This poem, originally from the 1956 collection Things of This World, is included in Richard Wilbur's New and Collected Poems, published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in 1988.

The story of Merlin's life, from childhood to death, is the subject of a series by popular novelist Mary Stewart: The Crystal Cave (1970), The Hollow Hills (1973), The Last Enchantment (1979), and The Wicked Day (1983).

Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote several books of poetry about the legends of King Arthur, including the book-length poem Idylls of the King. This 1885 book includes "Merlin and Vivien," a version of the story told in "Merlin Enthralled."

One of the most readable recent versions of the Arthurian legend was written by author John Steinbeck, who based his book The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (1976) on the writings of fifteenth-century English scholar Sir Thomas Malory.

Over the course of his...