ROBINSON, Edward Arlington. Arthurian Poets

"Robinson’s introspective New England style and quiet tone are often classical rather than romantic, and he has little time for heroics. But he has also inherited much from Swinburne and Tennyson, and the tension between reason and passion that drives the characters of the Arthurian stories is brilliantly caught. These poems are above all studies in personality, and unforgettable for their vivid portraits, which are often unexpected - Merlin, cheerful and fierce; Vivian, enchanting rather than an enchantress; Lancelot in search of the ‘light’"