At intervals, during a period of fifty years, he labored over the twelve books that make up his Idylls of the King, completing the work in
1888.
The principal source of Tennyson's stories of Arthur and his knights was Sir Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur, a version that Malory translated into English prose from French sources in 1470. As Talbot Donaldson suggested, one basis of the appeal of the Arthurian stories, like the legends of Robin Hood and stories of the American West, is that they represent the struggle of individuals to restore order when chaos
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1 138 / ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
and anarchy are ascendant, a task performed in the face of seemingly overwhelming
odds. The individual stories in Tennyson's Idylls have the same basic appeal, but the
overall design of the whole poem is more ambitious and impressive. The epic repre
sents the rise and fall of a civilization, and its underlying theme is that after two
thousand years of Christianity, Western civilization may be going through a cycle in
which it must confront the possibilities of a renewal in the future or an apocalyptic
extinction. The first book, The Coming of Arthur, introduces the basic myth of a
springtime hero transforming a wasteland and inspiring faith and hope in the highest
values of civilized life among his devoted followers, the knights of his Round Table.
Succeeding books move through summer and autumn and culminate in the bleak
wintry scene of Arthur's last battle in which his order perishes in a civil war; the leader of the enemy forces is his own nephew, Sir Modred.
Throughout the later books of the Idylls the forces of opposition grow in strength, and discontent and resentment infect leading figures of the Round Table itself. The most glaring example is the adulterous relationship between Guinevere, Arthur's 'sumptuous' queen (as Tennyson once described her), and the king's chief lieutenant and friend, Sir Lancelot. Many other fallings away subsequently come to light, such as the deceitful betrayal by Sir Gawain in the ninth book, Pelleas and Ettarre, and the cynical conduct of Sir Tristram, whose story is told in the bitter tenth book, The Last Tournament. Even Merlin, Arthur's trusted magician and counselor, becomes corrupted and can perform no further offices for the king (Merlin and Vivien). The Passing of Arthur depicts the apocalyptic end of this long process of disintegration
and decay.
FROM IDYLLS OF THE KING
The Coming of Arthur Leodogran, the King of Cameliard, Had one fair daughter, and none other child; And she was fairest of all flesh on earth, Guinevere, and in her his one delight. 5 For many a petty king ere Arthur came Ruled in this isle, and ever waging war Each upon other, wasted all the land; And still from time to time the heathen host Swarm'd overseas, and harried0 what was left. ravaged 10 And so there grew great tracts of wilderness, Wherein the beast was ever more and more, But man was less and less, till Arthur came. For first Aurelius1 lived and fought and died, And after him King Uther fought and died, 15 But either fail'd to make the kingdom one. And after these King Arthur for a space, And thro' the puissance0 of his Table Round, power Drew all their petty princedoms under him, Their king and head, and made a realm, and reign'd.
1. Brother of King Ulhcr.
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THE COMING OF ARTHUR / 1 195
20
And thus the land of Cameliard was waste, Thick with wet woods, and many a beast therein, And none or few to scare or chase the beast; So that wild dog, and wolf and boar and bear Came night and day, and rooted0 in the fields, dug for food
25 And wallow'd in the gardens of the King. And ever and anon the wolf would steal The children and devour, but now and then, Her own brood lost or dead, lent her fierce teat To human sucklings; and the children, housed
30 In her foul den, there at their meat would growl, And mock their foster-mother on four feet, Till, straighten'd, they grew up to wolf-like men, Worse than the wolves. And King Leodogran Groan'd? for the Roman legions here again, yearned
35 And Caesar's eagle:2 then his brother king, Urien, assail'd him: last a heathen horde, Reddening the sun with smoke and earth with blood, And on the spike that split the mother's heart Spitting0 the child, brake on him, till, amazed, impaling
40 He knew not whither he should turn for aid.
But?for he heard of Arthur newly crown'd, Tho' not without an uproar made by those Who cried, 'He is not Uther's son'?the King Sent to him, saying, 'Arise, and help us thou!
45 For here between the man and beast we die.'
And Arthur yet had done no deed of arms, But heard the call, and came: and Guinevere Stood by the castle walls to watch him pass; But since he neither wore on helm or shield
so The golden symbol of his kinglihood,3 But rode a simple knight among his knights, And many of these in richer arms than he, She saw him not, or mark'd not, if she saw, One among many, tho' his face was bare.
55 But Arthur, looking downward as he past, Felt the light of her eyes into his life Smite on the sudden, yet rode on, and pitch'd His tents beside the forest. Then he drave? drove away The heathen; after, slew the beast, and fell'd
