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 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, and
Balin and
Balan, and 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 an
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.