Book: The Arthurian Legend from the Victorian Perspective

From the Middle Ages onwards, Arthurian literature has become part of the heritage of the culture of the Western Europe. It seems that, in a figurative sense, the prophecy about the once and future king, which originated in Wace’s account, has been fulfilling itself ever since, as each epoch discovers its own Arthurian world and instils it with new meanings reflecting its current concerns.

Lord Alfred Tennyson’s Idylls of the King epitomises the renewal of interest in the Arthurian legend in the nineteenth century. However, this interest in the Middle Ages was not merely of an aesthetic kind. To the Victorians, challenged by the latest scientific discoveries and paralysed by the ensuing religious doubt, the idealized medieval world of the heroic past offered the comforting stability of the feudal system, restless energy, and simple Christian faith. While it seems that each Victorian artist developed his own personal vision of the Middle Ages, they all viewed that world as much more comprehensible than their own age of transition.

Hence, to the future Poet Laureate, the past provided a peaceful and harmonious refuge, an alternative to the world dominated by the mists of uncertainty and confusion. The Idylls thus becomes the expression of the Victorian longing for spirituality, for the safety in unwavering faith in the modern world dominated by rationalism and science. The episodes chosen by the poet from the rich medieval sources reveal issues and values that proved particularly relevant to the Victorian middle class. The Victorian crisis of faith, and the hero-worship resulting from it, become particularly visible in the depiction of King Arthur himself, while his reflections lend the piece a parabolic and timeless dimension.