Idylls of the King (Penguin Classics)
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Tennyson had a life-long interest in the legend of King Arthur and after the huge success of his poem 'Morte d'Arthur' he built on the theme with this series of twelve poems, written in two periods of intense creativity over nearly twenty years. Idylls of the King traces the story of Arthur's rule, from his first encounter with Guinevere and the quest for the Holy Grail to the adultery of his Queen with Launcelot and the King's death in a final battle that spells the ruin of his kingdom. Told with lyrical and dreamlike eloquence, Tennyson's depiction of the Round Table reflects a longing for a past age of valour and chivalry. And in his depiction of King Arthur he created a hero imbued with the values of the Victorian age - one who embodies the highest ideals of manhood and kingship.
About the Author
Alfred, Lord Tennyson was born in 1809, the son of a clergyman. His only occupation was as a poet and he was made Poet Laureate in 1850, accepting a peerage in 1883. He is most known for In Memoriam, a speculation on mortality. He died in 1892.
J.M. Gray has been an editor, schoolteacher, university lecturer and author. He is also a published poet, under the name Martin Gray.
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These to His Memory - since he held them dear, Perchance as finding there unconsciously Some image of himself- I dedicate, I dedicate, I consecrate with tears -These Idylls. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
These to His Memory - since he held them dear, Perchance as finding there unconsciously Some image of himself- I dedicate, I dedicate, I consecrate with tears -These Idylls. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the story about Arthur and the tales of Camelot. Obviously. But for those of you who don't know more than what you've seen on TV or the movies, read this book. Read about Balin and Balan, read about Elaine, read about Guenivere. It's so much more fulfilling to search them out and to find them, than to have someone splash their character on a screen for you. My favorite stanza in the entire book is when Arthur talks about commitment. Commitment to his cause, to life, to God, to everything: "Arthur sat Crown'd on the dais, and his warriors cried, 'Be thou the king, and we will work thy will Who love thee.' Then the King in low deep tones, And simple words of great authority, Bound them by so strait vows to his own self That when they rose, knighted from kneeling, some Were pale as at the passing of a ghost, Some flushe'd, and others dazed, as one who wakes Half--blinded at the coming of a light."
Awesome isn't it?
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This hugely impressive work of poetry, although based on Malory's epic "Morte d'Arthur" and other early books, does not, in truth shed much light on the "Arthurian" Age, but it is immensely revealing about the Victorian era.
In these poems, Arthur is an English gentleman rather than a Dark Age Celtic warlord, or even a medieval ruler. But this approach serves to illuminate what was best about the Victorians, decency, courage, self belief. It is fashionable to knock the society of England in the Nineteenth Century as being repressive, dictatorial, even hypocritical. Tennyson's poetry, along with the work of authors like Kipling and Robert Louis Stevenson show, largely, a positive side to the time.
My only regret with "The Idylls" is that the shorter poem by Tennyson on the subject of Arthurian romance, the cracking "Lady of Shallot" is not included in this book.
In these poems, Arthur is an English gentleman rather than a Dark Age Celtic warlord, or even a medieval ruler. But this approach serves to illuminate what was best about the Victorians, decency, courage, self belief. It is fashionable to knock the society of England in the Nineteenth Century as being repressive, dictatorial, even hypocritical. Tennyson's poetry, along with the work of authors like Kipling and Robert Louis Stevenson show, largely, a positive side to the time.
My only regret with "The Idylls" is that the shorter poem by Tennyson on the subject of Arthurian romance, the cracking "Lady of Shallot" is not included in this book.
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50 of 54 people found the following review helpful
The music of legend...
20 April 2001
Format:Paperback
If Malory's "Le Morte D'Arthur" is the backbone of Arthurian literature, Tennyson's "Idylls" are its flesh and blood. In this extraordinary epic poem, Tennyson has transformed Malory's automatons to living and breathing characters, and infuses the legend of King Arthur with passionate intensity that had hitherto been absent. In addition to this, for the first time King Arthur's story, told in its immensity, becomes something more than a dry cataloguing of events or an excuse to have knights and derring-do: underlying "Idylls of the King" is a vision of tragedy and destiny only vaguely hinted at in Malory.
Admittedly, this is not the easiest thing in the world to read, but simply reading major parts is worth it, without necessarily following the story of Tristram or other such details. Most interesting in this poem is the relationship between Guinevere and Lancelot, which is complicated and sometimes dark. Tennyson's characters are complex beings, complete with inner shadows and desires which sometimes conflict with the ideals put forth by Arthur's "Table Round."
Since it is after all Tennyson, the language is breathtaking, though one familiar with his other poetry might be slightly regretful, as I was, that it occasionally lacks the power of his other poems. Perhaps this is to be expected, given the length: and since it is Tennyson, less powerful than his other work is still marvelous.
Some may be irritated by Tennyson's moralistic streak, which is hard to ignore, as well as the distinct parallels with Christianity which the poet introduces from time to time. The idea that women somehow embody all sin certainly makes an appearance here, as Guinevere is sometimes portrayed almost as evil incarnate.
Nonetheless, with its almost mystical undertones, beautiful language and psychological complexity, "Idylls of the King" is worth checking out, whether you are a fan of King Arthur or Tennyson; it is an epic which combines emotion and the magical, life and the legendary.
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Tennyson squares the Round Table
15 April 2005
Format:Paperback
Based primarily on Sir Thomas Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur," Tennyson's "Idylls of the King" is an epic poem comprising twelve loosely connected episodes narrating the adventures and romances of the knights of Camelot. Even in the Victorian era King Arthur had a secure place in the popular imagination, so Tennyson's poem, published in sections over roughly a fifteen-year period, was warmly received. Because it is bookended by dedications to Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, whom Tennyson perhaps viewed as quasi-Arthurian figures just as Virgil exalted Augustus Caesar, it carries the authority of an accepted British cultural document.
Tennyson recasts the individual stories of the knights in his own poetic vision, and in some instances invents his own anecdotes or contributes his own details, merging chivalric imagery with post-Romantic lyrical beauty. As an Arthurian medium, Tennyson's verse is much more readable than Malory's cumbersome prose (a forgivable style owing to Malory's time, but difficult to appreciate nowadays unless you have a taste for the archaic). As irresistibly dazzling as a hyperbole like "The wood is nigh as full of thieves as leaves" is, there is much more to the "Idylls" than linguistic elegance.
Arthur is nearly a Christ-figure, and his knights are not unlike the apostles: "[F]ollow the Christ, the King,/Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King--/Else, wherefore born?" the idealistic Gareth rhetorically asks his mother just before journeying to Camelot to fulfill his dream of joining the Round Table. Knighthood is a mission in life, a devotion to the service of God and the king (or King, to use the Christian allegory). In the Arthurian milieu, knights represent the highest, most virtuous ideal of mankind, though in practice they occasionally fail, falter, and face moral dilemmas that help to build character. Such conflicts also compel the poem, for an infallible knight hardly makes for interesting reading.
To be sent on a quest is not a chore but an honor of which a knight must be deemed worthy by Arthur. Prove yourself inept, and he won't even send you to the McDonald's drive-thru to pick him up a Big Mac. Whether rescuing a lady from a castle guarded by evil knights (Gareth), delivering a diamond as a prize to the winner of a joust (Gawain), searching for the Holy Grail (Galahad), or even properly disposing of the sword Excalibur upon Arthur's death (Bedivere), a knight is expected to obey and succeed.
The vicissitudes of love often pose ethical challenges for the knights and provide the most memorable scenes of the poem, as adultery, jealousy, and betrayal set the stage for turbulent drama. The illicit affair of Lancelot and Guinevere, Arthur's wife, the tragic story of Elaine, the peasant girl who pledges her love to Lancelot, the punishment meted out to Tristram by his uncle Mark for the seduction of Isolt, and Pelleas's amorous pursuit of the hellion Ettarre, are the essence of legend.
The tale that somehow haunts me the most is that of Merlin and Vivien, which ominously takes place in a forest just before a storm. The petulant Vivien disparages Arthur's knights and tries to coax a love spell out of the ancient but apparently still libidinous wizard; having achieved her objective as the storm breaks, she runs away from the beguiled and sleeping magician as the uttered word "fool" echoes through the trees--a very poetic representation of lust subduing and fleeing wisdom.
Tennyson recasts the individual stories of the knights in his own poetic vision, and in some instances invents his own anecdotes or contributes his own details, merging chivalric imagery with post-Romantic lyrical beauty. As an Arthurian medium, Tennyson's verse is much more readable than Malory's cumbersome prose (a forgivable style owing to Malory's time, but difficult to appreciate nowadays unless you have a taste for the archaic). As irresistibly dazzling as a hyperbole like "The wood is nigh as full of thieves as leaves" is, there is much more to the "Idylls" than linguistic elegance.
Arthur is nearly a Christ-figure, and his knights are not unlike the apostles: "[F]ollow the Christ, the King,/Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King--/Else, wherefore born?" the idealistic Gareth rhetorically asks his mother just before journeying to Camelot to fulfill his dream of joining the Round Table. Knighthood is a mission in life, a devotion to the service of God and the king (or King, to use the Christian allegory). In the Arthurian milieu, knights represent the highest, most virtuous ideal of mankind, though in practice they occasionally fail, falter, and face moral dilemmas that help to build character. Such conflicts also compel the poem, for an infallible knight hardly makes for interesting reading.
To be sent on a quest is not a chore but an honor of which a knight must be deemed worthy by Arthur. Prove yourself inept, and he won't even send you to the McDonald's drive-thru to pick him up a Big Mac. Whether rescuing a lady from a castle guarded by evil knights (Gareth), delivering a diamond as a prize to the winner of a joust (Gawain), searching for the Holy Grail (Galahad), or even properly disposing of the sword Excalibur upon Arthur's death (Bedivere), a knight is expected to obey and succeed.
The vicissitudes of love often pose ethical challenges for the knights and provide the most memorable scenes of the poem, as adultery, jealousy, and betrayal set the stage for turbulent drama. The illicit affair of Lancelot and Guinevere, Arthur's wife, the tragic story of Elaine, the peasant girl who pledges her love to Lancelot, the punishment meted out to Tristram by his uncle Mark for the seduction of Isolt, and Pelleas's amorous pursuit of the hellion Ettarre, are the essence of legend.
The tale that somehow haunts me the most is that of Merlin and Vivien, which ominously takes place in a forest just before a storm. The petulant Vivien disparages Arthur's knights and tries to coax a love spell out of the ancient but apparently still libidinous wizard; having achieved her objective as the storm breaks, she runs away from the beguiled and sleeping magician as the uttered word "fool" echoes through the trees--a very poetic representation of lust subduing and fleeing wisdom.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
An epic Arthurian Romance
16 April 2003
Format:Paperback
This lengthy poem about King Arthur's court is written in grand epic style, in the spirit of the Iliad, the Odyssey, and Paradise Lost, and drawing on these and other great epics. Tennyson follows many of the traditional epic conventions here--the epic similes, the epic quests, etc. But this work is not wholly an epic, it is rather more of a Romance. The book is divided into various sections, each dealing with a knight (or knights) of King Arthur's court. The adventures they encounter are various and only remotely connected, but there is a back story to each. Something is going on behind the scenes. The first part of the book deals with the rise of Arthur, and of the glory of his kingdom. The second part focuses on the gradual decline of his influence, and culminates with the King's discovery of Lancelot and Guinevere's affair.
This is one of my favorite Arthurian romances. Tennyson's verse is beautiful and vivid, and his story is both compelling and easy to follow. No study of English Romanticism would be complete without Tennyson, and this is one of his finest works.
This is one of my favorite Arthurian romances. Tennyson's verse is beautiful and vivid, and his story is both compelling and easy to follow. No study of English Romanticism would be complete without Tennyson, and this is one of his finest works.
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