Childe Roland To The Dark Tower Came - Influences On and References in Other Works

Influences On and References in Other Works

"Childe Roland" has served as inspiration to a number of popular works of fiction, including:

• American author Stephen King for his The Dark Tower series of stories and novels (1978–2012).
• African-American author Countee Cullen for "From the Dark Tower" poem (1927)
• Welsh science fiction author Alastair Reynolds for the "Diamond Dogs" novella (2001).
• Canadian science-fiction author Gordon R. Dickson for his "Childe Cycle" series of novels (1959–2001).
• American science-fiction author Andre Norton for the fourth novel in her "Witch World" series (1967).
• Elidor (1965) by English writer Alan Garner.
• The 'Doctor Who' Twentieth Anniversary special 'The Five Doctors' takes much imagery and several key phrases from the poem which has been cited as a source by screenwriter Terrance Dicks.
• British novelist A. S. Byatt for the character Roland Michell (and perhaps his formidable love interest Maud Bailey ("bailey"="tower")) in her novel Possession: A Romance (1990).
• 'The Dark Tower', a radio play written by Louis MacNeice with incidental music by Benjamin Britten which was first broadcast in 1946 on the BBC's Home Service (now Radio 4). This play follows the basic theme of the original with references to the quest, the dark tower, and the trumpet.
• Willa Cather's The Burglar's Christmas.
• John Connolly's novel The Book of Lost Things (2006).
• Roger Zelazny's novel Sign of the Unicorn (1975) refers to the song and the poem (part of The Chronicles of Amber series).
• Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poem I Am Waiting refers to Childe Rowland coming 'to the final darkest tower'.
• P.G. Wodehouse's novel The Mating Season: Jeeves uses the phrase 'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came' to describe Bertie Wooster's arrival at Deverill Hall. Bertie does not understand the reference.
• P.G. Wodehouse's novel The Code of the Woosters: Jeeves also uses the phrase 'Childe Roland to the dark tower came' to describe Bertie Wooster's arrival, in this case, at Totleigh Towers. Bertie does not understand the reference in this case either.
• Neil Gaiman's Sandman character, Charles Rowland, one of the Dead Boy Detectives, is a reference to Childe Roland, particularly in his The Children's Crusade miniseries (1993), which prominently features a dark tower, a motif later picked up by the Books of Magic series.