We are having exams this week and I wanted to share part of D's exam from yesterday. I thought other homeschooling mothers might enjoy it. We read "Idylls of the King" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson for poetry this term. It's Authurian stories told in verse. Very fun stuff, but I kept my dictionary close as I read. The two poems about Geraint were my favorite. Anyway, D's exam question was to write a spontaneous poem based on a tale from the book. Here is the result:
And Arthur lay upon the field
Sore wounded, no more his sword could wield.
Modred too lay on the field, slain,
A fruitless bid the throne to gain.
The Knights that filled the table round
Are passed now unto the ground
Save one, Sir Bedivere, who carries his lord anon
To the borders of Avalon.
The dying King gives one last command
To throw Excalibur in the lake, to the white hand
And Bedivere stood long and hid the sword
Saying, such a blade should not be given to the lake as ward.
He returns to his King and tells
The sword now at the bottom dwells.
Arthur knew of the betrayal and told the Knight
To go back once more and do it right.
A second time Bedivere's greed
Betakes him and his king's wise word he did not heed.
He hides the sword once more
And lies to the king dying on the floor
And Arthur reproached him rightly
For behavior less than Knightly.
Bedivere throws the sword unto the lake
And a white hand the sword did take.
And Arthur was borne to Avalon
As the New Year dawned.
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