"Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" is a narrative poem by English author Robert Browning, written on 2 January 1852, and first published in 1855 in the collection titled Men and Women. The poem is
Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came painted by Thomas Moran in 1859.
Robert Browning 1865
Song of Roland
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The Song of Roland is an 11th-century chanson de geste based on the deeds of the Frankish military leader Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in AD 778, during the reign of Charlemagne. It is the o
Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came
…yet attained knighthood, or who has not yet "won his spurs". It has been proposed that Browning also took inspiration from the 11th-century epic poem The Song of Roland, which features Roland, Charlemagne's loyal paladin, blowing his hunting horn (as Childe Roland also does at the end of the poem) to call for help…
The eight phases of the Song of Roland in one picture; illustration by Simon Marmion from an illuminated manuscript of the Grandes Chroniques de France (15th century), currently preserved in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia
Detail of manuscript showing "AOI" at the end of the second line
Roland blows his olifant (ivory hunting horn) to summon help holding his sword Durendal while mounted on his horse Veillantif with Roland's Breach in the background, in the midst of the Battle of Roncevaux.
The death of Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux, illuminated c. 1455–1460 by Jean Fouquet