" It is written in stanzas of various length, bound
together by the vowel-rhyme known as assonance. It is not possible to
reproduce effectively this device in English, and the author of the
present translation has adopted what is perhaps the nearest
equivalent--the romantic measure of Coleridge and Scott.
Simple almost to bareness in style, without subtlety or high
imagination, the Song of Roland is yet not without grandeur; and its
patriotic ardor gives it a place as the earliest of the truly national
poems of the modern world._
THE SONG OF ROLAND
PART I
THE TREASON OF GANELON
SARAGOSSA. THE COUNCIL OF KING MARSIL
I
The king our Emperor Carlemaine,
Hath been for seven full years in Spain.
From highland to sea hath he won the land;
City was none might his arm withstand;
Keep and castle alike went down--
Save Saragossa, the mountain town.
The King Marsilius holds the place,
Who loveth not God, nor seeks His grace:
He prays to Apollin, and serves Mahound;
But he saved him not from the fate he found.
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