TEN YEARS' SILENCE.
83
taking each poem separately, and noting some of the changes made in subsequent editions.
"The Epic":
"'You know,' said Frank, 'he flung
His epic of King Arthur in the fire!'"
1842–1846.
His epic of King Arthur in the fire!'"
1842–1846.
"'Why should any man
Remodel models rather than the life?
And these twelve books of mine (to speak the truth)
Were faint Homeric echoes,'" &c.
1842–1843.
Remodel models rather than the life?
And these twelve books of mine (to speak the truth)
Were faint Homeric echoes,'" &c.
1842–1843.
"Morte d'Arthur," l. 56:
"For all the haft twinkled with diamond studs."
1842–1853.
1842–1853.
"Then went Sir Bedivere the second time,
Across the ridge and paced beside the mere,
Counting the dewy pebbles, fix'd in thought."
Across the ridge and paced beside the mere,
Counting the dewy pebbles, fix'd in thought."
The italicised line was added in the eighth edition (1853).
The whole of this poem has now been incorporated into the last of the "Idyls of the King," entitled
