Idylls of the King Alfred, Lord Tennyson - J. Philip Eggers (essay date 1971)
J. Philip Eggers (essay date 1971)
SOURCE: "The Dissolving Image: Patterns of Meaning in the Completed Poem," in King Arthur's Laureate: A Study of Tennyson's Idylls of the King, New York University Press, 1971, pp. 185-214.
[In the following essay, Eggers considers the imagery of the Idylls as it contributes to its themes.]
The Idylls became an organic whole when Tennyson added "Balin and Balan" in 1885. In 1888 he divided the Geraint story into two separate idylls to give a mechanical completeness to the structure, and in 1891 he added the final touch, a single line in the epilogue. The poem had become an intricately developed tragedy stressing man's inability to remain civilized without the guidance of a metaphysical ideal. Overcoming many inauspicious circumstances—a difficult topic, diverse sources, an uncomprehending public, and a serial method of composition—Tennyson achieved a stunning artistic triumph. The...
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