The Prophecy of Merlin, and Other Poems — Reading Companion

Opening with Arthurian Elegy

The book's first poem places the reader in a post-Arthurian world. Sir Bedivere, alone on a beach, watches the barge carry Arthur to Avalon. Reade gives him a long monologue of grief: “gone are the pleasant days / At Camelot.” The language is direct, with repeated exclamations and questions (“whither, whither can I go?”). This opening establishes a mood of loss that recurs throughout the collection, but it also introduces a prophetic element—Merlin's prophecy, though not yet delivered, is promised by the title. The reader is left to wonder how the prophecy will unfold, as the excerpt ends before Merlin speaks.

Classical and Biblical Retellings

Several poems draw on classical sources: Hector and Andromache, The Lament of Andromache, Priam and Helen, and Orpheus and Eurydice. Reade often focuses on moments of parting or loss, as in the Trojan scenes. Biblical figures appear in Jephthah, Sisera, Balaam, and The Prodigal's Return. These are not simple retellings; Reade adds psychological depth, as in Eloise, where the speaker addresses Heloise with “fatal beauty” and a desire to “perish with sweet fire.” The variety suggests a poet testing different voices and traditions, from epic to lyric.

Canadian and Contemporary Themes

Reade includes poems on Canadian subjects, such as Dominion Day (celebrating Canadian Confederation in 1867) and The Fenian Raid (referring to the 1866 Fenian incursions). Dominion Day personifies the land with “gay-hued tresses” and “zephyr-throbs,” a sensual, patriotic image. The Fenian Raid is more somber, reflecting on conflict. These poems ground the collection in a specific time and place, contrasting with the ancient settings of the classical and biblical pieces. The juxtaposition suggests Reade's interest in connecting contemporary events to larger historical or mythic patterns.

Recurring Motifs: Loss, Hope, and Spring

Across the collection, certain motifs recur. When the Spring-time Comes uses the refrain to contrast winter's cold with the promise of renewal, but also acknowledges death: “Death is colder still.” Hope personifies the virtue as a comforting figure who “broke the fetters of my grief.” The sonnet Unspoken and the lyric Sing me the Songs I Love emphasize memory and longing. Even in poems like The Old War-horse or To a Dead Field Flower, the tone is elegiac. Yet the collection ends with religious hope in Vox Dei and Christus Salvator, suggesting a movement from loss to faith.

Readers approaching this collection should note its structural variety: the poems are not arranged chronologically or by theme, but in a sequence that juxtaposes different moods and sources. Pay attention to how Reade uses repeated images—spring, snow, fire, light—across poems. The title poem may be best read after sampling the shorter works, as its prophecy gains resonance from the collection's broader concerns with time, memory, and renewal.

I reached for Reade’s Merlin again last week, and found myself thinking how its old sorrows—the fading of once-great things—settle like dust on a shelf. That same ache lives in the clattering rhymes of The Book of Brave Old Ballads — Background and Themes, where every hero’s song already knows its own ending. They keep each other company in the dark.