SOURCE: "W. E. Gladstone on the Idylls of the King (1859) and Earlier Works," in Tennyson: The Critical Heritage, edited by John D. Jump, Routledge and Kegan Paul, and Barnes and Noble, Inc., 1967, pp. 241-66.

In the following excerpt, originally published in 1859, Gladstone positively reviews Idylls of the King and considers the poems' Arthurian subject matter.

We now come to the recent work of the poet—the Idylls of the King. The field, which Mr. Tennyson has chosen for this his recent and far greatest exploit, is one of so deep and wide-reaching an interest as to demand some previous notice of a special kind.

Lofty example in comprehensive forms is, without doubt, one of the great standing needs of our race. To this want it has been from the first one main purpose of the highest poetry to answer. The quest of Beauty leads all those who engage...