Mortality

This poem deals with the death of Merlin, the legendary sorcerer from the court of King Arthur. Because Merlin was known for his magical powers, it is a bit of a surprise that he could die at all. More surprising than that is the fact that he dies willingly, accepting death as a release from his responsibilities.

Merlin's death is represented here as a form of sleep, as mentioned in stanzas five and seven. The poem does not explicitly say that he dies, but it is implied in the way that the magician's consciousness slips away from him. The shapes of the searching men "escape" him as he loses awareness of the world. At the same time, "the mists of time condensed in the still head," implying with his motionlessness and with the stopping of time that this is not a sleep from which he will ever emerge...