"The Imperfect Is Paradise":A Moral-philosorphical Reading Of Idylls Of The King

Idylls of the King is a 12-volume epic created by the Victorian poet laureate Alfred Tennyson who has made his life a strong commitment to the Arthurian legend. By means of the epic form, it is possible for Tennyson to explore the human life in a world of doubt and denial by detaching himself from the previous excess of self-expression, representing the general human conditions in a broad perspective. The whole epic expresses the poet’s utmost concern for the humanistic tradition: its polished poetic finesse reflects his respect and returning to the classical literature as well as its cultural heritage; its aesthetic narrative style exhibits his powerful hope of life-affirmation.In terms of Nietzsche’s moral-philosophy, this thesis is based on the close reading of Idylls of the King to discuss the theme with an assistance of the original character research on aesthetic and morality. By briefly reviewing the wax and wane of Arthurian kingdom and its knights’ struggling course, the main parts of this thesis will focus on the related decisions, actions and events through the analysis of the will to power, master morality and slave morality to interpret varied conflicts between life force and moral confinement, between glorified yearning and imperfect trapping in Camelot, finally, to find out Tennyson’s approval of life’s value and significance implied in the theme. Thus, this thesis arrives at a conclusion of that, as an intellectual explorer, Tennyson endows the Idylls with a moral-philosophical statement of universal applicability, which, through the concrete presentation of the poetic artistry, gives us a guidance of how to confront the predicament with constant pursuit of human-flourishing, and consequently finding out the individual life strategy and value principles in this imperfect reality.