IDYLLS OF THE KING, The. 'The Idylls of the King' may be called Tennyson's greatest work because the poem occupied much of his time for all his literary life, because it presents in pictorial form ideas which in Tenny son's mind lay at the bottom of modern life and of his own thinking, and because it is ex pressed in the beautiful blank verse of which he was a master. °We know not of a nobler subject; we know not where to look for one who could have more nobly thought it out" wrote Dean Alford at the time of the poem's appearance. In 1833 Tennyson wrote
is given by the indication of the mystical year: Arthur is born New Year's night; is married in May; the adventures of Gareth, the type of his knights, is in early soring; the quest of The Grail in full summer; the Last Tournament is in autumn; and Arthur ,passe.s from earth on the last night of the year. The poem gives a decorative panorama of the legend-cycle of King Arthur, which is the English national epic material. As each succeeding century presents the old stories in the form of its day so Tenny son's figures in the 'Idylls' are ideal concep tions of the 19th century. The blank verse in which the poem is presented is one of Tenny son's great achievements and the figured poetry is also characteristic of the poet. Not only have we true picture, but abundance of pic torial figure and pictorial suggestions. The poem has delighted the most naive story lover and the most earnest seeker after ideas in poetry. Studies of the