"And from his blazoned baldric slung
A mighty silver bugle hung, ..."See in text(Text of the Poem)
A baldric is a type of belt that is worn over the shoulder. Baldrics often carry weapons but they can also hold bugles or horns, as Lancelot’s does. A “blazoned” object is one that is marked with an emblem or crest that states whom it belongs to. This stanza associates Lancelot with sound, including the bells on his horse, his “ringing armor,” and the silver bugle, or horn, he is carrying. His approach is loud and musical, breaking the peace of the “silent isle.”
This section is devoted almost entirely to a physical description of Sir Lancelot. It employs extensive alliteration and parallelism, beginning with the very first line, “A bow-shot from her bower-eaves,” and seen here in the alliterations of “golden Galaxy,” “bridle bells,” and “blazoned baldric.” The continued repetition of consonants, syntactic constructions, and even entire words throughout this section gives it a deeply musical quality, surpassing that of the rest of the poem.
