Prove That The Proud King By William Morris Is A Narrative Poem

Narrative poetry is such that tells tale with the use of dramatic elements. Paradise Lost by John Milton, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
The Proud King by William Morris also falls under the category of narrative poetry; and we shall support this claim with just four points below:

(1) Lengthiness:- One of the common characteristics of a narrative poem is the three
digit length of lines it mostly possesses. The Proud King by William Morris has a total of 849 line which is way more longer than Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner which is merely 625 lines in total. William Morris' attempt to give a detailed account of Jovinian's err and repentance led to such mammoth number of lines.

(2) Storytelling:- As mentioned before, tell-tale is paramount in the craft of a narrative poetry. In the poem "The Proud King" by William Morris, a certain wealthy and highly respected king who goes by the name Jovinian, suddenly became proud and arrogant by likening himself to God. When the morning arrived, he decided to go hunting and stopped by a river to swim but an angel sharing his resemblance took his kingly robe and horse. Jovinian became a nuisance none could recognize him despite his multiple try to claim his rightful status. When he finally became sober and repented, the angel put him back to his throne.

(3) Poetic devices: It has been noted that most narrative poetry embrace the use of dramatic monologue which is not lacking in the poem "The Proud King" by William Morris. Another poetic device common in narrative poetry is apostrophe; in the poem we see "Ah God!" occurred many times in the words of Jovinian.

(4) Rhyme and rhythm:- "The Proud King" by William Morris was carefully composed to follow a stick rhythm and its end rhyme pattern looks ABABBCC.

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Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings flying)