A Book of Merlin

A Book of Merlin gathers classic tales, poems, prophecies, and literary retellings devoted to the most enduring wizard in the Arthurian tradition. Before Gandalf, Dumbledore, and the modern fantasy wizard, there was Merlin: prophet, magician, counsellor to King Arthur, guardian of secret knowledge, and one of the central figures in the Matter of Britain. Across medieval romance, Victorian poetry, literary fantasy, and Arthurian retelling, Merlin stands at the border between history and enchantment, Christian legend and older myth, royal destiny and private doom.This Wilder Publications anthology brings together a wide-ranging selection of Merlin literature, including "Merlin's Youth" by George Parker Bidder; "The Prophecies of Merlin, and the Birth of Arthur" by Sir James Knowles; "Merlin" by Beatrice Clay; "The Prophecy of Merlin" by Anne Bannerman; "The Wisdom of Merlyn" by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt; "Wise Merlin's Foolishness" by U. Waldo Cutler; poems by Ralph Waldo Emerson; "The Story of Merlin" by Howard Pyle; "Merlin and Vivien" and "Merlin and the Gleam" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson; "Excalibur" by Sir Thomas Malory; and works by William Wordsworth, Sallie Bridges, George Darley, Geoffrey Junior, Robert Buchanan, and others. From prophecy and kingship to Avalon, Excalibur, Vivien, Arthur, and the long afterlife of British legend, A Book of Merlin offers a substantial gathering for readers of Arthurian literature, folklore, classic fantasy, mythic poetry, and the legendary roots of the modern wizard.