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 Idylls is the central work of his career; it expresses an intellectual...