Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson (1859-1885)

Join us as we explore Alfred, Lord Tennyson's sweeping, monumental poetic cycle, Idylls of the King (published between 1859 and 1885). This work is Tennyson's ambitious, deeply personal retelling of the Arthurian legends, presented not merely as adventure stories, but as a symbolic epic tracing the rise and catastrophic fall of King Arthur's noble kingdom and his utopian vision for Camelot. . We discuss how Tennyson uses the individual stories—or "idylls"—of figures like Lancelot, Guinevere, Elaine, and Galahad to allegorize the Victorian struggle between the spiritual and the sensual, and the relentless battle between Order and the forces of Chaos that inevitably corrupt and destroy idealism. More than a simple retelling, the Idylls function as a powerful, melancholic commentary on the political and moral health of his own Victorian England, revealing the fragility of even the purest ideals in the face of human weakness, lust, and betrayal.