Some Remarks on the Poetry of Robinson

I just read the intro lines of Robinson's Merlin and am so impressed with his control of meter and with the lyricism of his verse. Not 50 lines in, and already I see something that I loved from reading Tristram:

—Once he said	30
To Gawaine: “You are young; and that being so,
Behold the shining city of our dreams
And of our King.”—“Long live the King,” said Gawaine.—
“Long live the King,” said Merlin after him;
“Better for me that I shall not be King;	35
Wherefore I say again, Long live the King,
And add, God save him, also, and all kings—
All kings and queens. I speak in general.
Kings have I known that were but weary men
With no stout appetite for more than peace	40
That was not made for them.”—“Nor were they made
For kings,” Gawaine said, laughing.—“You are young,
Gawaine, and you may one day hold the world
Between your fingers, knowing not what it is
That you are holding. Better for you and me,	45
I think, that we shall not be kings.”

I think that one of the things which turns a lot of readers away from something like this is the repetition of particular lines, such as "Long live the King" (33, 34, 36) and "Better for me" (35)/ "Better for you and me" (45). But it is lines like this, when used appropriately, which add to the lyricism of the poem. "Long live the King" establishes at first an understanding (a "brotherly" understanding, if you will) between Gawaine and Merlin. Interestingly, the third instance of "Long live the King" appears in the line immediately following the second repeated phrase, "Better for me":

“Better for me that I shall not be King;	35
Wherefore I say again, Long live the King,

What is interesting about this is that we have the repeating phrases "locked" together, in a certain sense, so that it follows according to this pattern: L,L,B,L,B (L="Long live the King; B="Better for me/Better for you and me"). In accord with this pattern, the meaning is built upon by this repetition. At first, as I've mentioned, the L phrases establish an understanding between the two characters. The third L then shifts so that it modifies the first B phrase; this third L phrase supports the fact that it is good for matters that Merlin is not King, rather than simply being a point of understanding between the two. From this point forward, then, Merlin reflects on this B phrase, ending with the second B phrase. At this second B phrase, the major shift is from "me that I," to "you and me...that we". This means that the repetition-link begins with their statements of brotherly understanding [L] and ends with a phrase which affirms their brotherhood; it is better for both of them that they shall not be king.

This whole matter is interesting, because it shows what can be done using these older poetic techniques. This whole matter of kingship reminds me of a particular passage from Tristram which also uses repetition, but not quite the same way. I'll forego the analysis of this, however, so that I can concentrate more on the meaning of this passage, which is truly beautiful, and makes you sympathetic towards Gouvernail [I don't have line #'s for this one, but it takes place just before the close of part IV]:

                                                       Whether you take your crown
                         In Lyoness or not, you will be king
                         Wherever you are. Many by chance are crowned
                         As kings that are born rather to be tinkers,
                         Or farmers, or philosophers, or farriers,
                         Or barbers, or almost anything under God
                         Than to be kings. Whether you will or not,
                         You are a king, Tristram, for you are one
                         Of the time-sifted few that leave the world,
                         When they are gone, not the same place it was.
                         Mark what you leave.

These are Gouvernail's words to Tristram just after he is banished from Cornwall, supposedly forever from Isolt. This is such an uplifting statement to a friend that it's hard not to feel sympathetic towards Gouvernail; you feel that he must care for his foster-son with an open heart, bearing the seal of friendship open to Tristram. "Many by chance are crowned," he says, "that are born rather to be...almost anything under God than to be kings"; many are born into our artificial sense of royalty, but "you are a king, Tristram," for you are not a dime a dozen. You, Tristram [says Gouvernail] matter.

Robinson has employed this sort of uplifting technique elsewhere, and with much more economy. One look at "Momus" will be evidence enough of this:

“What are poets to find here?”—	15
Have no fear:
When the stars are shining blue
There will yet be left a few
Themes availing—
And these failing,	20
Momus, there’ll be you.

While these lines don't explicitly say that Momus is a true king, as Gouvernail does to Tristram, they still imply that this is what the speaker [who goes unnamed] is getting at. It is this sort of optimism which I think goes unnoticed in Robinson. The poet himself seems to have known this, as he wrote in an epitaph to himself: "He was unpopular during his life, on account of his incurable optimism." Unfortunately, he is unpopular after his lifetime due to the fact that no one can notice this optimism in his verse. Or maybe it's just because people don't read verse, let alone metric verse. Perhaps this would have been fine with him. If this is fine, then I think it's appropriate to direct Gouvernail's lines towards Robinson: He will be king wherever he goes, for he is one of the time-sifted few who doesn't bend to the pressures of common taste, but leaves the world different than it was, or has ever been.