Lais Robert Earl of Huntingun Lies Robert Earl of Huntington
Near arcir der as hie sa geud Never archer there as he so good
An pipl kauld im Robin Heud And people called him Robin Hood
Sic utlaws as hi an is men Such outlaws as him and his men
Vil England nivr si agen. Will England never see again
~ Obiit 24 Kal Dekembris 1247
We have a visit to Sherwood Forest today, with Alfred Noyes of The Highwayman fame:
A Song of Sherwood
by Alfred Noyes
Sherwood in the twilight, is Robin Hood awake?
Grey and ghostly shadows are gliding through the brake,
Shadows of the dappled deer, dreaming of the morn,
Dreaming of a shadowy man that winds a shadowy horn.
Robin Hood is here again: all his merry thieves
Hear a ghostly bugle-note shivering through the leaves,
Calling as he used to call, faint and far away,
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.
Merry, merry England has kissed the lips of June:
All the wings of fairyland were here beneath the moon,
Like a flight of rose-leaves fluttering in a mist
Of opal and ruby and pearl and amethyst.
Merry, merry England is waking as of old,
With eyes of blither hazel and hair of brighter gold:
For Robin Hood is here again beneath the bursting spray
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.
Love is in the greenwood building him a house
Of wild rose and hawthorn and honeysuckle boughs:
Love is in the greenwood, dawn is in the skies,
And Marian is waiting with a glory in her eyes.
read the rest here
************
Don't forget to join the Directory of Imaginary Poems! Send me your Hogsmeade haiku, your Isla de la Muerta madrigal, your Lilliput limerick, your Treasure Island triolet, your Pixie Hollow pantoum, your Lower Slobbovia list poem, your Bikini Bottom ballad, your Emerald City epigram, your Avonlea acrostic. Poems from students are welcome!
Linda at TeacherDance is the Poetry Friday round-up host today.
9 comments:
Oh, I love Alfred Noyes! We had to memorize him in grade school, The Highwayman and this one...and I remember just loving this stanza:
Love is in the greenwood building him a house
Of wild rose and hawthorn and honeysuckle boughs:
Love is in the greenwood, dawn is in the skies,
And Marian is waiting with a glory in her eyes.
I always thought Robin and Marian were one of those "just meant to be" couples.
Sigh... a great choice for Valentine's Day!
It's such a dream poem, isn't it, Tabatha? I love the wistfulness of it, remember reading this in school, and learning about Robin Hood in some literature text. Thanks for reminding about such a love! Happy Valentine's Day!
I hear the same rhythms in this as in The Highwayman. Like the enchanted dreamy tone. I once tried to watch all the different Robin Hood movies just to compare them to the one with Kevin Costner in it. :)
Wonderful Robin Hood poems, Tabatha! Thanks for sharing!
Robin Hood is one mythical character I wouldn't mind meeting! Thanks for picking this poem today--I love the rhythm and rhyme.
Hi there Tabatha, I'm actually featuring Robin Hood and King Arthur next week! He makes being an outlaw and a rogue sound so dashing and romantic. :)
Great poem for Valentine's Day, Tabatha!<3
Wonderful wonderful, especially the epitaph, which illustrates how in the case of spelling, phylogeny recapitulates ontogeny.
Post a Comment