Idylls of the King, Alfred Lord Tennyson
Idylls of the King, Alfred Lord Tennyson
List: $15.00 | Sale: $10.50
Club: $7.50

Idylls of the King

Author: Alfred Lord Tennyson

Narrator: Geoffrey Giuliano, The Crush

Unabridged: 9 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/03/2022


Synopsis

Idylls of the King, published between 1859 and 1885, is a cycle of twelve narrative poems by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson which retells the legend of King Arthur, his knights, his love for Guinevere and her tragic betrayal of him, and the rise and fall of Arthur's kingdom.

The whole work recounts Arthur's attempt and failure to lift up mankind and create a perfect kingdom, from his coming to power to his death at the hands of the traitor Mordred. Individual poems detail the deeds of various knights, including Lancelot, Geraint, Galahad, Balin, and Balan, as also Merlin and the Lady of the Lake. There is little transition between Idylls, but the central figure of Arthur links all the stories. The poems were dedicated to the late Albert, Prince Consort.

The Idylls are written in blank verse. Tennyson's descriptions of nature are derived from observations of his own surroundings, collected over the course of many years. The dramatic narratives are not epic either in structure or tone but derive elegiac sadness in the style of the idylls of Theocritus. Idylls of the King is often read as an allegory of the societal conflicts in Britain during the mid-Victorian era.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Sarah on December 17, 2010

I have a beautiful, old edition of this book. I wish I could show you. On the book marker, in old-fashioned cursive, it says, Merry Christmas To Lottie from Dora Update: This is a truly beautiful work. Enchanting. Mesmerizing, really. There is just one little thing though... I'd heard rumblings of this book......more

Goodreads review by Bryan--The Bee’s Knees on August 23, 2018

Idylls of the King is something I've wanted to read since I was a teenager--the title, the subject matter, the format all mixed together in my mind to suggest a work of astonishing grace and beauty. I might also add that I had a very naïve idea of what literature was capable of at that time--whateve......more

Goodreads review by Bryn on December 13, 2012

As usual, I thought right up there the short story of Balin, who is to blame for his own tragedy ('My violences, my violences!'). Darker than I had expected and gutsier. I think I decided to read this at last after I saw a book on Tennyson's battle poetry. How he wrote 54 battle poems and had a genu......more

Goodreads review by Abigail on March 10, 2016

Tennyson's poetry is some of the most beautiful I've encountered (admittedly, not saying much, because my acquaintance with poetry is slight): his turns of phrase and the pictures he paints are wonderfully evocative, and there's an eerie mysticism in stories like "The Holy Grail." Even the fatalism......more