Idylls of the King (Dover Thrift Editions)

Alfred Lord Tennyson

ISBN 10: 0486437957 / ISBN 13: 9780486437958

Published by Dover Publications, 2004

About this Item

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Idylls of the King (Dover Thrift Editions)
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Publication Date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0486437957
• ISBN 13: 9780486437958
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

With Idylls of the King, one of the giants of Victorian literature turned his considerable talents to the chivalric lore surrounding a larger-than-life British ruler, King Arthur. Alfred, Lord Tennyson, cast his interpretation of Arthurian myth into the form of an epic poem, and his tales of Camelot soar to remarkable imaginative heights to trace the birth of a king; the founding, fellowship, and decline of the Round Table; and the king's inevitable departure. Encompassing romance, heroism, duty, and conflict, Tennyson's poetry charts the rise and fall of a legendary society.
"The Coming of Arthur" chronicles the victorious battle with which the king also wins Guinevere's hand; "Gareth and Lynette," "The Marriage of Geraint," and "Geraint and Enid" likewise concern tests and triumphs of love, virtue, and valor. The tragic tale of two brothers, "Balin and Balan," is followed by "Merlin and Vivien," recounting the wizard's betrayal at the hands of a femme fatale. "Lancelot and Elaine," a classic story of unrequited love, leads up to the grand climax, "The Holy Grail," followed by "The Last Tournament" and "The Passing of Arthur."
Generations of readers — both poetry lovers and devotees of myth and legend — have exulted in these stories "About the founding of a Round Table / That was to be, for love of God and man / And noble deeds, the flower of all the world."

About the Author

Alfred, Lord Tennyson was born in 1809 at Somersby, Lincolnshire. Schooled at Louth and by his father, a rector, he began to write early, and at the age of twelve he composed “an epic of 6,000 lines.” In 1828 he matriculated at Cambridge—but only after the elder Tennyson had approved his recitation by heart of the odes of Horace. Poems, Chiefly Lyrical, published in 1830, revealed Tennyson’s swiftly maturing talent, a talent which was augmented by his friendship with Edward FitzGerald and A.H. Hallam. In 1830, the poet and Hallam volunteered in the army of a Spanish insurgent; and Poems (1833) derived largely from experience gained on the Continent. Hallam’s death in the same year gave rise to The Two Voices (1834)—a black period in Tennyson’s life. After a lengthy silence he published Poems (1842), earning the admiration of Carlyle and Dickens. The year 1850 witnessed his marriage to Emily Sarah Sellwood and his appointment as poet laureate, succeeding Wordsworth. The gravity with which he took his office was reflected in many poems on state occasions. His later years produced his acknowledged masterpieces: In Memoriam (1850), Maud (1855), Ballads and Other Poems (1880), Locksley Hall Sixty Years After (1886), and scattered sections of what would eventually become his epic, Idylls of the King (1859-1885). In 1892, reading his favorite Shakespeare, Tennyson died at Aldworth and received a public funeral in Westminster Abbey.