9 h 31 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a king builds a just world, but cannot make the people he loves live by its vows?
In Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, Arthur unites a broken land and calls his Round Table to service and honor. Yet Camelot’s greatest threats come from within. Lancelot’s hidden love for Queen Guinevere divides his loyalty, while pride, jealousy and doubt begin to weaken the court’s trust.
This long poem unfolds in twelve parts, moving through young knights’ hopes, troubled marriages and the quest for the Holy Grail. The Coming of Arthur, Gareth and Lynette, and Lancelot and Elaine bring different lives into focus. Through flowing, unrhymed verse, Tennyson explores the strain between high ideals and the desires that test them.
What you’ll discover
- A kingdom built on vows Enter Arthur’s court, where a strict code asks more than courage from every knight.
- Honor divided by love Follow Lancelot as loyalty to Arthur strains against his secret bond with Guinevere.
- Service before glory Meet Gareth, who hides his rank and works in the kitchen to prove his worth.
- Trust under pressure See how Geraint’s jealousy clouds his love for Enid and turns devotion toward suspicion.
- Verse with a rolling rhythm Settle into musical lines that carry tales of duty, longing and the struggle for self-command.
Who will love it
For readers who love the Arthur legends, rich, musical language, and Victorian stories about duty and desire.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A doubtful king unites a broken land
- Gareth learns that service comes first
- Geraint tests a love that needs no test
- Rage and rumor begin to eat at Camelot
- Elaine loves where love can never answer
- The Grail draws knights away from the king
- Idealists are betrayed and the court turns cynical
- The soul at war with sense
- How Tennyson builds the poem
Who’s who
- King ArthurThe young king who unites Britain, founds the Round Table and holds his knights to a strict code of service and honor.
- GuinevereArthur's queen, whose beauty and secret choices shape the fate of the court.
- LancelotThe greatest knight of the Round Table, loyal to Arthur yet bound by a hidden love that divides his honor.
- MerlinThe old wizard and adviser who helps Arthur rise and fears what will come of the kingdom.
- VivienA clever, bitter young woman who wants to ruin Camelot's best men by playing on their doubts.
- ElaineThe Lily Maid of Astolat, a gentle young woman who gives her whole heart to Lancelot.
- GarethArthur's young nephew, who hides his rank to serve in the kitchen and prove he deserves knighthood.
- GeraintA knight of Arthur's court who loves his wife Enid deeply but lets jealousy cloud his trust in her.
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- Audiobook
- 9 h 31 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 14 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Les Idylles du roi
by Alfred, lord Tennyson · 1859
Arthur builds a just order at Camelot, where love, pride and doubt test the vows of his Round Table.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 9
A doubtful king unites a broken land
The first idyll, The Coming of Arthur, opens on a country in ruin. The old Roman rule has gone, and the land is overrun by wild beasts and heathen raiders. Petty kings fight each other, and no one keeps the peace. Into this mess comes a young man named Arthur, who claims the crown.
Many do not believe him. His birth is wrapped in mystery, and some lords say he is no true son of the old king Uther. Tennyson lets the doubt hang in the air, with the wizard Merlin and others giving different accounts of where Arthur came from. The poem asks whether a king's right comes from blood or from the work he does. Arthur answers with deeds, and his enemies fall back one after another.
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What is Idylls of the King about?
It is a poem in twelve parts that follows King Arthur from his rise and the founding of the Round Table to the slow decay of his court, as the knights fail to keep their vows.
Is Idylls of the King based on Malory?
Largely yes. Tennyson drew on Sir Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur and on Welsh tales from the Mabinogion, but he changed and reshaped them to suit his own moral and symbolic purpose.
What does the word idyll mean in the title?
An idyll is a short poem or scene, often describing a picture or episode. Here each of the twelve poems is a separate tale that adds to the larger story of Arthur's reign.
The author
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
1809–1892 · English Victorian poet
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) was an English poet born in Somersby, Lincolnshire. He later lived on the Isle of Wight and in Surrey. He wrote The Princess (1847), In Memoriam (1850), and Enoch Arden (1864). Idylls of the King appeared between 1859 and 1885. He became Poet Laureate in 1850.
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