Idylls Of The King Summary Of The Second Part

Idylls of the King
Summary of the Second part

King Arthur was one of the two survivors of a terrible battle in which most of his beloved knights died, except for Bedivere who was with Arthur until the end of such a bloody warfare. Nevertheless, Arthur realized that there was another man that still stood, this person was Mordred his traitor son whom tried to finish off, but when he did that,Mordred fatally wounded him.Bedivere uplifted Arthur and bore him to a nearby chapel, as the poem says in the following verses:

“Then spake the bold Sir Bedivere: "My King,
King everywhere! and so the dead have kings,
There also will I worship thee as King.
Yet still thy life is whole, and still I live
Who love thee; but who hates thee, he that brought
The heathen back among us, yonderstands,
Modred, unharm'd, the traitor of thine house."
Then spake the King: "My house hath been my doom.”

“And one last act of kinghood shalt thou see
Yet, ere I pass." And uttering this the King
Made at the man: then Modred smote his liege
Hard on that helm which many a heathen sword
Had beaten thin; while Arthur at one blow,
Striking the last stroke with Excalibur,
Slew him,and all but slain himself, he fell.
So all day long the noise of battle roll'd
Among the mountains by the winter sea;
Until King Arthur's Table, man by man,
Had fall'n in Lyonnesse about their lord,
King Arthur. Then, because his wound was deep,
The bold Sir Bedivere uplifted him,
And bore him to a chapel nigh the field,”And one last act of kinghood shalt thou see
Yet, ere I pass."And uttering this the King
Made at the man: then Modred smote his liege
Hard on that helm which many a heathen sword
Had beaten thin; while Arthur at one blow,
Striking the last stroke with Excalibur,
Slew him, and all but slain himself, he fell.

So all day long the noise of battle roll'd
Among the mountains by the winter sea;
Until King Arthur's Table, man by man,
Had fall'nin Lyonnesse about their lord,
King Arthur. Then, because his wound was deep,
The bold Sir Bedivere uplifted him,
And bore him to a chapel nigh the field
Then spake the bold Sir Bedivere: "My King,
King everywhere! and so the dead have kings,
There also will I worship thee as King.
Yet still thy life is whole, and still I live
Who love thee; but who hates thee, he that brought
Theheathen back among us, yonder stands,
Modred, unharm'd, the traitor of thine house."

Then spake the King: "My house hath been my doom.
Then spake the bold Sir Bedivere: "My King,
King everywhere! and so the dead have kings,
There also will I worship thee as King.
Yet still thy life is whole, and still I live
Who love thee; but who hates thee, he that brought
The heathen backamong us, yonder stands,
Modred, unharm'd, the traitor of thine house."

The King was taking comfort in remembering his moments of Glory and his knightly deeds. In his remaining time, as he noticed his death was nigh, he asked Bedivere to throw his royal sword Excalibur into the middle of the lake. However, Bedivere hesitated to leave him alone and hurt. Besides that, he did not want to throwthe sword into the mere, because he thought it should be saved in order to keep it as an evidence of his existence. Bedivere disobeyed his command twice. As he already noticed that he was lying to him, Arthur called him miserable, untrue, unknightly traitor-hearted man and insisted on making him carry out his order; with such rough words Bedivere had to go along with his wish, as we can read throughthe verses below:
“So spake he, clouded with his own conceit,
And hid Excalibur the second time,
And so strode back slow to the wounded King.
Then spoke King Arthur, breathing heavily:
"What is it thou hast seen? or what hast heard?'
And answer made the bold Sir Bedivere:
"I heard the water lapping on the crag,
And the long ripple washing in the reeds."
To whom replied King...