Is Roland de Childe a literary character? What does he have to do with patience or the lack of patience?

Question

Someone stated 'I will have to be patient like Roland de Childe'

I cannot figure out what he meant. Is it related to the Dark Tower series by Stephen King, or perhaps the poem by Robert Browning? There is also a fairytale called 'Childe Rowland'. Can it be connected back to that?

This probably sounds crazy, but it is very important.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Roland de Childe is indeed a literary character that has inspired various works of art, including Browning's poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" (Link 1 below), Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series, and even one of the Doctor Who episodes "The Five Doctors".

The character stems from the fairy tale about Childe Rowland and the King of Elfland (the full story can be found via Link 2), although this story really has nothing to do with Browning's poem at all.

Browning seems to take his influence from the French "Chanson de Roland" (Song of Roland - see Link 3), which is also referred to by Edgar at the end of Shakespeare's play "King Lear".

Incidentally, "Childe" does not mean "child" but was a medieval name for an untested knight.

I am not sure why the reference to patience. There is no sign of why this should be the case in any of the literature - the normal reference is to "The Patience of Job". Not unless this is a reference to the long and arduous journey that Roland has to endure to reach the Dark Tower in Browning's poem.

Answer 2

The gloomy, cynical Roland seeks the tower and undergoes various hardships on the way, although most of the obstacles arise from his own imagination.

Judith Weissman has suggested that Browning's aim was to show how the military code of honour and glory "destroys the inner life of the would-be hero, by making us see a world hellishly distorted through Roland's eyes".

William Lyon Phelps proposes three different interpretations of the poem: In the first two, the Tower is a symbol of a knightly quest. Success only comes through failure or the end is the realisation of futility. In his third interpretation, the Tower is simply damnation.