Idylls of the King, written by Alfred Lord, Tennyson, is a poem about King Arthur’s knights and his kingdom succumbing to corruption. It is also a tale that elaborates on the famous love triangle blossoming between King Arthur, Guinevere, and Sir Lancelot. Lord, Tennyson wrote his widely famous poem as a social commentary of the industrialized Victorian era and its supposed corruptness versus a time of no industrialization. Alfred Lord, Tennyson uses the power of motifs to describe the immoral and moral; this is especially prevalent in the motif of the sun, which comes to represent both Arthur and Lancelot, and helps set the mood and foreshadows the future events in Tennyson’s classic poem. Tennyson uses the sun motif to add to Arthur’s character
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Arthur’s sun motif is used to describe his perfection, but Lancelot’s is used to emphasize his imperfection. His faults are what Guinevere comes to love about him .She compliments his impurities to the point of her putting Arthur down by saying “who loves me must have a touch of earth; /The low sun makes the color” (Tennyson 155). By comparing Arthur to the fully risen sun and Lancelot to the low sun, Guinevere denies her love for someone pure and unattainable in greatness, like Arthur. The imperfection Lancelot has makes him more attainable and gives the impression of relatability. Arthur’s wonderfulness secludes him from his loved ones and pushes him far away from those he wishes to be close to. Lancelot also appears in Guinevere’s warning dream as “the sun there swiftly made at her/ A ghastly something, and its shadow flew” (Tennyson 255). The dream of Guinevere’s once again uses the sun to represent Lancelot. The sun in the dream leads to darkness. Lancelot led to the kingdom’s wretched end by betraying Arthur and causing Arthur to leave his kingdom. Like in the dream Lancelot becomes Guinevere and Arthur’s downfall. Their relationship ends with horrible consequences and a life of sorrow and repetance on Guinevere’s …show more content…
In the novel, the most intense scenes settings tend to have a sun described as “/The Blood-red light of dawn/” (Tennyson 179). By using a blood red sun, an ominous and eerie setting is made. Also, the blood-red sun foreshadows future events in the poem. From the sun you can predict blood will be shed soon and death is imminent. In war scenes, the sun is used once again by Tennyson, as a negative symbol. The victorious war the Red Knight fights to bring the heathens to power led to him being on “a heap of slain, from spur to plume/Red as the rising sun with heathen blood,” (Tennyson 160). The sun is compared to blood and downfall again because it represents both the color of the Red Knight and the color of the blood the Red Knight created. Once again, it foreshadows the fight Arthur will have with the Red Knight ending in a large amount of blood shed. Contrary to the previous cases; however, the sun is used as a hopeful symbol as well. When Arthur passed away and it felt to the reader like there was no hope in the novel “ the new sun rose bringing the new year”( Tennyson 285) and restoring hope to the end of the poem.it gives the impression that once again good will prevail and the darkness plaguing the kingdom of Camelot will be vanquished in time. This is also a representation of Arthur living being able to live in heaven, because Arthur is often times
Arthur’s sun motif is used to describe his perfection, but Lancelot’s is used to emphasize his imperfection. His faults are what Guinevere comes to love about him .She compliments his impurities to the point of her putting Arthur down by saying “who loves me must have a touch of earth; /The low sun makes the color” (Tennyson 155). By comparing Arthur to the fully risen sun and Lancelot to the low sun, Guinevere denies her love for someone pure and unattainable in greatness, like Arthur. The imperfection Lancelot has makes him more attainable and gives the impression of relatability. Arthur’s wonderfulness secludes him from his loved ones and pushes him far away from those he wishes to be close to. Lancelot also appears in Guinevere’s warning dream as “the sun there swiftly made at her/ A ghastly something, and its shadow flew” (Tennyson 255). The dream of Guinevere’s once again uses the sun to represent Lancelot. The sun in the dream leads to darkness. Lancelot led to the kingdom’s wretched end by betraying Arthur and causing Arthur to leave his kingdom. Like in the dream Lancelot becomes Guinevere and Arthur’s downfall. Their relationship ends with horrible consequences and a life of sorrow and repetance on Guinevere’s …show more content…
In the novel, the most intense scenes settings tend to have a sun described as “/The Blood-red light of dawn/” (Tennyson 179). By using a blood red sun, an ominous and eerie setting is made. Also, the blood-red sun foreshadows future events in the poem. From the sun you can predict blood will be shed soon and death is imminent. In war scenes, the sun is used once again by Tennyson, as a negative symbol. The victorious war the Red Knight fights to bring the heathens to power led to him being on “a heap of slain, from spur to plume/Red as the rising sun with heathen blood,” (Tennyson 160). The sun is compared to blood and downfall again because it represents both the color of the Red Knight and the color of the blood the Red Knight created. Once again, it foreshadows the fight Arthur will have with the Red Knight ending in a large amount of blood shed. Contrary to the previous cases; however, the sun is used as a hopeful symbol as well. When Arthur passed away and it felt to the reader like there was no hope in the novel “ the new sun rose bringing the new year”( Tennyson 285) and restoring hope to the end of the poem.it gives the impression that once again good will prevail and the darkness plaguing the kingdom of Camelot will be vanquished in time. This is also a representation of Arthur living being able to live in heaven, because Arthur is often times