink, and fitting weed.
 What is thy name? in what place dost thou live?
 That I some day great gifts to thee may give.”

“Fair Sir,” the carie said, “I am poor enow,
 Though certes food I lack not easily;
 My name is Christopher a-Green; I sow
 A little orchard set with bush and tree,
 And ever there the kind land keepeth me,
 For I, now fifty, from a little boy
 Have dwelt thereon, and known both grief and joy.

“The house my grandsire built there has grown old,
 And certainly a bounteous gift it were
 If thou shouldst give me just enough of gold
 To build it new; nor shouldst thou lack my prayer
 For such a gift.” “Nay, friend, have thou no care,”
 The King said: “this is but a little thing
 To me, who oft am richer than the King.”

Now as they talked the gate was opened wide,
 And toward the palace went they through the street,
 And Christopher walked ever by the side
 Of his rough wain, where midst the May-flowers sweet
 Jovinian lay, that folk whom they might meet
 Might see him not to mock at his bare skin:
 So shortly to the King’s door did they win.

Then through the open gate Jovinian ran
 Of the first court, and no man stayed him there;
 But as he reached the second gate, a man
 Of the King’s household, seeing him all bare
 And bloody, cried out, “Whither dost thou fare?
 Sure thou art seventy times more mad than mad,
 Or else some magic potion thou hast had,

“Whereby thou fear’st not steel or anything.”
 “But,” said the King, “good fellow, I know thee;
 And can it be thou knowest not thy King?
 Nay, thou shalt have a good reward of me,
 That thou wouldst rather have than ten years’ fee,
 If thou wilt clothe me in fair weed again,
 For now to see my council am I fain.”

“Out, ribald!” quoth the fellow: “What say’st thou?
 Thou art my lord, whom God reward and bless?
 Truly before long shalt thou find out how
 John Hangman cureth ill folk’s wilfulness;
 Yea, from his scourge the blood has run for less
 Than that which now thou sayest: nay, what say I?
 For lighter words have I seen tall men die.

“Come now, the sergeants to this thing shall see!”
 So to the guard-room was Jovinian brought,
 Where his own soldiers mocked him bitterly,
 And all his desperate words they heeded nought;
 Until at last there came to him this thought,
 That never from this misery should he win,
 But, spite of all his struggles, die therein.

And terrible it seemed, that everything
 So utterly was changed since yesterday,
 That these who were the soldiers of the King,
 Ready to lie down in the common way
 Before him, nor durst rest if he bade play,
 Now stood and mocked him, knowing not the face
 At whose command each man there had his place.

“Ah, God!” said he, “is this another earth
 From that whereon I stood two days ago?
 Or else in sleep have I had second birth?
 Or among mocking shadows do I go,
 Unchanged myself of flesh and fell, although
 My fair weed I have lost and royal gear?
 And meanwhile all are changed that I meet here;

“And yet in heart and nowise outwardly.”
 Amid his wretched thoughts two sergeants came,
 Who said, “Hold, sirs! because the King would see
 The man who thus so rashly brings him shame,
 By taking his high style and spotless name,
 That never has been questioned ere to-day.
 Come, fool! needs is it thou must go our way.”

So at the sight of him all men turned round,
 As ’twixt these two across the courts he went,
 With downcast head and hands together bound;
 While from the windows maid and varlet leant,
 And through the morning air fresh laughter sent;
 Until unto the threshold they were come
 Of the great hall within that kingly home.

Therewith right fast Jovinian’s heart must beat,
 As now he thought, “Lo, here shall end the strife;
 For either shall I sit on mine own seat,
 Known unto all, soldier and lord and wife,
 Or else is this the ending of my life,
 And no man henceforth shall remember me,
 And a vain name in records shall I be.”

Therewith he raised his head up, and beheld
 One clad in gold set on his royal throne,
 Gold-crowned, whose hand the ivory sceptre held;
 And underneath him sat the Queen alone,
 Ringed round with standing lords, of whom not one
 Did aught but utmost reverence unto him;
 Then did Jovinian shake in every limb.

Yet midst amaze and rage to him it seemed
 This man was nowise like him in the face;
 But with a marvellous glory his head gleamed,
 As though an angel sat in that high place,
 Where erst he sat like all his royal race —
 — But their eyes met, and with a stern, calm brow
 The shining one cried out, “And where art thou?

“Where art thou, robber of my majesty?”
 “Was I not King,” he said, “but yesterday?
 And though to-day folk give my place to thee,
 I am Jovinian; yes, though none gainsay,
 If on these very stones thou shouldst me slay,
 And though no friend be left for me to moan,
 I am Jovinian still, and King alone.”

Then said that other, “O thou foolish man,
 King was I yesterday, and long before,
 Nor is my name aught but Jovinian,
 Whom in this house the Queen my mother bore,
 Unto my longing father, for right sore
 Was I desired before I saw the light;
 Thou, fool, art first to speak against my right.

“And surely well thou meritest to die;
 Yet ere that I bid lead thee unto death,
 Hearken to these my lords that stand anigh,
 And what this faithful Queen beside me saith,
 Then may’st thou many a year hence draw thy breath,
 If these should stammer in their speech one whit:
 Behold this face, lords, look ye well on it!

“Thou, O fair Queen, say now whose face is this!”
 Then cried they, “Hail O Lord Jovinian
 Long mayst thou live!” and the Queen knelt to kiss
 His gold-shod feet, and through her face there ran
 Sweet colour, as she said, “Thou art the man
 By whose side I have lain for many a year,
 Thou art my lord Jovinian lief and dear.”

Then said he, “O thou wretch, hear now and see!
 What thing should hinder me to slay thee now?
 And yet indeed, such mercy is in me,
 If thou wilt kneel down humbly and avow
 Thou art no King, but base-born, as I know
 Thou art indeed, in mine house shalt thou live,
 And as thy service is, so shalt thou thrive.”

But the unhappy King laughed bitterly,
 The red blood rose to flush his visage wan
 Where erst the grey of death began to be;
 “Thou liest, “he said, “I am Jovinian,
 Come of great Kings; nor am I such a man
 As still to live when all delight is gone,
 As thou might’st do, who sittest on my throne.”

No answer made the other for a while,
 But sat and gazed upon him steadfastly,
 Until across his face there came a smile,
 Where scorn seemed mingled with some great pity.
 And then he said, “Nathless thou shalt not die,
 But live on as thou mayst, a lowly man
 Forgetting thou wast once Jovinian.”

Then wildly round the hall Jovinian gazed,
 Turning about to many a well-known face,
 But none of all his folk seemed grieved or mazed,
 But stood unmoved, each in his wonted place;
 There were the Lords, the Marshal with his mace,
 The Chamberlain, the Captain of the Guard,
 Grey-headed, with his wrinkled face and hard,

That had peered down so many a lane of war;
 There stood the grave ambassadors arow,
 Come from half-conquered lands; without the bar
 The foreign merchants gazed upon the show,
 Willing new things of that great land to know;
 Nor was there any doubt in any man
 That the gold throne still held Jovinian.

Yea, as the sergeants laid their hands on him,
 The mighty hound that crouched before the throne,
 Flew at him fain to tear him limb from limb,
 Though in the woods, the brown bear’s dying groan,
 He and that beast had often heard alone.
 “Ah!” muttered he, “take thou thy wages too
 Worship the risen sun as these men do.”

They thrust him out, and as he passed the door,
 The murmur of the stately court he heard
 Behind him, and soft footfalls on the floor,
 And, though by this somewhat his skin was seared,
 Hung back at the rough eager wind afeard;
 But from the place they dragged him through the gate,
 Where through he oft had rid in royal state.

Then down the streets they led him, where of old,
 He, coming back from some well-finished war,
 Had seen the line of flashing steel and gold
 Wind upwards ’twixt the houses from the bar,
 While clashed the bells from wreathed spires afar;
 Now moaning, as they haled him on, he said,
 “God and the world against one lonely head!”

BUT soon, the bar being past they loosed their hold,
 And said “Thus saith by us our Lord the King,
 Dwell now in peace, but yet be not so bold
 To come again, or to thy lies to cling,
 Lest unto thee there fall a worser thing;
 And for ourselves we bid thee ever pray
 For him who has been good to thee this day.”

Therewith they turned away into the town,
 And still he wandered on and knew not where,
 Till, stumbling at the last, he fell adown,
 And looking round beheld a brook right fair,
 That ran in pools and shallows here and there,
 And on the further side of it a wood,
 Nigh which a lowly clay-built hovel stood.

Gazing thereat, it came into his mind
 A priest dwelt there, a hermit wise and old,
 Whom he had ridden oftentimes to find,
 In days when first the sceptre he did hold,
 And unto whom his mind he oft had told,
 And had good counsel from him, though indeed
 A scanty crop had sprung from that good seed.

Therefore he passed the brook with heavy cheer,
 And toward the little house went speedily,
 And at the door knocked, trembling with his fear,
 Because he thought, “Will he remember me?
 If not, within me must there surely be
 Some devil who turns everything to ill,
 And makes my wretched body do his will.”

So, while such doleful things as this he thought,
 There came unto the door the holy man,
 Who said, “Good friend, what tidings hast thou brought?”
 “Father,” he said, “knowest thou Jovinian?
 Knowst thou me not, made naked, poor, and wan?
 Alas, O father! am I not the King,
 The rightful lord of thee and everything?”

“Nay, thou art mad to tell me such a tale!”
 The hermit said; “if thou seek’st soul’s health here,
 Right little will such words as this avail;
 It were a better deed to shrive thee clear,
 And take the pardon Christ has bought so dear,
 Than to an ancient man such mocks to say
 That would be fitter for a Christmas play.”

So to his hut he got him back again,
 And fell the unhappy King upon his knees,
 And unto God at last he did complain,
 Saying, “Lord God, what bitter things are these?
 What hast thou done, that every man that sees
 This wretched body, of my death is fain?
 O Lord God, give me back myself again!

“E’en if therewith I needs must die straightway.
 Indeed I know that since upon the earth
 I first did go, I ever day by day
 Have grown the worse, who was of little worth
 E’en at the best time since my helpless birth.
 And yet it pleased thee once to make me King,
 Why hast thou made me now this wretched thing?

“Why am I hated so of every one?
 Wilt thou not let me live my life again,
 Forgetting all the deeds that I have done,
 Forgetting my old name, and honours vain,
 That I may cast away this lonely pain?
 Yet if thou wilt not, help me in this strife,
 That I may pass my little span of life,

“Not made a monster by unhappiness.
 What shall I say? thou mad’st me weak of will,
 Thou wrapped’st me in ease and carelessness,
 And yet, as some folk say, thou lovest me still;
 Look down, of folly I have had my fill,
 And am but now as first thou madest me,
 Weak, yielding clay to take impress of thee.”

So said he weeping, and but scarce had done,
 When yet again came forth that hermit old,
 And said, “Alas! my master and my son,
 Is this a dream my wearied eyes behold?
 What doleful wonder now shall I be told,
 Of that ill world that I so long have left?
 What thing thy glory from thee has bereft?”

A strange surprise of joy therewith there came
 To that worn heart; he said, “For some great sin
 The Lord my God has brought me unto shame;
 I am unknown of servants, wife, and kin,
 Unknown of all the lords that stand within
 My father’s house; nor didst thou know me more
 When e’en just now I stood before thy door.

“Now since thou know’st me, surely God is good,
 And will not slay me, and good hope I have
 Of help from Him that died upon the rood,
 And is a mighty lord to slay and save:
 So now again these blind men will I brave,
 If thou wilt give me of thy poorest weed,
 And some rough food, the which I sorely need;

“Then of my sins thou straight shalt shrive me clean.”
 Then weeping said the holy man, “Dear lord,
 What heap of woes upon thine head has been;
 Enter, O King, take this rough gown and cord,
 And scanty food, my hovel can afford;
 And tell me everything thou hast to say;
 And then the High God speed thee on thy way.”

So when in coarse serge raiment he was clad,
 He told him all his pride had made him think;
 And showed him of his life both good and bad;
 And then being houselled, did he eat and drink,
 While in the wise man’s heart his words did sink,
 For, “God be praised!” he thought, “I am no king,
 Who scarcely shall do right in anything!

— Then he made ready for the King his ass,
 And bade again, God speed him on the way,
 And down the road the King made haste to pass
 As it was growing toward the end of day,
 With sober joy for troubles passed away;
 But trembling still, as onward he did ride,
 Meeting few folk upon that even-tide.

SO to the city gate being come at last,
 He noted there two ancient warders stand,
 Whereof one looked askance as he went past,
 And whispered low behind his held-up hand
 Unto his mate, “The King, who gave command
 That if disguised he passed this gate to-day,
 No reverence we should do him on the way.”

Thereat with joy, Jovinian smiled again,
 And so passed onward quickly down the street;
 And well nigh was he eased of all his pain
 When he beheld the folk that he might meet
 Gaze hard at him, as though they fain would greet
 His well-known face, but durst not, knowing well
 He would not any of his state should tell.

Withal unto the palace being cone,
 He lighted down thereby and entered,
 And once again it seemed his royal home,
 For folk again before him bowed the head;
 And to him came a Squire, who softly said,
 “The Queen awaits thee, O my lord the King,
 Within the little hall where minstrels sing,

“Since there thou badst her meet thee on this night.”
 “Lead on then!” said the King, and in his heart
 He said, “perfay all goeth more than right
 And I am King again;” but with a start
 He thought of him who played the kingly part
 That morn, yet said, “if God will have it so
 This man like all the rest my face will know.”

So in the Little Hall the Queen he found,
 Asleep, as one a spell binds suddenly;
 For her fair broidery lay upon the ground,
 And in her lap her open hand did lie,
 The silken-threaded needle close thereby;
 And by her stood that image of the King
 In rich apparel, crown and signet-ring.

But when the King stepped forth with angry eye
 And would have spoken, came a sudden light,
 And changed was that other utterly;
 For he was clad in robe of shining white,
 Inwrought with flowers of unnamed colours bright,
 Girt with a marvellous girdle, and whose hem
 Fell to his naked feet and shone in them;

And from his shoulders did two wings arise,
 That with the swaying of his body, played
 This way and that; of strange and lovely dyes
 Their feathers were, and wonderfully made:
 And now he spoke, “O King, be not dismayed,
 Or think my coming here so strange to be,
 For oft ere this have I been close to thee.

“And now thou knowest in how short a space
 The God that made the world can unmake thee,
 And though He alter in no whit thy face,
 Can make all folk forget thee utterly,
 That thou to-day a nameless wretch mayst be,
 Who yesterday woke up without a peer,
 The wide world’s marvel and the people’s fear.

“Behold, thou oughtest to thank God for this,
 That on the hither side of thy dark grave
 Thou well hast learned how great a God He is,
 Who from the heavens countless rebels drave,
 Yet turns himself such folk as thee to save;
 For many a man thinks nought at all of it,
 Till in a darksome land he comes to sit,

“Lamenting everything: so do not thou!
 For inasmuch as thou thoughtst not to die
 This thing may happen to thee even now,
 Because the day unspeakable draws nigh,
 When bathed in unknown flame all things shall lie;
 And if thou art upon God’s side that day,
 Unslain, thine earthly part shall pass away.

“Or if thy body in the grave must rot,
 Well mayst thou see how small a thing is this,
 Whose pain of yesterday now hurts thee not,
 Now thou hast come again to earthly bliss,
 Though bitter-sweet thou knowest well this is,
 And thou no coming day canst ever see
 Ending of happiness where thou mayst be.

“Now must I go, nor wilt thou see me more,
 Until the day, when, unto thee at least,
 This world is gone, and an unmeasured shore,
 Where all is wonderful and changed, thou seest:
 Therefore, farewell! at council and at feast
 Thy nobles shalt thou meet as thou hast done,
 Nor wilt thou more be strange to any one.”

So scarce had he done speaking, ere his wings
 Within the doorway of the hall did gleam,
 And then he vanished quite; and all these things
 Unto Jovinian little more did seem
 Than some distinct and well-remembered dream,
 From which one wakes amidst a feverish night,
 Taking the moonshine for the morning light.

Silent he stood, not moving for a while,
 Pondering o’er all these wondrous things, until
 The Queen arose from sleep, and with a smile,
 Said, “O fair lord, your great men by your will
 E’en as I speak the banquet-chamber fill,
 To greet thee amidst joy and revelling,
 Wilt thou not therefore meet them as a King?”

So from that place of marvels having gone,
 Half mazed, he soon was clad in rich array,
 And sat thereafter on his kingly throne,
 As though no other had sat there that day;
 Nor did a soul of all his household say
 A word about the man, who on that morn
 Had stood there, naked, helpless, and forlorn.

But ever day by day the thought of it
 Within Jovinian’s heart the clearer grew,
 As o’er his head the ceaseless time did flit,
 And everything still towards its ending drew,
 New things becoming old, and old things new;
 Till, when a moment of eternity
 Had passed, grey-headed did Jovinian lie

One sweet May morning, wakeful in his bed;
 And thought, “That day is thirty years a-gone
 Since useless folly came into my head,
 Whereby, before the steps of mine own throne,
 I stood in helpless agony alone,
 And of the wondrous things that there befell,
 When I am gone there will be none to tell:

“No man is now alive who doubts that he,
 Who bade thrust out the madman on that tide,
 Was other than the King they used to see:
 Long years have passed now, since the hermit died,
 So must I tell the tale, ere by his side
 I lie, lest it be unrecorded quite,
 Like a forgotten dream in morning light.

“Yea, lest I die ere night come, this same day
 Unto some scribe will I tell everything,
 That it may lie when I am gone away,
 Stored up within the archives of the King;
 And may God grant the words thereof may ring
 Like His own voice in the next corner’s ears!
 Whereby his folk shall shed the fewer tears.”

So it was done, and at the King’s command
 A clerk that day did note it every whit,
 And after by a man of skilful hand
 In golden letters fairly was it writ;
 Yet little heed the new King took of it
 That filled the throne when King Jovinian died,
 So much did all things feed his swelling pride.

But whether God chastised him in his turn,
 And he grew wise thereafter, I know not;
 I think by eld alone he came to learn
 How lowly on some day must be his lot.
 But ye, O Kings, think all that ye have got
 To be but gawds cast out upon some heap,
 And stolen the while the Master was asleep.

THE story done, for want of happier things,
 Some men must even fall to talk of kings;
 Some trouble of a far-off Grecian isle,
 Some hard Sicilian craftsman’s cruel guile
 Whereby he raised himself to be as God,
 Till good men slew him; the fell Persian rod
 As blighting as the deadly pestilence,
 The brazen net of armed men from whence
 Was no escape; The fir-built Norway hall
 Filled with the bonders waiting for the fall
 Of the great roof whereto the torch is set;
 The laughing mouth, beneath the eyes still wet
 With more than sea-spray, as the well-loved land
 The freeman still looks back on, while his hand
 Clutches the tiller, and the eastern breeze
 Grows fresh and fresher: many things like these
 They talked about, till they seemed young again,
 Remembering what a glory and a gain
 Their fathers deemed the death of kings to be.

And yet amidst it, some smiled doubtfully
 For thinking how few men escape the yoke,
 From this or that man’s hand, and how most folk
 Must needs be kings and slaves the while they live,
 And take from this man, and to that man give
 Things hard enow. Yet as they mused, again
 The minstrels raised some high heroic strain
 That led men on to battle in old times;
 And midst the glory of its mingling rhymes,
 Their hard hearts softened, and strange thoughts arose
 Of some new end to all life’s cruel foes.

ANALYTICAL SUMMARY
William Morris’s “The Proud King” is an epic journey to the world of despotic governments, arrogance and pride.  The poem serves as an allusion to the fall of many kingdoms on earth.  In the poem, we see a King whose leadership qualities are smeared with much material possession and power which make other Kings and people of his world to fear him.  In the first stanza of the poem, the poet persona says:
A king there dwelt, in rest and ease and fame,
And richer than the Emperor is to-day;
The very thought of what this man might say,
From dusk to dawn kept many a lord awake,
For fear of him did many a great man quake.

“The Proud King” illustrates some of the happenings in the seat of power today in the world.  It is a “journey” into the heart of kings and queens, leaders, and all who occupy different positions in different places.  Though epic in nature, the poem portrays pride and arrogance as the major causes of downfall of leaders and it is for this reason that “pride goes before downfall.”
The poem starts with the persona’s description of the proud king who governs an unknown nation.  This proud and arrogant king, Jovinian, commands great influence and power.  He is married to a noble woman. He reigns from his youthful age and his regime is characterised with terror. No one dares challenge his leadership style:
Young was he when he first sat on the throne,
And he was wedded to a noble wife,
But at the dais must he sit alone,
Nor durst a man speak to him for his life,
… nought knew he change or strife.

The proud king sees himself as a super human leader and begins to arrogate to himself the powers of God.  On “One May Morning”, he starts counting his titles and begins to write his own citation:
What need have I for temple or for priest?
Am I not God, while I live at least?

As the king is counting his royal glories, he falls asleep in his “golden bed.”  When he wakes he decides to go hunting with his men.  Later on, he comes across a riverside, he is drawn by nature to swim in the river but unknown to him his regalia grew wings and flew away.  After a happy exercise in the river, he could not see his regalia and for this reason, he begins to shout but no one responded to him.  He therefore, walks on the lonely road in a naked style.  What a humiliation!
But when he was fulfilled of this delight,
He gat him to the bank well satisfied,
And thought to do on him his raiment bright,
And homeward to his royal house to ride,
But ‘mazed and angry, looking far and wide,
Nought saw he of his horse and rich attire,
And ‘gainst thief ‘gan threaten vengeance dire.

This stanza tells us more about the power of the unknown.  When we as human begin to think that we have everything needed in life including the best security in the world, it is important we understand that our powers are limited.  In this stanza, the poet persona tells us that in spite of the king’s powers, an ordinary thief could humiliate him to go about naked.
However, when his servants are through with their business in the bush, they start to look for him.  They meet a man dressed in king’s apparel riding his horse.  They immediately start to hail him as the king not knowing that he is the Ranger in disguise.  He is served food “Beneath the canopy”. Important people gather around him while he shares ideas with them during the meal:
Now note, that while he thus was on his way,
And still his people for their master sought,
There met them one who in the King’s array,
Bestrode his very horse, and as they thought,
Was none but he in good time to them brought,
Therefore they hailed him king, and so all rode,
From out the forest to his fair abode.

In the same vein, the Queen comes out to pay him homage. “The Queen within his chamber greeted him.”  Surprisingly, the real king makes an appearance at the “Ranger’s” gate and blows his horn which attracted the “Porter” screaming on seeing the nakedness of the king not knowing who he is as that time.  Terrified at the sight, he requests that the man should go and put on his clothes.  Immediately, the king reveals his identity to the “Porter” and orders him to go and bring food and clothes:
The king cried out, “Open, O foolish man!
I am thy lord and king, Jovinian,
“Go now, and tell thy master I am here,
Desiring food and clothes, and in this plight,
And then hereafter need’st thou have no fear,
Because thou didst not know me at first sight.”

As the Porter leaves the presence of the king, the king becomes furious and out of frustration begins to bang at the mighty gate.  As a result of this, the Porter insults him and threatens to smite him for forcing into his master’s house.  The real king in rage walks out of the porter without any regard for him:
With that his visage vanished from the gate,
But when the king now found himself alone,
He hurled himself against the might gate,
And beat upon it madly with a stone.

However, the fake king (the ranger) grants the “Squire” the permission to bring in the Porter and the real king who is appearing naked.  The Proud King sees this as an avenue to claim his kingship from the Ranger who has faked his identity.  This seems to be a portrayal of the present day predicament of some leaders who assume leadership roles without the blessings of their people.  When the power they claim to have begins to choke them, they run for their safety.  In this episode, the Ranger (the fake king) and King Jovinian continue to argue about their kingship and their royal lineage which the Ranger has no claim.  As a result of this, the real king asks the Ranger “How long hast thou been plotting secretly?” King Jovinian orders the Ranger to give him his royal garments which he steals from him otherwise he will command his armies to fight for him.  “Reach me that clock that lieth on the board” / “Armies will rise up when I nod my head”.  The Ranger humiliates him more by calling him a mad man.  He, therefore, asks his servants to give him food and clothes:
Good fellows, this poor creature is but mad,
Take him, and in a coat let him be clad,
And give him meat and drink, and on this night.

Reacting to the insult, King Jovinian angrily curses the Ranger while calling him “Judas” and “Traitor” for plotting to dethrone him.  King Jovinian out of anger and deep frustration, he exhibits the madness in him as he runs around the palace not knowing where to go.  He finally falls by the roadside in confusion:
MEANWHILE the real king by the roadside lay,
Panting, confused, scarce knowing if he dreamed,
Until at last, when vanished was the day,
Through the dark night far off a bright light gleamed;
Which growing quickly, down the road there streamed,
The glare of torches, held by men who ran
Before the litter of a mighty man.

Furthermore, after three decades, the king begins to discover how his proud and arrogant nature have made him mad in his sanity.  He regrets his actions on the throne.  Because age is no longer on his side, he decides to make known his “mad” experiences as he journeys in his kingship.  He invariably tells his own tale:
No man is now alive who doubts that he,
Who bade thrust out the madman on that tide,
Was other than the king they used to see:
Long years have passed now, since the hermit died,
So must I tell the tale, ere by his side,
I lie, lest it be unrecorded quite,
Like a forgotten dream in morning light.

The essence of this tale is for posterity and for record purpose:
Unto some scribe will I tell everything,
That it may lie when I am gone away,
Stored up within the archives of the king.

In conclusion, William Morris “The Proud King” is a story of a certain king whose flaw is pride and the travails he goes through to come to understanding that his position is given to him by God. He lost his kingship but when he repents and learns through the hard way, he regains his kingdom. It is, therefore, a moral lesson to all Kings, Queens and Leaders of all kinds.
FORM AND STRUCTURE
The poem has one hundred and twenty stanzas of seven lines each except stanzas one hundred and eighteen which has ten lines, one hundred and nineteen with nine lines and one hundred and twenty which contains eleven lines.
STANZA BY STANZA ANALYSIS
Stanza one begins with the poetic narration of an epic journey of an unnamed King in an unknown land whose power and leadership style make his subjects to tremble with fear. The poet makes us to understand that this man’s wealth is greater than that of the “Emperor”. The thought of this King keeps other leaders “awake” because of his mighty power:
The very thought of what this man might say,
From dust to dawn kept many a lord awake,
For fear of him did many a great man quake.

Stanza two tells us about the nature of the king when he starts his Kingship.  The poet describes him as a young man who marries a noble wife but sits alone on his throne.  No one speaks to him without permission.  This man ruled even in his old age:
Young was he when he first sat on the throne,
And he wedded to a noble wife,
But at the dais must he sit alone,
Nor durst a man speak to him for his wife,
Except with leave…

In stanza three, the poet begins to indicate that this king is a proud man as he recounts his titles and achievements and being aware that no one challenges him even when he does any wrong.
Stanza four is a continuation of stanza three.  It elongates the king’s pride and arrogance.  He starts seeing himself as his own maker because no one doubts his power:
For no man now could give him dread or doubt
Then swelled his vain, unthinking heart with pride
“Am I not God, whiles that I live at least”.

In stanza five, the poet makes the readers to understand that the king in question has assumed immortality though his forebears died years past. This is because he sees his kingship as a mighty one:
… “Still I may not die,
Though underneath the earth my fathers lie,
My sire indeed was called a mighty king.

Stanza six is a metaphor of long reigning king who compares his kingdom to his grandchildren: “His kingdom was: moreover his grandsire”.  In stanza seven, the poet gives us an insight into the King’s meditation about past leaders who occupied the same position he is having and counts himself as lucky to occupy such an enviable status.  In stanza nine, the king is seen as being happy because he has all that he needs including security.  Feeling happy, the king in stanzas ten and eleven decides to gather his aids to escort him to a riverside where he enjoys himself with the freshness of the water.  However, in stanza twelve, the king becomes angry for his royal attire is missing after his happy play in the river:
And homeward to his royal house to ride,
But “mazed and angry, looking far and wide,
Nought saw he of his horse and rich attire,
And “gainst the thief”  gan threaten vengeance dire,

His anger continues in stanza thirteen but his disgrace is not to be amended: “And o’er the stream still plied his fluttering trade, / of such a helpless man not much afraid.”
In stanza fourteen, the king journeys in anguish to the Ranger’s house without his royal garment after much outcry in that lonely riverside. His journey towards the Ranger’s house continues in stanzas fifteen and sixteen, some people see the ranger in the King’s attire, greet him without knowing him as the Ranger.  In the process, the King’s aids come out and give him his Kingly greetings and escort him to his destination:
Now note, that while he thus was on his way,
And still his people for their master sought,
There met them one who in the King’s array,
From out the forest to his fair abode.

In stanza seventeen, the Ranger takes counsel with the elders and lords as is due for the King but in disguise and to crown it all, the Queen comes out from the chamber to greet him:
And there in royal guise he sat at meat
And there that city’s elders did he see
And with his lords took counsel…,
The Queen within his chamber greeted him.

It was in stanza eighteen that the real King appears at the Rangers gate in naked.  Banging and shouting at the gate, the porter comes out to behold a naked man standing:
Leave we him there; for to the ranger’s gate,
The other came, and on the horn he blew,
Till peered the wary porter…,
But when he saw him standing there, he cried,
What dost thou friend, to show us all thine hide?

Stanzas nineteen and twenty showcase the humiliation which the real King, Jovinian passes through before his subjects at the Ranger’s gate.  The porter here asks the King to go and cover himself with clothes which God has given freely even to the “beast” while the King tries to make his identity known:
Go home and get thyself a shirt at least,
That God hath given clothes e’en to the beast,
The King cried out, “Open, o foolish man!
I am thy lord and King, Jovinian.

He tells the porter to go and tell his lord that he is in need of food and clothes:
Go now, and tell thy master I am here
Desiring food and clothes…

The porter leaves the King alone at the gate and out of frustration and anger, he hits the gate with stone in stanza twenty one:
But when the King now found himself alone,
He hurled himself against the mighty gate,
And beat upon it madly with a stone,

The King’s noise at the gate attracts the porter’s attention again in stanza twenty two.  He promises the King that he will be allowed to see his master if he will give him the opportunity to speak with him:
And there the porter stood, brown-billed in hand,
And said…,
Thou shalt be gladder soon hereby to go,
Come, willy nilly, thou shalt tell this tale,
Unto my lord, if aught it may avail.

The porter with club in hand drags the King away from the gate but the King bypasses him in anger as seen in stanzas twenty three and twenty four.  In stanza twenty five, the poet describes the ranger’s house as being “fair, white and new” and that the King constructs the house for him as his delight and Queen’s servant:
Fair was the ranger’s house and new and white,
And by the King built scare a year gone,
For much he loved this lord, who erst had been,
… a servant of the queen.

The ranger is busy enjoying himself with wine and admiring the evening sun and his happy home in stanza twenty-six when a squire comes in stanza twenty-seven to inform him about the real King’s presence at the gate in his nakedness:
From just outside loud mock merriment
He heard midst this; and therewithal a squire
Came hurrying up, his laughter scarcely spent
Who said, “My lord, a man in such attire
As Adam’s ere he took the devil’s hire.
Who saith that thou wilt know him for the King.

The ranger permits the squire to go and bring forth the king so that he will be charge with treason as the squire suggests to him in stanza twenty-eight:
“…As doth my lord: wilt thou that he be brought?
Perchance some treason ‘neath his madness lies”

Stanza twenty-nine brings out the conflict in the kingship of the real king and that of ranger’s Kingdom.  Stanzas twenty-nine to thirty-two are filled with confrontational dialogue between the king and the ranger about the real owner of the kingship which the ranger usurps.  In stanza twenty-nine, the real king says to the ranger:
“Thou wonderest how I came to win,
This raiment, that kings long have ceased to wear,
Since Noah’s flood has altered all the air?

This illustrates that his stolen royal attire has indeed altered his regime as the King and he has come to claim back his title and royal attire.
Furthermore, in stanza thirty, lines 204 to 207, the King demands for his royal attire from the ranger hence it is through this outfit that King is known:
Reach me that clock that lieth on the board,
For certes, though thy folk are real and true,
It seemeth that they deem a mighty lord,
Is made by crown, and silken robe, and sword;

The ranger in stanza thirty-two, lines 217 – 223, insults the real king by calling him a mad man who requires clothing:
Good fellows, this poor creature is but mad (line 222)
Take him, and in a coat let him be clad; (line 223).

In stanza thirty-three, the ranger asks his aids to give food and shelter to the King so that in future he may recover from his madness and becomes sane:
And give him meat and drink, and on this night,
Beneath some roof of ours let him abide,
For some day God may set his folly right

But the King in anger curses the ranger, his food and his house:
“Woe to thy food, thy house, and thee betide,
Thou loath some traitor! …

In stanza thirty-four, the King’s anger increases as he threatens to burn the palace to ashes: “I will burn this vile place utterly”.  He further sees the ranger and his cohorts as Judas who betrayed his master, Jesus Christ:
I, I, will burn this vile place utterly
That so such Judases may grow afraid.

In stanza thirty-five, the King runs out from the ranger’s presence and in confusion moves forth and back in anger until he exhausts his strength and falls by the road side.  Stanza thirty-six is crafted to make the ranger happy as he counts his increase in power:
Pout for the ranger, left alone in peace
He bade his folk bring in the minstrelsy
And thinking of his life, and fair increase
Of all his goods, a happy man was he

Stanza thirty-seven is a continuation of the anger which overtakes the real king.  He sleeps by the road side mocking himself before passersby and onlookers without really knowing what he is doing:
MEANWHILE the real king by the road-side lay
Panting, confused, scare knowing if he dreamed
The glare of torches, held by men who ran
Before the litter of a mighty man.

The frustration in the King’s life continues in stanza thirty-eight as people who he commands comes beside him to see that the King is the one who falls by the road-side.  The people inquiries how this great man comes to this nothingness:
These mixed with solders soon the road did fill,
And on their harness could the King behold,
A counselor, a gatherer-up of gold,
Who underneath his rule had now grown old,
Then wrath and bitterness so filled his heart.

In stanza thirty-nine, the King accuses Duke Peter of working and supporting the usurpers of his Kingship and urges him to continue to mingle with liars:
“Well met, Duke Peter! ever art thou wise
Surely thou wilt not let a day go by
Ere thou art good friends with mine enemies
O fit to rule within a land of lies.

In stanzas forty and forty one, the passersby mocked the King and ask him to follow them to their lord who will pay him wages for his “ribald word” instead of taking him for a mad man.  The King berates them for cajoling him. He warns them in stanza forty two to be careful because when he takes over his authority, he will judge them accordingly:
But now he said, “Man, thou wert cursing me,
If these folk heard aright; what wilt thou then,
Deem’st thou that I have done some wrong to thee,
When on the judgment seat thou see’st me sit,
And I will give no careless ear to it”.

Stanza forty three is an allusion to the denial of Jesus Christ in the Bible by Peter one of the Apostles. The King recalls how his ranger betrays him and robes him of his royal attire:
Who gave thee all thy riches and thy place
– Well – if thou canst, deny me, with such grace
As by the fire-light Peter swore of old
When in that Maundy-week the night was cold

The King goes on to defend himself before the people who gather around him that he is the King and the people informs him that he is telling them an incredible story in stanza forty-four:
– Alas! Canst thou not see I am the King?”
And the King saw the dread foreshadowing,
Within the elder’s proud and stony gaze,
“Friend, a strange story thou art pleased to tell,

Stanza forty-five is a caricature of the real King.  He is informed that the fake King will not pity him for his madness rather he will be given some money to buy himself some food and pieces of clothing so that he can leave the town:
The King is not a man to pity thee,
Poor fool! Take this, and with the light of day,
Buy food and raiment of some labouring clown,
And by my counsel keep thee from town.

Stanzas forty-six, forty-seven and forty-eight illustrate Parts of the humiliation meted out to the real King.  It becomes clear to the proud king that he has lost his Kingdom to the ranger who has already issued out a new coin for the people.  Even the image of the fake king is put on the royal robe without regard to other men.  When the real king sees the ranger’s image stamped on his attire he laments over his lost Kingdom:
There stood the king, with limbs that ‘gan to fail,
… holding in his trembling hand,
A coin new stamped for people of the land,
Thereon, with scepter, crown, and royal robe,
The image of a King, himself, was wrought,
And the poor wretch muttered,
“I wish the day would ne’er come back,
If all that once I had now must lack.

The proud King sorrowfully wanders away on a lonely road until his anger, misery and weariness go away in his sleep in stanza forty-nine.  In this stanza, sleep is used as a psychopathic therapy for anger and frustration:
Then down the lonely road he wandered yet,
Till he began his sorrows to forget
And, steeped in drowsiness…
A grassy bank, where worn with misery
He slept the dreamless sleep of weariness.

Stanza fifty is an exploration of the benefits of sleep therapy whenever one is angry and is faced with frustration.  Here the real King wakes from his slumber and begins to see things a new.  He embraces the feeling of hope William Morris is invariably recommending sleep as a medicine for curing and frustration.  This is evident in the life of the real King who after his sleep becomes a new person.  From this analysis, it is important to note that sleep can make us more productive, more powerful and courageous in our character:
But at the dawn he woke, nor knew at first,
What ugly chain of grief had brought him there,
Nor why he felt so wretched and accursed;
At last remembering, the fresh morning air,
The rising sun, and all things fresh and fair,
Yet caused some little hope in him to rise,
That end might come to these new miseries.

From stanza fifty-one, the proud King starts to journey towards redemption.  He walks quietly to his palace in order not to attract attention of people at the city’s market.  When he finally arrived at his gate, some of his kinsmen come out and mock him but a man called Christopher a – Green, a merchant offers him assistant:
But when he drew unto the very gate,
Into the throng of country-folk he came,
Of whom some mocked, and some cried at him shame,
But one into his wagon drew him up,
And gave him milk from out a beechen cup (stanza 52)

In stanzas fifty three, fifty four, fifty five and fifty six, the proud king narrates his experiences to Christopher a – Green, a merchant from another country who takes him to the palace in his wagon and offers him good assistance.  As the King enters the Kings doors, one of kinsmen berates him for running mad but he pleads and beckons on the man to clothe him with his royal gown promising to pay him double his wages.  It is in stanzas fifty seven, fifty eight and fifty nine that the king and his kinsman has this dialogue:
Of the king’s household, seeing him all bare,
And bloody, cried out, “Whither dost thou fare?
Sure thou art seventy times more mad than mad
Thou shalt have a good reward of me
If thou wilt clothe me in fair weed again
For now to see my council…

The King’s people did not welcome him back. From their words in stanza sixty, one notices that they are seeing the King as an insane who needs healing.
In stanza sixty one, the King is shown a room where his own guards intentionally mocks him and refuse to carryout his instructions.  It becomes clearer to him that he may not win the battle:
So to the guard-room was Jovinian brought,
Where his own soldiers mocked him bitterly,
And all his desperate words they heeded nought;
Until at last there came to him this thought,
That never from this misery should he win,

In stanza sixty two, it becomes ironical that the soldiers who obeys the King’s instructions at every command can now mock him.  The King becomes a parody of his own personality as he is rejected in his own community.  This is a manifestation of a falling kingdom.  The poet makes these vividly thus:
And terrible it seemed, that everything,
So utterly was changed since yesterday,
That these who were soldiers of the King,
Ready to lie down in common way,
Before him, …
Now stood and mocked him, knowing not the face,
At whose command each man there had his place.

The King in stanza sixty three agrees that he is a parody of his own downfall because things have changed.  According to the poet the King’s present predicament is like a dream:
“Ah, God!” said he, “is this another earth
From that whereon I stood two days ago?
Or else in sleep have I had second birth?
Or among mocking shadows do I go,
Unchanged myself of flesh and fell, although
And meanwhile all are changed that I meet here;

Stanza sixty four is a counsel deliberation on the position of the proud king who is seeking audience with the elders headed by the fake king, the ranger.  The soldiers seek for permission from the counsel to bring in the Proud King who has brought dishonour to the fake king, the ranger:
Amid his wretched thoughts two sergeants came
Who said, “Hold, sirs! Because the King would see
The man who thus so rashly brings him shame,

Stanza sixty five portrays another humiliation of the Proud King who is bound hands together and is ushered into the palace hall by two soldiers to defend his Kingship.  In stanza sixty six, the Proud King makes a declaration that he either takes back his kingship or he dies and his name becomes nothingness:
As now he though. “Lo, here shall end the strife;
For either shall I sit on mine own seat,
Known unto all, …
Or else is this the ending of my life,
And a vain name in records shall I be.”

Stanza sixty seven reflects the disregard and dishonour given to King Jovinian by the fake king and his counselors during the counsel session.  Even the Queen did not notice his presence in the palace.  He trembles:
Therewith he raised his head up, and beheld
One clad in gold set on his royal throne,
Gold-crowned, whose hand the ivory scepter held;
And underneath him sat the Queen alone,
Ringed round with standing lords, of whom not one,
Did aught but utmost reverence unto him;
Then did Jovinian shake in every limb.

The two kings continue to prove their kingship to the counsel elders as they listen.  In stanza sixty eight, the proud king and the other one look eye ball to eyeball as they slog it out.  The fake king in stanza sixty nine tries to prove his kingship but to no avail:
I am Jovinian; yes though none gainsay,
If on these very stones thou shouldst me slay,
And though no friend be left for me to moan.

The proud king is able to prove his lineage as emanating from the Queen who gives birth to him in his father’s house.  The Proud King asks the elders not to regard the fake King’s words instead they should accept whatever the Queen says.  Thinking that the Queen’s declaration will favour him.  We see this long argument in stanzas sixty nine, seventy, seventy one and the judgement is settled in stanza seventy two where the Queen describes the fake king’s body and the elders declares him the King:
“Thou, O fair Queen, say now whose face is this!”
Then cried they, “Hail O Lord Jovinian
Long mayst thou live! “and the Queen knelt to kiss
His gold-shod feet…
“Thou art the man.
By whose side I have lain for many a year
Thou art my lord Jovinian lief and dear.”

In stanza seventy three, the King tells the dethroned Proud King to be humbly and accept that he is no longer the King so that he will allow him to stay in his house as long as he wishes:
Then said he, “O thou wretch, hear now and see!
If thou wilt kneel down humbly and avow
Thou art no king…
Thou art indeed, in mine house shalt thou live.

The unhappy king becomes furious and the resists the King’s order to him in stanza seventy four where he tells the King that he is lying against him who comes from the family of Kings:
“Thou liest, “he said, “I am Jovinian,
Come of great kings; nor am I such a man
As still to live when all delight is gone,
As thou might’st do, who sittest on my throne.”

The King wishes the dethroned King not to dies but to live as he wishes, a lonely man who was once a King.  This is the summary of stanza seventy-five.  In stanzas seventy-six and seventy-seven, the dethroned King discovers that none of his former guards or any of his people is moved with pity or any show of concern for him:
Then wildly round the hall Jovinian gazed,
Turning about to many a well-known face
But none of all his folk seemed grieved or mazed,
But stood unmoved, each in his wonted place;

From stanza seventy-eight to eighty-one, the palace guard drag the unhappy King out of the palace until they leave in the street and wishes him not to return to the palace again.  In this stanzas, it becomes clear that the Proud King has been denied by his courtiers, the Queen and his servants.  As a result of this, he is driven with humiliation from his own palace:
Yea, as the sergeants laid their hands on him,
The mighty hound that crouched before the throne,
Flew at him fain to tear him limb from limb
They thrust him out, and as he passed the poor,
But from the place they dragged him through the gate,
Where through he oft had rid in royal state.
… They loosed their hold and said
“Thus saith by us our Lord the King,
Dwell now in peace, but yet be not so bold
To come again, or thy lies to cling.

In stanza eighty-two, the Proud King starts wander about: “And still wandered on and knew not where”.  Until he begins to reflect about his life in stanza eighty-three.  He decides to visit the hermit whom he consulted when first came to the throne:
…it came into his mind,
A priest dwelt there, a hermit wise and old,
Whom he had ridden oftentimes to find,
In days when first the sceptre  he did hold,
And had good counsel from him.

In stanza eighty-four, he continues his visit to the hermit and makes resolution to make amend to his life if only he sees the priest who he believes will seek the face of God on his behalf:  He rhetorically asks “Will he remember me?”
From stanza eighty-five, the Proud King begins a spiritual dialogue with the hermit towards his rediscovery and re-establishment.  He humbles himself before the hermit and prays for God’s blessing and favour.  Like David in the Bible, the unhappy King prays for forgiveness and for God to restore him back to his former position.  The hermit assures him that God can pardon his sins in stanza eighty-six:
The hermit said; “if thou seek” St Soul’s health…,
Right little will such words as this avail;
It were a better deed to shrive thee clear,
And take the pardon Christ has brought so dear.

In stanza eighty-seven, the unhappy King humbly takes his complain before God through the invitation of the hermit and allusively prays that prayer which David prayed in Psalm 51 as he complain about his lost kingdom:
So to his hut he got him back again,
And fell the unhappy king upon his knees,
And unto God at last he did complain,
Saying, “Lord God, what bitter things are these?
What hast thou done, that every man that sees
This wretched body of my death is fain?
O Lord God, give me back myself again!

The Proud King continues to lament about his present predicament before God.  He asks rhetorically why his people desert him and why all the troubles around him.  In his own words in stanzas eighty-eight, eighty-nine and ninety, he pours out his lamentation and supplication to God:
Why hast thou made me now this wretched King?
Why am I hated so of every one?
Look down, of folly I have had my fill,
And am but now as first thou madest me
Weak, yielding clay to take impress of thee

In stanza ninety-one, the unhappy king’s cry attracts the hermit who becomes very much surprise at such show of repentance from the King and he asks:
…”Alas! My master and my son,
Is this a dream my wearied eyes behold?
What doleful wonder now shall I be told?

In stanza ninety-two, the unhappy king acknowledges that his problems are as a result of his sins.  He is now gradually approaching his redemption:
A strange surprise of joy therewith there came
To that worn heart; he said, “For some great sin
The Lord my God has brought me unto same;

The unhappy King begins to see a new hope as he trusts in the redemptive power of Christ.  He believes that God humbles the Proud and elevates the lowly:
… surely God is good,
And will not slay me, and good hope I have
Of help from Him that died upon the road,
And is a mighty lord to slay and save

He asks the hermit to clothe him and give him some food to eat:
If thou wilt give me of thy poorest weed
And some rough food, the which I sorely need.

So that his sins can be wiped away from him.  The hermit in stanza ninety-four offers the King clothes and food after which he asks him his request:
“Then of my sins thou straight shalt strive me clean.”
Then weeping said the holy man, “Dear Lord,
What heap of woes upon thine head has been?
Enter, O King, take this rough gown and cord,
And scanty food, my hovel can afford;
And tell me everything thou hast to say;
And then the High God speed thee on thy way”

After he has been clothed by the hermit, he reveals to him his life both good and bad including all the things that his pride has made him to do while on the throne in stanza ninety-five:
So when in coarse serge raiment he was clad,
He told him all his pride had made him think;
And showed him of his life both good and bad

In stanza ninety-six, the old hermit prepares the unhappy King to go and take his lawful position as the King after humbling himself and repenting from his proud ways. His journey home is an unceremonious one with happiness in his heart after years of frustration and humiliation:
- Then he made ready for the King his ass,
And bade again, God speed him on the way,
And down the road the King made haste to pass
With sober joy for troubles passed away;

In stanza ninety-seven, the King arrives the city gate without much notice.  When one of the warders notice his presence, he agrees with his fellow not to show any form of respect to the King if he passes them:
“So to the city gate being come at last,
He noted there two ancient warders stand,
Whereof one looked askance as he went past,
And whispered low behind his held-up hand,
Unto his mate, “The King, who gave command
That if disguised he passed this gate to-day,
No reverence we should do him on the way.”

The King Journeys onwards the streets till he gets to the palace in stanzas ninety-eight and ninety-nine.  In stanza ninety-nine in particular, the King arrives home with a warm welcome from the royal family.  This is done as a divine ordinance otherwise how would the same people who rejected him humble themselves before him to greet him:
Withal unto the palace being cone,
He lighted down thereby and entered,
And once again it seemed his royal home,
Folk again before him bowed the head;
And to him came a Squire, who softly said,
“The Queen awaits thee, o my lord the king,
Within the little hall where minstrels sing,

In stanzas one hundred and one hundred and one, the Squire leads the King to meet the Queen who is already in a deep sleep.
To prove the divine establishment of Jovinian’s kingship, when the fake king sees Jovinian, he becomes angry but suddenly, Jovinian is mythically enrobed in stanzas one hundred and two and one hundred and three.  In stanza one hundred and two, the narrator informs us thus:
But when the King stepped forth with angry eye
And would have spoken, came a sudden light,
And changed was that other utterly;
For he was clad in robe of shining white,
In wrought with flowers of unnamed colours bright,

In stanza one hundred and three, the narrator says:
And from his shoulders did two wings arise,
That with the swaying of his body, played
This way and that; of strange and lovely dyes,
Their feathers were, and wonderfully made,
And now he spoke, “O King, be not dismayed,
Or think my coming here so strange to be,
For oft ere this have I been close to thee.

In stanzas one hundred and four, one hundred and five, one hundred and six and one hundred and seven, we hear the mythical angel admonishing the King, reminding how he lost his kingship, how he humbles himself and how God finally forgives him and restores him back to his lost glory.  This is to prove to the King that there is a power or being greater than him which he acknowledges and finally bows to.  Precisely in stanza one hundred and four, the angel tells him how God can make and mar anyone whom He chooses according to his laws:
And now thou knowest in how short a space
The God that made the world can unmake thee,
And though He alter in no whit thy face,
Can make all folk forget thee utterly.

However, in stanza one hundred and eight, the angel tells Jovinian to stay welt and consider all that he has instructed him.  In the words of the angel thus:
“Now must I go, nor wilt thou see me more,
Until the day, when, unto thee at least,
This world is gone and an unmeasured shore,
Where all is wonderful and changed, thou seest:
Therefore, farewell! At council and at feast
Thy nobles shalt thou meet as thou hast done,
Nor wilt thou more be strange to any one.”

Stanza one hundred and nine makes the disappearance of the angel and the King looks like someone walking up from a trance trying to remember the things of the dream world:
So scarce had he done speaking, ere his wings,
Within the doorway of the hall did gleam,
And then he vanished quite; and all these things,
Unto Jovinian little more did seem,
Than some distinct and well-remembered dream,
From which one wakes amidst a feverish night,

In stanzas one hundred and ten, one hundred and eleven and one hundred and twelve, the lords of the palace gather in the council chambers to pay homage to King Jovinian.  The Queen then wakes up from her sleep to invite the King to meet the lords of the palace:
The Queen arose from sleep, and with a smile.
Said, “O fair lord, your great men by your will,
E’ en as I speak the banquet-chamber fill,
To greet thee amidst joy and reveling,
Wilt thou not therefore meet them as a King?”

Jovinian becomes amazed that such a thing would be done to him again.  As he ponders how he rose from grace to grass and grass to grace, he decides to tell his story to his people.  He then invites a secretary to put down his words together so that coming generations may know the true story of the King who becomes mad out of his own pride and later assumes his Kingly status due to his humane and repentant disposition in the end.  From stanza one hundred and thirteen to one hundred and twenty, the Kings documentary is played out since the hermit who assisted him to seek the face of God is no more.  In stanza one hundred and fourteen, the King puts it thus:
Long years have passed now, since the hermit died,
So must I tell the tale, ere by his side,
I lie, lest it be unrecorded quite,
Like a forgotten dream in morning light.

In summary, therefore, “The Proud King” is an epic story of a certain King who assumed the position of a god through pride and arrogance but such a judgment fell on him that he becomes mad and dethroned until the end when humbling himself before God and man regained his Kingdom and honour.
TONE AND MOOD
The mood of the poem is that of sadness expressed in the satirical tone associated with pride in the life of the King who sees himself as above every other creature. The king becomes sad because of the humiliation he is made to go through. He is subjected to mockery, dethroned and finally humbles himself to take back his position at the end. The mood of the poem, therefore, moves from sadness to happiness.  A serious warning tone is used at the end of the poem to direct his message to all those who are in position of authority for them to remember that “pride goes before downfall.”

FIGURES OF SPEECH
ALLUSION
There are some biblical allusions in the poem such as:
“As Adam’s, ere he took the devils hire” (line 185)
This is an allusion to the biblical Adam who disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden.
“As by the fire-light Peter swore of old” (line 296)
“When in that Maundy-week the night was cold” (line 297)
This is an allusion to the denial of Jesus Christ by Peter, one of his apostles.
“That so such Judases may grow afraid” (line 236)
This is an allusion to the biblical Judas who sold his master, Jesus Christ.

SIMILE
This usually compares two unlike things.  Some examples of simile used in the poem include:
“Like a forgotten dream in morning light” (line 735)
“Like His own voice in the next corner’s ears!” (line 734)
“As blighting as the deadly pestilence” (line 762)

RHETORICAL QUESTION
Rhetorical questions are questions asked not demanding any answer but for emphatic purposes.
Examples in the poem include:
Oh God! How long is it since I was king?
Nor lacked enough to wish for anything? (lines 330 & 331)
“What is thy name? In what place dost thou live? (line 373)
“… have I had second birth?” (line 433)
“Where art thou, robber of my majesty? (line 473)
“Ah, what is this? Who reigneth in my stead? (line 211)
“How long has thou been plotting secretly?” (line 212)

REPETITION
Examples of repetition in the poem include:
“May morning” – (lines 15 & 721)
God – (lines 28, 219, 226, 232, 330, etc.)
Morning – (lines 15, 64, etc.)
The Queen – (lines 118, 174, 462, 494, 496, etc.)
The King – (lines 155, 161, 169, 189, 258, 300, 315, etc.)
Christopher – (lines 377 & 391)
Jovinian – (lines 452, 511, 523, etc.)

ALLITERATION
“May morning /m/ consonant sound – (line 15)
“step after step” /s;t/ sounds (line 44)
“so said he” /s/ sound – (line 567)
“his hands” /h/ sound – (line 96)
“visage vanished” /v/ sound (line 140)
“… back is broad /b/ sound (line 160)
There are other examples of alliteration in the poem.

ASSONANCE
“Mad than mad” – /æ/ sound (line 401)
“Thou hast had” – /æ/ sound (line 402)
“That had” – /æ/ sound (line 529)
“… have I had” – /æ/ sound (line 433)
“so bold” – /әu/ sound (line 559)

EUPHEMISM
“That it may lie when I am gone away” (line 737)
RHYME
“The Proud King” has end rhymes.  The rhyming patterns are not consistent.  The dominant rhyming scheme in the poem varies.  In stanza one for instance, we have the rhyming scheme as ab ab acc.  In stanza two, we have ab ab bcc.  Each stanza has its own pattern.  For this reason, the poem has irregular rhyming pattern.Non-African Poetry for WAEC/NECO 2016-2020
THEMES
1. Pride goes before a fall
2. The dethronement of a King
3. The fall of a King and the rise of a servant.
4. The supremacy of God
5. Forgiveness through repentance.

DICTION
The language of the poem is sophisticated with the use of old English expressions.  Wit and sarcasm are combined to bring out the subject matter of the poem. The poem becomes an interesting journey for its sarcastic tone and painful mood.  In spite of the use of old English expressions, the poem is accessible with an explicit ideology.
REVISION QUESTIONS
1. How does the saying “pride goes before a fall” applies to the personality of Jovinial in the poem?
2. Discuss the structure of the poem.
3. Discuss any three themes derived from the poem.
4. Situate the subject matter of the poem to the present world leaders.  Give detailed examples.
5. Discuss any four poetic devices used in the poem.