Idylls making me a king

Idylls, like any word in English has more than one meaning. It started out having two meanings, one for love a things simple, but picturesque, the other for a poem that depicts the charming life of rural living. These meanings originated back in England when living in a beautiful countryside was the rule rather than the exception. An idyllic life was standard for most people.

While the Civil War was raging in America and life was far from idyllic, Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote the classic Idylls of the King, a poem about King Arthur, his knights, and the beautiful Guinevere. It was a series of 12 idylls (short poems) that highlighted different events or different knights like Lancelot. After Idylls of the King, the word took on a new meaning. No longer was the word idyll just a poem about the charm of country living but about the charm of knights riding across the enchanting countryside with a noble cause. And, of course, one could not miss the way the poem opened by speaking of the charm that the beautiful Guinevere brought to the entire country. The following lines are taken from the beginning idyll after the dedication. Arhtur is riding into battle with his knights and sees Guinevere for the first time.



But Arthur, looking downward as he passed,
Felt the light of her eyes into his life
smite him on the sudden... [suddenly gazing on him]

Arthur fights the battle, but after it was over, he cannot get the young maiden's eyes out of his mind. Finally, he knows that she inspires him to be a better ruler, as in the lines below.

And, reigning with one will in everything

We might have power on this dark land to lighten it,

And power on this dead world to make it live.

After Idylls of the King, idyllic could mean simply something or someone charming or someone who helps someone else live life in beauty with hope and power, as the last lines above bear out.

Growing up, I thought that idyll and ideal were synonyms, a modern spelling replacing an archaic spelling. Although they share a few semantic domains, they are not synonyms. Ideal means something perfect or something only dreamed of. Idyll can now mean something pastoral, a poem of something pastoral, something or someone with charm, or the charm of someone who adds beauty and power and hope to bring light to "dark land" and life to a "dead world." So, if someone is living an idyllic life, what kind of life is he living? A country life? A charmed life? A life with someone who helps him live beautifully with power and hope? Of course, Tennyson used them all as a triple pun.

I don't know how many idylls will be in my life's poem. But, I do know that the most recent idyll contains a line or two about inspiration as if drawn from Tennyson's poem. It would otherwise be a dark land. Instead, I am living an idyllic life.