Idylls of the King

Idylls of the King by Baron Alfred Tennyson

Idylls of the King, published between 1859 and 1885, is a cycle of twelve narrative poems by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892; Poet Laureate from 1850) which tells the legend of King Arthur, his knights, the his love for Guinevere and his tragic betrayal of her and the rise and fall of Arthur's reign.

The entire work chronicles Arthur's attempt and failure to lift humanity and create a perfect kingdom, from his rise to power to his death at the hands of the traitor Mordred. Individual poems detail the exploits of various knights, including Lancelot, Geraint, Galahad, Balin and Balan, and also Merlin and the Lady of the Lake. There is little transition between the idylls, but Arthur's central figure connects all of them. stories. The poems were dedicated to the late Albert, the prince consort.

Idylls are written in empty verse. Descriptions of Tennyson's nature derive from observations of his environment, collected over many years. Dramatic narratives are not epic in either structure or tone, but derive elegiac sadness in the style of Theocritus' idylls. Idylls of the King is often read as an allegory of social conflicts in Britain during the mid-Victorian era.