IDYLL 



2917 



IDYLLS OF THE KING 



regarded the supreme power as a being in 

 human form. Images were erected in promi- 

 nent places, sometimes out-of-doors, sometimes 

 in temples. To the beholders they symbolized 

 the gods they worshiped, and as in some coun- 

 tries there were held to be a great number of 

 gods, numerous idols were made, each one 

 representing some particular deity. After 

 Christianity was proclaimed idols were re- 

 garded by Christians as sacrilegious, but cer- 

 tain images with deep religious significance 

 were retained as symbols to be venerated, and 

 are so used to-day in the Roman Catholic 

 Church. 



Idolatry. It was not long before those early 

 peoples who had made for themselves graven 

 images as symbols began to regard those 

 images as gods in truth. As gods, or as the 

 abodes of the spirits, they were worshiped. A 

 man in the presence of his idol felt himself 

 literally in the presence of his god. The 

 prophets of old warned the Jews against the 

 practice of bowing down to idols of wood and 

 stone. The protest was not directed against 

 the symbol or image, but against the worship 

 of the idol instead of what it represented. 



Mohammed conceived such a dread of the 

 effect of idolatry that the Koran expressly 

 forbids the reproduction in wood, stone, metal, 

 painting, or in any way whatsoever, of the 

 image of any living thing. Buddhism and 

 Brahmanism still retain images, and their re- 

 ligious ceremonies closely approach a form of 

 idolatry. On the west coast of Africa and 

 among some inland tribes a form of idolatry 

 known as fetish is still common. Even inani- 

 mate objects are credited with great powers 

 of evil and are worshiped according to the ex- 

 tent of their supposed influence. The spread of 

 Christianity and enlightenment and the vast 

 influence of modern civilization are gradually 

 forcing all forms of idolatry out of existence. 



IDYLL, or IDYL, i'dil, from the Latin 

 idyllium, meaning a little image, a term which 

 designates a kind of poem representing simple 

 scenes of pastoral (rural) life. But it is not 

 essential that the idyll be exclusively pastoral, 

 as many of the famous idylls of ancient poets 

 are not wholly rural in character. To consti- 

 tute a poem of this class it should present to 

 view a complete picture in small compass, as 

 distinguished from the formal epic. However, 

 Tennyson's Idylls of the King is ^n epic in 

 style and treatment and romantic and tragic 

 in subject matter, as shown by the lines given 

 below; it is therefore difficult to draw an exact 



line as to what may or may not be called an 

 idyll: 



Nor ever yet had Arthur fought a fight 

 Like this last, dim, weird battle of the west, 

 A deathwhite mist slept over sand and sea : 

 Whereof the chill, to him who breathed it, drew 

 Down with his blood, till all his heart was cold 

 With formless fear ; and ev'n on Arthur fell 

 Confusion, since he saw not whom he fought. 

 For friend and foe were shadows in the mist, 

 And friend slew friend not knowing whom he 



slew ; 



And some had visions out of golden youth, 

 And some beheld the faces of old ghosts 

 Look in upon the battle ; and in the mist 

 Was many a noble deed, and many a base. 



IDYLLS OF THE KING. Tennyson's poem 

 of this title is a beautiful epic of Arthur, the 

 hero-king of the Britons (see ARTHUR, KING). 

 It was completed in 1889, after the poet had 

 worked on the stories at intervals for a period 

 of fifty years, and is divided into twelve parts, 

 or idylls. Each idyll centers about a particu- 

 lar incident in the life-drama of the great per- 

 sonage who dominates the entire narrative. 

 Beginning with The Coming of Arthur, the 

 poet carries the story through the building 

 up of the kingdom; the establishment of the 

 Round Table; the unhappy love of Guinevere 

 for Lancelot, the king's trusted knight; the 

 exploits of the knights in their quest for the 

 Holy Grail ; the remorse and flight of the queen, 

 and the final triumph of the king's enemies and 

 his own death in the "last, dim, weird battle of 

 the west." 



In The Passing of Arthur, the closing idyll 

 of the series, the poet strikes the high notes 

 of his rich fancy and gift for exquisite verse 

 making. The simple, tender language of the 

 king as he lay moaning in his tent is an 

 admirable illustration of Tennyson's quieter 

 mood: 



I found Him in the shining of the stars, 



I mark'd Him in the flowering of His fields, 



But in His ways with men I find Him not. 



Again there are passages of splendid beauty 

 and of rich, imaginative quality, a striking 

 example being the description of the sword 

 Excalibur as it was flung into the sea by Sir 

 Bedivere, in response to repeated commands, 

 as the king lay dying: 



The great brand 



Made lightnings in the splendor of the moon, - 

 And flashing round and round, and whirl'd in an 



arch, 



Shot like a sti'eamer of the northern morn, 

 Seen where the moving isles of winter shock 

 By night, with noises of the Northern Sea. 



