The Defence of Guenevere is a poem composed by William Morris. Queen Guenevere is the wife of the King Arthur. In the poem, Morris presents the situation of Queen Guenevere when the Queen stands before the Lords to offer her testimony in the court. Guenevere, cheated on, her husband with Lancelot. Guenevere is on trial for adultery.
1-12
In the opening lines of the poem, Guenevere is standing in wet hair and placing her hand on her cheek. She touches her cheek as if someone slapped her. She feels it would be disgraceful and she feels her cheeks burn.
She walks away from King's Knight named Gauwaine with her pride, but inside she is blushing because her cheek burn. By the end, Guenevere stops and starts talking and addressing the king's unnamed Lords and Knights in regard of the past. She says that they already know about what she is going to tell them.
13-45
Queen Guenevere asks the Lords and Knights, to assume themselves, decumbent on their deathbed and, seeing an angel near them. The angel have two pieces of clothes, one is blue and the other is red. The angel says to choose one cloth.
The speaker says although they look different, they both look good. And after thirty minutes, they choose the blue piece of cloth, which symbolizes the colour of heaven. The angel says it symbolizes hell. She says they might lament on their decision. She does not say anything about Lancelot and her relationship. But Lancelot has been mentioned in this passage in the poem.
46-60
After that what-if situation, she says that Gauwaine is telling a lie. Gauwaine was the important Knight of the King Arthur. The poet says that the Queen had been crying when she said that Knight Gauwaine was wrong. But she stood firmly and kept saying about her story. By the end of her speech, she was not feeling ashamed.
61-100
She does not say anything exactly, but she says that at the day of Christmas, Lancelot came to the King Arthur's court. Now Queen Guenevere depicts the seasons: winter, spring, summer, and autumn pass and, by the end of the passage of the seasons, She realizes that things would never be the same. She never describes why she told that, and she seems unhappy. She was defending herself at her trial and she tells to the judges that she was depressed. She and her husband, the King Arthur were never in love.
101-160
She depressed and in a confused state of mind. She does not explain what it is. If she really loves Lancelot or not. One day she walked around in a garden surrounded by the walls. She really enjoyed there. She feels beauty in nature, and it makes her insane.
The poet says that, when she presents in the garden, it is her own beauty, which makes her insane. When she was in the romantic mood, Lancelot came into the walled garden. They met and kissed each other, she does not talk about her feelings, but she explains that the kiss was almost an accident.
161-170
In these lines, Guenevere stops talking about her affair with Lancelot, and start talking about Gauwaine's accusation is a lie. Guenevere is looking at Gauwaine, and she begs for his pity. But Gauwaine does not feel pity for her.
