Analysis of Anglo-Saxon mythology in the poem Idylls of the King by A.Tennyson

Ðàçìåùåíî íà http://www.allbest.ru/

MINISTRY OF HIGHER AND SECONDARY SPECIALIZED

EDUCATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN

ANDIZHAN STATE UNIVERSITY NAMED AFTER

ZAKHIRIDDIN MUKHAMMAD BABUR

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

COURSE PAPER

Theme:Analysis of Anglo-Saxon mythology in the poem Idylls of the King by A.Tennyson

5111400 -Foreign Language and Literature(English language and literature)

Kim Anastasiya

Supervisor: doc. V.A.Vositov

Andizhan - 2021

CONTENTS:

Introduction

Life and literary activity of Tennyson

Literary analysis of Idylls of the king by Tennyson

Conclusion

Literature to be used

INTRODUCTION

The Anglo-Saxons, composed of tribes of theAngles,Saxons,FriesianandJermans, arrived in Britain from southern Scandinavia, the Netherlands and northern Germany. It is from these people that the modern English language (Angle-ish) derives. An impression, but only that, of the Anglo-Saxon mythology can be obtained from reading about Scandinavian mythology. The latter was written down much later, by Snorri Sturluson, because Iceland remained pagan until well into the Christian era (c.1000). The Norse of Iceland and the English certainly shared a common ancestry in 6th century Denmark. The Anglo-Saxons were a largely illiterate society and tales were orally transmitted between groups and tribes by the Anglo-Saxon traveling minstrels, the scops, in the form of verse anglo saxon mythology poem tennyson

The chief literary source is Bede, a Christian monk who wrote of the old English calendar in his De Temporum Ratione. Only a little Old English poetry has survived, and all of it has had Christian editors. The epic poem Beowulf is an important source of Anglo-Saxon pagan poetry and history, but it is clearly addressed to a Christian audience, containing numerous references to the Christian God, and using Christian phrasing and metaphor. The monster Grendel, for example, is described as a descendant of the biblical Cain. In fact, the only fragment of poetry dating to the pagan era that has not undergone edits by Christian editors is the Finnsburgh Fragment.

The Anglo-Saxons believed in supernatural creatures such as elves, dwarves and giants ("Etins") who often brought harm to men. It is likely that they believed in Wyrd (German "werden"), usually translated as "fate," although the modern term fate does little justice to the true meaning of wyrd.

Being a Germanic people, the Anglo-Saxons worshiped the same gods as the Norse and other Germanic peoples. The names are slightly different due to the differences in language among the Germanic peoples. For example, Thunor of the Anglo-Saxons was the same god as Thor of the Norse and Donar of the Germans. Likewise, Woden of the Anglo-Saxons is the same as Odin among the Norse and Wotan of the Germans.

The Gods

The Ése correspond to the Norse Æsir

Woden, the leader of the Wild Hunt and the one who carries off the dead, is one of the chief gods of the Anglo-Saxons before the Christian era. He was held to be the ancestor of Hengest and Horsa, two legendary figures from early English history and most of the early Anglo-Saxon kings claimed descent from Woden. He gives us the modern Wednesday ("Woden's day").

Thunor, is the god of thunder, who rules the storms and sky. He also protects mankind from the giants. He was the god of the common people within the heathen community. His name gives rise to the modern Thursday ("Thunor's Day").

Fríge is the goddess of love, and is the wife of Woden. She is one of the most powerful Goddesses, this position being threatened only by Freya. Her day is Friday but there is also the belief that Friday is named for Freya instead.

Tiw is the god of warfare and battle, and gives us Tuesday ("Tiu's day"). Some people believe that he is a sky-god figure and formerly the chief god, replaced over the years by Woden.

Ingui Fréy was one of the most popular Gods, after Thunor and Woden - there is evidence^[1] to suggest that Ingui was the most popular of the Anglo-Saxon deities, his cult later being replaced in popularity by that of the Ese. He is above all the god of fertility, bringing and fruitfulness to the crops, herds, and the folk. Though he is a fertility god, he is also connected to warfare to a degree; however, this warfare is defensive, as opposed to offensive, and is not to create havoc. After all, peace is necessary for a good harvest and a productive community, while needless warfare destroys any prospect of peace and fruitfulness. The Yngling royal line of Sweden claimed descent from him.

Freya, or Freo, is said to be the most beautiful of all the goddesses, and is therefore described as the goddess of love. She is not to be mistaken with Frige, however; Frigga's is love and marriage. It is likely that Freya directed Woden's Waelcyrge onto the battlefield to claim the dead soldiers. Like her brother, Fréy, she is connected to abundance and wealth; however, her wealth is in metals and gems. She is also a goddess of magic, having taught Woden "seithr".

Neorth is Frey and Freya's father, and is the god of the seas and commerce. He is called upon by fishermen and sailors who depend upon good seas. Like his son and daughter, his realm is that of wealth; namely, the wealth of the sea. He married the giantess Sceadu, though the marriage was not successful as neither of them could accept the other's element; Neorth his sea, and Sceadu her mountains.

Hengest and Horsa, who are named in historical sources as leaders of the earliest Anglo-Saxon raids and settlements in the south, may also had deific status. The name Hengest means "stallion" and Horsa means "horse"; the horse in the Anglo-Saxon mythology is an important symbol.

Wayland is a mythic smith. Originally, he was an elvish being, a shape-changer like his wife, a swan maiden and Waelcyrge. His picture adorns the Franks Casket, an Anglo-Saxon royal box and was meant there to refer to wealth and partnership. ^[2]

Eorthe, whose name means "Earth," is the wife of Woden and mother of Thunor. She is also the daughter of the Goddess Niht. Her worship is generally passive, as opposed to active, though she is called on for "might and main." Her latent strength can be seen in her son, Thunor.

Eostre, according to St. Bede, was a Goddess whose feast was celebrated in Spring. Bede asserts that the current Christian festival of Easter took its name from the Goddess's feast in "Eostur-monath" (April/Aprilis).

Niht is the Goddess of Night, and also the mother of Eorthe. The Norse night was the daughter of Narvi. She was married three times; the first to Naglfari by whom she had Aud; the second, to Annar by whom she had Eorthe; and the third to Dellinger Daeg.

Sigel is the Goddess of the Sun. Her day is, of course, Sunday

Since Anglo-Saxon religion a subset of Germanic paganism in general, many of its central practices are also shared by other religions such as the religion of the Norse peoples.

· Blót

November in Old English was known as blótmónath, as this passage points out:

"This month is called Novembris in Latin, and in our language the month of sacrifice, because our forefathers, when they were heathens, always sacrificed in this month, that is, that they took and devoted to their idols the cattle which they wished to offer."

It is significant to note that the English word "bless" ultimately derives from Proto-Germanic (the language that English and Norse come from) blothisojan (meaning "to smear with blood"), which denotes the sacrificial aspect of the term.

· Symbel

A ritual drinking feast in which magical knowledge was achieved through drinking alcohol, usually mead. This magical knowledge is typically associated with the quest for good fortune, the wyrd. The participants at symbel other than the drinkers themselves were the symbelgifa, the giver of the symbel or host, the scop or poet (the entertainment), the alekeeper (the server of the ale), and the thyle who kept order.

· It is possible that magical practice was common, and that water, tree and stone worship in various forms were also practiced by the Anglo-Saxons.

Modern Influence

1. LIFE AND LITERARY ACTIVITY OF TENNYSON

Alfred Lord Tennyson's Life

Regarded as a major Victorian poet, Alfred Lord Tennyson was born on August 6, 1809 in Somersby, Lincolnshire in England. One of eleven siblings of a rector, Tennyson was the fourth child. Along with his two brothers Charles and Frederick, Tennyson went to Louth Grammar School in 1816, which did not satisfy him. He disliked it so much so that he never even passed by it after he left.

During his school years, Tennyson was influenced by some of the most popular poets of the era, such as Lord Byron and John Keats. However, he started composing poems in the style of John Milton, Sir Walter Scott, and Alexander Pope instead. His amazing understanding of the Elizabethan verse is clear from his unpublished collection of “The Devil and the Lady.”

Tennyson's father's health started deteriorating while Tennyson was at school. Depressed, he sought refuge in drinking. Despite this, he continued with his writing fervor. In collaboration with his older brother Charles, he produced another collection, “Poems by Two Brothers,” in 1826. In 1827, Charles and Alfred joined their brother Frederick at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he met Arthur Henry Hallam and befriended him. Both Tennyson and Hallam gained membership to the secret society called the Cambridge Apostles.

Tennyson's reputation as a poet skyrocketed at Cambridge where he received the Chancellor's Gold Medal for his work “Timbuctoo,” published in 1829. Sadly, in 1931, his father passed away, and the family's miseries increased on discovering that their father had left behind large debts. When Tennyson discovered this, he left Cambridge without obtaining a degree.

Tennyson carried on with his writing, and published his third collection of poetry in 1842. When his brother Charles married Louisa Sellwood in 1836, Tennyson fell in love with the sister of his brother's wife, Emily. Unfortunately, her father did not like this match. In the meantime, Tennyson became friends with famous figures of that time like Thomas Carlyle, Walter Savage Landor, and William Ewart Gladstone. His friendships with this elite circle led to his success of winning over Emily's father. The pair got engaged and Tennyson subsequently married Emily in 1850.

Tennyson received many awards and became Poet Laureate in the same year. He continued writing poems until his death in 1892 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. He left two sons behind.

Alfred Lord Tennyson's Works

Tennyson published his first collection,“Poems Chiefly Lyrical,” in1830.The mostpopular poems from this collection were “Mariana” and“Claribel.” Despite the fact that Tennyson was taken to task by the critics for being overly sentimental, his verses proved very popular and won him accolades.

In 1833, Alfred published his next book that included the very popular poem “The Lady of Shalott.” This volume also met with heavy criticism, which discouraged him. Disenchanted, Tennyson did not publish more poems for next ten years, though he continued writing. During these years his friend Hallam died - a sorrowful experience for Tennyson, which left a profound impact on him. Hallam's sudden demise inspired Tennyson to create masterpieces like “In Memoriam A.H.H.” and “In the Valley of Cauteretz.”

Tennyson's third collection, “Poems,” was published in 1842, and it received instantaneous success. He followed this with the collections “Ulysses,” “Tithonus,” and “Locksley Hall.” Tennyson also published one of his best poems, “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” in 1855.

The extensive and intricate publication history of Idylls of the King reflects Tennyson's lifelong preoccupation. "Morte d'Arthur" was published in a two-volume collection of Tennyson's poetry in 1842, but was later wholly incorporated into "The Passing of Arthur" (the very last idyll), which did not appear in the Idylls until 1870. In the intervening period, Tennyson privately printed a "trial book" of four idylls--"Enid," "Vivien," "Elaine," and "Guinevere"--with the title The True and the False. Four Idylls of the King. He later changed the title to Idylls of the King when it was published in 1859; this version contained only four of the eventual twelve idylls. After the 1859 edition, however, Tennyson continued to produce material that would find its way into later editions. "A Dedication," in honor of Prince Albert, an admirer who died in 1861, was published as a pamphlet in 1862. In December of 1869 Tennyson published The Holy Grail, and Other Poems, which, along with a selection of other poems, includes "The Holy Grail" and three other idylls--"The Coming of Arthur," "Pelleas and Ettarre," and "The Passing of Arthur." The "Dedication" and the four Arthurian idylls from The Holy Grail were included in Idylls of the King of January 1870, which also contained renamed versions of the four original idylls. In 1871 Tennyson published "The Last Tournament" in a periodical, and a year later republished it together with "Gareth and Lynette" in a book called Gareth and Lynette, along with notes locating their places in the Idylls. In 1885 "Balin and Balan" appeared in Tiresias and Other Poems, with a note that it would introduce "Merlin and Vivien." The poetry of Idylls of the King is comprised of poetry written over an extended period of Tennyson's life, and even when the twelve idylls had been assembled, Tennyson continued to make small changes to the volume; the final state of the Idylls did not appear until 1899, after the author's death, when Hallam Tennyson, on his father's verbal instruction, inserted a line into the epilogue.

Plot and Major Characters

Framed by "The Coming of Arthur" and "The Passing of Arthur," Idylls of the King portrays the rise and fall of Arthur's kingdom, and coextensively, the decline of the Arthurian ideal. At the beginning of the book, Arthur becomes leader not because of birthright, but because of his extraordinary military skill and leadership. He subsequently surrounds himself with a group of dedicated knights who vow to uphold a standard of sexual purity: the knights restrict themselves to monogamous sexual relationships, holding themselves to the same standards to which women had traditionally been held. In the springtime of Arthur's reign, his knights are inspired to extraordinary feats of bravery; in "Gareth and Lynette," for example, the "kitchen-knave" Gareth overcomes three knights and even Death itself. But the Arthurian pledge begins to deteriorate when rumors of Guinevere's (the king's wife) affair with Lancelot are spread by Vivien, the emissary of Arthur's enemy King Mark. Guinevere's deed and Vivien's word attack the code of purity that had held the kingdom together. Among other things, the disillusionment with the destruction of the civilized pact in favor of animalistic passions hastens Merlin's pitiful demise. Arthurian society dissolves, precipitated by the transgression of its moral code. In an effort to bolster Arthur's waning ideal, the knights seek out the Holy Grail, but only a few return from the quest. Without his young knights, Arthur and his remaining forces must then face an attack by Mordred (rumored to be Arthur's bastard son) and the Saxons. On the way to the battle, Arthur visits Guinevere in the nunnery to which she has confined herself; Guinevere repents, but too late to save the dying Arthurian ideal. Arthur defeats and kills Mordred, but is also mortally wounded. Guinevere's adulterous affair with Lancelot has led to the downfall of the Arthurian moral code and to Arthur's own death.

Although Tennyson always thought of the idylls as allegorical (his word was "parabolic"), he refused to make literal identifications between incidents, characters, or situations in the poems and what they stood for, except to indicate generally that by King Arthur he meant the soul, and that the disintegration of the court and the Round Table revealed the disruptive effect of the passions. Indeed, the decay of the Round Table came increasingly to seem to him an apt symbol for the decay of nineteenth-century England. Idylls of the King expresses his ideal of the British Empire as an exemplar of moral and social order: the "Table Round / A glorious company" would "serve as a model for the mighty world." However, when individual acts of betrayal and corruption result from adultery committed by Guinevere and Lancelot, the ensuing disorder destroys the unity of the Round Table, symbolizing the effects of moral decay that were Tennyson's chief contemporary concern. Although Malory's Morte d'Arthur pictures Mordred--the alleged product of Arthur's incestuous relationship with his half-sister--as the cause of Arthur's downfall, Tennyson instead concentrates on Guinevere's adultery with Lancelot. This moralizing of Arthurian legend led many, particularly William Gladstone, to expect in the Idylls a national, Christian epic comparable to that of John Milton's Paradise Lost in terms of its moral vision; Tennyson wrote, "I tried in my Idylls to teach men the need of an ideal"--a moralistic, Victorian standard of proper conduct.

Alfred Lord Tennyson's Style and Popular Poems

Tennyson revised and polished his manuscripts several times before sending them to the publishers. He employed a wide range of styles, and had a deep understanding of meter and rhyme scheme. He used allusions in different genres, and often added motifs, symbols and images. Sometimes he used a simple and plain style, whereas some of his poems contain highly sensuous language. Tennyson merged his language with contrasting images, which resonate throughout his poems. He adopted richness of imagery from Romantic poets like Edmund Spenser and John Keats, and handled rhythm tactfully. Tennyson's language has an unsurpassed musical quality.

The popular poems of Tennyson include “Mariana,” The Dying Swan,” “The Lotus Eaters,” “The Lady of Shalott,” “The Two Voices,” “Ulysses,” “The Princess,” “The Eagle,” “Ring Out, Wild Bells,” “Maud,” “Idylls of the King,” and “The Charge of the Light Brigade.”

More about His Life

British Prime Minister Robert Peel awarded Tennyson with a grant of 200 pounds in 1845. Queen Victoria also became his passionate admirer specifically because of “In Memoriam A.A.H.” She held two meetings with him, which she recorded in detail in her personal diary. Tennyson was appointed as Poet Laureate after the death of Wordsworth in 1850 - a position he held until his own death in 1892.

In 1842 Tennyson published Poems, in two volumes, one containing a revised selection from the volumes of 1830 and 1832, the other, new poems. The new poems included “Morte d'Arthur,” “The Two Voices,” “Locksley Hall,” and “The Vision of Sin” and other poems that reveal a strange naïveté, such as “The May Queen,” “Lady Clara Vere de Vere,” and “The Lord of Burleigh.” The new volume was not on the whole well received. But the grant to him at this time, by the prime minister, Sir Robert Peel, of a pension of £200 helped to alleviate his financial worries. In 1847 he published his first long poem, The Princess, a singular anti-feminist fantasia.

The year 1850 marked a turning point. Tennyson resumed his correspondence with Emily Sellwood, and their engagement was renewed and followed by marriage. Meanwhile, Edward Moxon offered to publish the elegies on Hallam that Tennyson had been composing over the years. They appeared, at first anonymously, as In Memoriam (1850), which had a great success with both reviewers and the public, won him the friendship of Queen Victoria, and helped bring about, in the same year, his appointment as poet laureate.

In Memoriam is a vast poem of 131 sections of varying length, with a prologue and epilogue. Inspired by the grief Tennyson felt at the untimely death of his friend Hallam, the poem touches on many intellectual issues of the Victorian Age as the author searches for the meaning of life and death and tries to come to terms with his sense of loss. Most notably, In Memoriam reflects the struggle to reconcile traditional religious faith and belief in immortality with the emerging theories of evolution and modern geology. The verses show the development over three years of the poet's acceptance and understanding of his friend's death and conclude with an epilogue, a happy marriage song on the occasion of the wedding of Tennyson's sister Cecilia.

A project that Tennyson had long considered at last issued in Idylls of the King (1859), a series of 12 connected poems broadly surveying the legend of King Arthur from his falling in love with Guinevere to the ultimate ruin of his kingdom. The poems concentrate on the introduction of evil to Camelot because of the adulterous love of Lancelot and Queen Guinevere, and on the consequent fading of the hope that had at first infused the Round Table fellowship. Idylls of the King had an immediate success, and Tennyson, who loathed publicity, had now acquired a sometimes embarrassing public fame. The Enoch Arden volume of 1864 perhaps represents the peak of his popularity. New Arthurian Idylls were published in The Holy Grail, and Other Poems in 1869 (dated 1870). These were again well received, though some readers were beginning to show discomfort at the “Victorian” moral atmosphere that Tennyson had introduced into his source material from Sir Thomas Malory.

In 1874 Tennyson decided to try his hand at poetic drama. Queen Mary appeared in 1875, and an abridged version was produced at the Lyceum in 1876 with only moderate success. It was followed by Harold (1876; dated 1877), Becket (not published in full until 1884), and the “village tragedy” The Promise of May, which proved a failure at the Globe in November 1882. This play--his only prose work--shows Tennyson's growing despondency and resentment at the religious, moral, and political tendencies of the age. He had already caused some sensation by publishing a poem called “Despair” in The Nineteenth Century (November 1881). A more positive indication of Tennyson's later beliefs appears in “The Ancient Sage,” published in Tiresias and Other Poems (1885). Here the poet records his intimations of a life before and beyond this life.

Tennyson accepted a peerage (after some hesitation) in 1884. In 1886 he published a new volume containing “Locksley Hall Sixty Years After,” consisting mainly of imprecations against modern decadence and liberalism and a retraction of the earlier poem's belief in inevitable human progress.

Tennyson's ascendancy among Victorian poets began to be questioned even during his lifetime, however, when Robert Browning and Algernon Charles Swinburne were serious rivals. And 20th-century criticism, influenced by the rise of a new school of poetry headed by T.S. Eliot (though Eliot himself was an admirer of Tennyson), proposed some drastic devaluations of his work. Undoubtedly, much in Tennyson that appealed to his contemporaries has ceased to appeal to many readers today. He can be mawkish and banal, pompous and orotund, offering little more than the mellifluous versifying of shallow or confused thoughts. The rediscovery of such earlier poets as John Donne or Gerard Manley Hopkins (a poet of Tennyson's own time who was then unknown to the public), together with the widespread acceptance of Eliot and W.B. Yeats as the leading modern poets, opened the ears of readers to a very different, and perhaps more varied, poetic music. A more balanced estimate of Tennyson has begun to prevail, however, with the recognition of the enduring greatness of “Ulysses,” the unique poignancy of Tennyson's best lyric poems, and, above all, the stature of In Memoriam as the great representative poem of the Victorian Age. It is now also recognized that the realistic and comic aspects of Tennyson's work are more important than they were thought to be during the period of the reaction against him. Finally, the perception of the poet's awed sense of the mystery of life, which lies at the heart of his greatness, as in “Crossing the Bar” or “Flower in the Crannied Wall,” unites his admirers in this century with those in the last. Though less of Tennyson's work may survive than appeared likely during his Victorian heyday, what does remain--and it is by no means small in quantity--seems likely to be imperishable.

2. LITERARY ANALYSIS OD IDYLLS OF THE KING BY TENNYSON

DEDICATION TO IDYLLS OF THE KING

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.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson was the most important poet of the Victorian period, and his works include some of the finest poetry in the English language. The Idylls of the King is one of his best-known compositions and has much of lasting value to offer the reader.

The Idylls of the King deals with an exciting era in English history and with such fascinating and familiar characters as King Arthur, Guinevere, Sir Lancelot, and the other Knights of the Round Table. The poem is difficult in parts, as many worthwhile books are, but reading it will be a rewarding and inspiring experience.

The tales about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, from which Tennyson drew the inspiration and substance of his Idylls, form an extensive body of medieval literature. The Arthurian legends have always had a firm hold on the English imagination, due to the heroic and evocative picture of the British past which they present. Tennyson was under great pressure to compose a long poem on an epic theme, and it was only natural for him to have selected as his subject the figure who would arouse strong sentiments of patriotism, pride, and admiration in the hearts of all Englishmen.

There is practically no historical evidence about the real King Arthur. It is considered probable, however, that he was a minor king or war-leader of the Celtic Britons who, sometime in the fifth or sixth century A.D., led his people in a stubborn and temporarily successful resistance against the Anglo-Saxon invasion. Despite Arthur's legendary twelve battles, culminating in the great victory at Mount Badon, the Anglo-Saxons were ultimately triumphant and drove the defeated Britons into the remote regions of Scotland and Wales. It was in these areas that the Arthurian legends first arose.

Whoever Arthur was, and whatever his real achievement, there is no question that he rapidly became the most important hero and the central figure of British legendary history. It is considered likely that many ancient Celtic myths and traditions became attached to his name. Furthermore, as time passed, various other legendary figures such as Gawain, Bedivere, Lancelot, and Tristram, who had once all been independent, became secondary to Arthur in the later versions of the sagas. Arthur's fame was widespread, and early legends about him are reported from such diverse areas as Brittany, Cornwall, Wales, Cumberland, and Scotland. By the end of the Middle Ages, he was the hero of romances composed even in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

The earliest documentary account of Arthur is found in the Historia Britonum, composed by the Welsh Nennius (around 796). The first important extended description of Arthur's career is in the Historia Regium Britanniae written by Geoffrey of Monmouth about 1140, although it has been suggested that the author actually invented many of the incidents he reports. Additional personal and historical details are found in the Annales Cambriae (c. 954), the Norman-French version of Geoffrey's Historia, composed by Wace (1155), the Gesta Regum Anglorum, written by William of Malmesbury in 1125, the chronicle of Layamon (early 13th century), as well as a few other Welsh and English sources.

In addition to these pseudo-historical accounts, there were from the earliest times a large number of bardic songs and lays dealing with a host of characters and events from the now extensive Arthurian saga.

A great number of these derive from the Welsh tradition. These are thought to be among the most important sources since Arthur was supposed to have been the leader of the Celtic Britons, from whom the Welsh are descended. The most considerable collection of these Welsh legendary tales is known as the Mabinogion. The oldest poems in this collection have been attributed to the sixth century A.D. This date may be questionable, but the Mabinogion definitely contains many primitive elements and was certainly composed in a very early period.

Later in the Middle Ages, elaborate and cultivated forms of metrical and prose romances were developed, and Arthurian themes provided the most popular subject matter. The rough basic material of the legends was softened and polished by exposure to the new literary conventions of chivalry and courtly love.

The most well-known of the Arthurian metrical romances are those composed by the French poet Chretien de Troyes (1160-1185). The greatest and most famous of the Arthurian prose romances is the Morte D'Arthur of Sir Thomas Malory (published 1485). This is the most thorough and complete editing of the legends and the one from which Tennyson drew most of his material. It is also judged to be one of the finest romantic works in English literature.

Critical reception varied with the different editions of Idylls of the King, and many critics regretted its piecemeal publication and complained that the separately created idylls resist treatment as a cohesive whole. Furthermore, although they almost universally applauded Tennyson's style and particularly his use of blank verse, critics were divided between those who thought it a worthy companion to Malory and those who found it more play-acting than drama, with the costumes failing to disguise Tennyson's contemporaries and their concerns. According to many critics, Idylls of the King fails to generate tragic interest in the characters: characters like Vivien, Ettarre, and King Mark are despicable; Guinevere and the rest of the women are generally too weak; and, for nineteenth-century poet and critic Algernon Swinburne, Arthur is no more than an uninspiring cuckold. A clear moral distinction and didactic undercurrent also drain the volume of significant dramatic interest, some critics have noted, while others contend that Tennyson's vision of a spiritually elevated world was betrayed by his concessions to a smug and materialistic Victorian ethic. Recently, however, a growing number of critics have dismissed such generalizations, and Idylls has come to be viewed as the embodiment of the Victorian period and of a poet who reflected both the thoughts and feelings of his generation.

The first of the Idylls covers the period following Arthur's coronation, his accession, and marriage. The besieged Leodogran, King of Cameliard, appeals to Arthur for help against the beasts and heathen hordes. Arthur vanquishes these and then the Barons who challenge his legitimacy. Afterwards he requests the hand of Leodogran's daughter, Guinevere, whom he loves. Leodogran, grateful but also doubtful of Arthur's lineage, questions his chamberlain, Arthur's emissaries, and Arthur's half-sister Bellicent (the character known as Anna or Morgause in other versions), receiving a different account from each. He is persuaded at last by a dream of Arthur crowned in heaven. Lancelot is sent to bring Guinevere, and she and Arthur wed in May. At the wedding feast, Arthur refuses to pay the customary tribute to the Lords from Rome, declaring, “The old order changeth, yielding place to new.” This phrase is repeated by Arthur throughout the work. Tennyson's use of the phrase in both the first and last Idyll, and throughout the work, is indicative of the change in Britain's, and Arthur's, fortunes. At this point, the phrase indicates the passing of Rome and the Heathens; In The Passing of Arthur, it indicates the downfall of Arthur's kingdom.

Tennyson based "Gareth and Lynette" on the fourth (Caxton edition: seventh) book of Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. There are earlier versions of the Arthurian legends, Cretian being among the earliest. Malory's is perhaps best known; it is possible that Malory created the tale himself, though he may have relied on an older work.

Of all the Idylls, “Gareth and Lynette” is sweetest and most innocent. Gareth, Bellicent and Lot's last son, dreams of knighthood but is frustrated by his mother. After a lengthy argument she clinches the matter, or so she thinks, by ordering him to serve as an anonymous scullion in Arthur's kitchens for a year and a day. To her disappointment, he agrees. Upon his arrival incognito at Camelot, Gareth is greeted by a disguised Merlin, who tells him the city is never built at all, and therefore built forever, and warns him that Arthur will bind him by vows no man can keep. Gareth is angered by his apparent tomfoolery, but is himself rebuked for going disguised to the truthful Arthur.

Arthur consents to the boy's petition for kitchen service. After Gareth has served nobly and well for a month, Bellicent repents and frees him from his vow. Gareth is secretly knighted by Arthur, who orders Lancelot to keep a discreet eye on him. Gareth's first quest comes in the form of the cantankerous Lynette, who begs Arthur for Lancelot's help in freeing her sister Lyonors. Rather than Lancelot, she is given Gareth, still seemingly a kitchen servant. Indignant, she flees, and abuses Gareth sorely when he catches up. On their journey he proves himself again and again, but she continues to call him knave and scullion. Gareth remains courteous and gentle throughout. Throughout the journey to the Castle Perilous, he overthrows the soi-disant knight of the Morning Star, knight of the Noonday Sun, knight of the Evening Star, and finally the most terrible knight of Death, who is revealed as a boy coerced into his role by his older brothers. Tennyson concludes: “And he [Malory] that told the tale in older times / Says that Sir Gareth wedded Lyonors, / But he, that told it later [Tennyson], says Lynette.”

"Enid" was initially written as a single poem but was later divided into two parts: "The Marriage of Geraint" and "Geraint and Enid". It is based on one of the Welsh Romances, Geraint and Enid, of the Mabinogion.

The Marriage of Geraint[edit]

Geraint, tributary prince of Devon and one of Arthur's bravest knights, is married to Enid, the only daughter of Yniol. He loves his wife deeply and she responds with equal affection; her only wish is to please him. At this time, the first rumours about Lancelot and Guinevere begin to spread throughout the court, but as yet there is no proof that any romance really exists. Geraint believes the stories and begins to fear that Enid will follow the bad example of her friend, the queen. His worries begin to plague him and he finally asks Arthur's permission to return to Devon.

After they arrive home, Geraint is very affectionate and attentive to his wife. He totally neglects his duties as a ruler and a knight, for he is obsessed with the idea that Enid has left a lover behind at the palace. Made suspicious by his jealousy, he stays at Enid's side at all times. Before long, Geraint's reputation begins to suffer. His people secretly scoff at him and jeer that his manliness is gone. Enid also is upset by his new and disgraceful way of life, but she is afraid to criticise him since she does not want to cause him any pain.

One morning as they lie in bed, she muses out loud about her sad dilemma and berates herself as a bad wife for remaining silent. Geraint awakens and overhears her last few words. He jumps to the conclusion that she is confessing her infidelity and is infuriated. He angrily shouts that he is still a warrior, despite all rumours, and that he will at once go on a quest to prove his prowess. She alone is to accompany him, taking no baggage and wearing her oldest and most shabby dress.

Geraint and Enid set out on their journey that very morning. Geraint orders Enid to ride in front of him and not to speak, whatever the provocation. Perhaps, Tennyson hints, this command is because he still loves her and is afraid that in some outburst of his brooding jealousy he will harm her. The two ride on slowly into the bandit-infested wilderness adjoining Devon. Neither speaks, and both look pale and unhappy.

After a while, Enid notices three knights and overhears them planning to attack Geraint. He is riding so listlessly that he inspires no fear in them. She does not wish to disobey his order to her, but is afraid that he might be harmed. Finally she rides back and warns him. Rather than show any gratitude, Geraint criticises Enid for her disobedience and needles her about his suspicion that she really wants him to be defeated. Geraint engages the knights and is victorious. He piles the armour of the dead knights on their horses and makes Enid lead them as she rides.

The same episode is repeated again with three other knights, and once more Geraint chastises Enid for her disobedience. He is triumphant in each fight. Now Enid is forced to lead six captured horses. Geraint has some sympathy for her difficulty handling them, but does not offer to help.

In the afternoon, Geraint and Enid dine with some farm workers and are then guided to an inn for the night. After arranging for accommodations, Geraint continues to be sullen and nasty. Later that evening, they are visited at the inn by the local ruler, Earl Limours, who, by chance, happens to have once been a suitor of Enid's. Limours is a crude drunkard, and Geraint callously allows him to make all sorts of coarse jokes, much to the distress and embarrassment of Enid. Before leaving for the night, Limours informs Enid that he still loves her and plans the next morning to rescue her from her cruel husband.

When day breaks, Enid warns Geraint of the plot. He, of course, suspects her of having encouraged the earl and is angry. They leave the inn immediately but are pursued by Limours and his followers. In a running fight, Geraint is able to drive them off.

Soon the unhappy couple enters the lawless territory of Earl Doorm the Bull. Suddenly Geraint collapses from his wounds. Enid is powerless to aid him and she sits by his side, weeping while he lies unconscious. After a while, Doorm and his soldiers ride past, returning from a raid. The outlaw earl's curiosity is aroused by the lovely maiden and he questions her. Doorm insists that the wounded knight is dead, but Enid refuses to believe him. The outlaw chieftain has his soldiers bring Geraint's body and Enid to his stronghold.

As they gallop off together on one horse, they meet Edyrn, son of Nudd. He informs them that he is an advance scout for an army led by Arthur to rid this province of thieves and outlaws. He offers to guide them to the king's camp where Geraint reports to Arthur. After Geraint is shamed by the praise Arthur gives him, he and Enid are reconciled in their tent. When Geraint is well again they all return to Caerleon. Later on, the happy couple returns to Devon. Geraint's chivalrous and commendable behaviour as ruler and knight ends all rumours about him.

"Balin and Balan" is based on the tale of Sir Balin in Book II of Le Morte d'Arthur. Malory's source was the Old French Post-Vulgate Cycle, specifically the text known as the Suite du Merlin.

The brothers Sir Balin "the Savage" and Balan return to Arthur's hall after three years of exile, and are welcomed warmly. When Arthur's envoys return, they report the death of one of Arthur's knights from a demon in the woods. Balan offers to hunt the demon, and before he departs warns Balin against his terrible rages, which were the cause of their exile. Balin tries to learn gentleness from Lancelot, but despairs and concludes that Lancelot's perfect courtesy is beyond his reach. Instead, he takes the Queen's crown for his shield. Several times it reminds him to restrain his temper.

Then, one summer morning, Balin beholds an ambiguous exchange between Lancelot and the Queen that fills him with confusion. He leaves Camelot and eventually arrives at the castle of Pellam and Garlon. When Garlon casts aspersions on the Queen, Balin kills him and flees. Ashamed of his temper, he hangs his crowned shield in a tree, where Vivien and her squire discover it, and then Balin himself. She spins lies to Balin that confirm his suspicions about Guinevere. He shrieks, tears down his shield, and tramples it. In that same wood, Balan hears the cry and believes he has found his demon. The brothers clash and only too late recognise each other. Dying, Balan assures Balin that their Queen is pure and good.

Having boasted to King Mark that she will return with the hearts of Arthur's knights in her hand, Vivien begs and receives shelter in Guinevere's retinue. While in Camelot, she sows rumours of the Queen's affair. She fails to seduce the King, for which she is ridiculed, and turns her attentions to Merlin. She follows him when he wanders out of Arthur's court, troubled by visions of impending doom. She intends to coax out of Merlin a spell that will trap him forever, believing his defeat would be her glory. She protests her love to Merlin, declaring he cannot love her if he doubts her. When he mentions Arthur's knights' gossip about her, she slanders every one of them. Merlin meets every accusation but one: that of Lancelot's illicit love, which he admits is true. Worn down, he allows himself to be seduced, and tells Vivien how to work the charm. She immediately uses it on him, and so he is imprisoned forever, as if dead to anyone but her, in a hollow, nearby oak tree.

"Lancelot and Elaine" is based upon the story of Elaine of Astolat, found in Le Morte d'Arthur, the Lancelot-Grail Cycle, and the Post-Vulgate Cycle. Tennyson had previously treated a similar subject in "The Lady of Shalott", published in 1833 and revised in 1842; however, that poem was based on the thirteenth-century Italian novellina La Damigella di Scalot,^[2] and thus has little in common with Malory's version.

Long ago, Arthur happened upon the skeletons of two warring brothers, one wearing a crown of nine diamonds. Arthur retrieved the crown and removed the diamonds. At eight annual tourneys, he awarded a diamond to the tournament winner. The winner has always been Lancelot, who plans to win once more and give all nine diamonds to his secret love Queen Guinevere. Guinevere chooses to stay back from the ninth tournament, and Lancelot then tells Arthur he too will not attend. Once they are alone, she berates Lancelot for giving grounds for slander from court and reminds Lancelot that she cannot love her too-perfect king, Arthur. Lancelot then agrees to go to the tournament, but in disguise. He borrows armour, arms and colours from a remote noble, the Lord of Astolat, and as a finishing touch, agrees to wear Astolat's daughter Elaine's token favour, which he has never done "for any woman". Lancelot's flattering chivalry wins over the impressionable young Elaine's heart. Here the Idyll repeats Malory's account of the tournament and its aftermath.

Elaine has thus fallen in love with Lancelot. When he tells her that their love can never be, she wishes for death. She later becomes weak and dies. As per her request, her father and brothers put her on a barge with a note to Lancelot and Guinevere. Lancelot has returned to Camelot to present the nine diamonds to Guinevere. In an unwarranted jealous fury, the Queen hurls the diamonds out the window into the river, just as Elaine's funeral barge passes below. This is fulfilling of a dream Elaine spoke of in which she held the ninth diamond, but it was too slippery to hold and fell into a body of water. Elaine's body is brought into the hall and her letter read, at which the lords and ladies weep. Guinevere privately asks Lancelot's forgiveness. The knight muses that Elaine loved him more than the Queen, wonders if all the Queen's love has rotted to jealousy, and wishes he was never born.

This Idyll is told in flashback by Sir Percivale, who had become a monk and died one summer before the account, to his fellow monk Ambrosius. His pious sister had beheld the Grail and named Galahad her "knight of heaven", declaring that he, too, would behold it. One summer night in Arthur's absence, Galahad sits in the Siege Perilous. The hall is shaken with thunder, and a vision of the covered Grail passes the knights. Percivale swears that he will quest for it a year and a day, a vow echoed by all the knights. When Arthur returns, he hears the news with horror. Galahad, he says, will see the Grail, and perhaps Percivale and Lancelot also, but the other knights are better suited to physical service than spiritual. The Round Table disperses. Percivale travels through a surreal, allegorical landscape until he meets Galahad in a hermitage. They continue together until Percivale can no longer follow, and he watches Galahad depart to a heavenly city in a boat like a silver star. Percival sees the grail, far away, not as close or real an image as Galahad saw, above Galahad's head. After the period of questing, only a remnant of the Round Table returns to Camelot. Some tell stories of their quests. Gawain decided to give up and spent pleasant times relaxing with women, until they were all blown over by a great wind, and he figured it was time to go home. Lancelot found a great, winding staircase, and climbed it until he found a room which was hot as fire and very surreal, and saw a veiled version of the grail wrapped in samite, a heavy silk popular in the Middle Ages, which is mentioned several times throughout the Idylls. "The Holy Grail" is symbolic of the Round Table being broken apart, a key reason for the doom of Camelot.

Tennyson's source for "Pelleas and Ettare" was again Malory, who had himself adapted the story from the Post-Vulgate Cycle.

In an ironic echo of "Gareth and Lynette", the young, idealistic Pelleas meets and falls in love with the lady Ettare. She thinks him a fool, but treats him well at first because she wishes to hear herself proclaimed the "Queen of Beauty" at the tournament. For Pelleas' sake, Arthur declares it a "Tournament of Youth", barring his veteran warriors. Pelleas wins the title and circlet for Ettare, who immediately ends her kindness to him. He follows her to her castle, where for a sight of her he docilely allows himself to be bound and maltreated by her knights, although he can and does overthrow them all. Gawain observes this one day with outrage. He offers to court Ettare for Pelleas, and for this purpose borrows his arms and shield. When admitted to the castle, he announces that he has killed Pelleas.

Three nights later, Pelleas enters the castle in search of Gawain. He passes a pavilion of Ettare's knights, asleep, and then a pavilion of her maidens, and then comes to a pavilion where he finds Ettare in Gawain's arms. He leaves his sword across their throats to show that, if not for Chivalry, he could have killed them. When Ettare wakes, she curses Gawain. Her love turns to Pelleas, and she pines away. Disillusioned with Arthur's court, Pelleas leaves Camelot to become the Red Knight in the North.

Guinevere had once fostered an infant found in an eagle's nest, who had a ruby necklace wrapped around its neck. After the child died, Guinevere gave the jewels to Arthur to make a tournament prize. However, before the tournament, a mutilated peasant stumbles into the hall. He was tortured by the Red Knight in the North, who has set up a parody of the Round Table with lawless knights and harlots. Arthur delegates the judging of the Tournament to Lancelot and takes a company to purge the evil. "The Tournament of the Dead Innocence" becomes a farce, full of discourtesies, broken rules, and insults. Sir Tristram wins the rubies. Breaking tradition, he rudely declares to the ladies that the "Queen of Beauty" is not present. Arthur's fool, Dagonet, mocks Tristram. In the north, meanwhile, Arthur's knights, too full of rage and disgust to heed their King, trample the Red Knight, massacre his men and women, and set his tower ablaze.