Idylls of the King
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Idylls of the King
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Narrated by:
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Charlton Griffin
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By:
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Alfred Tennyson
About this listen
Although Sir Thomas Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur has been called the backbone of the Arthurian legend, Tennyson's Idylls of the King is the flesh and blood. Tennyson's epic poem consists of 12 loosely connected episodes of the knights at Camelot, Arthur himself appearing as an almost Christ-like figure among them. However, though Arthur's knights represent the highest and most virtuous ideals, they sometimes fail to live up to those ideals, and their tragic flaws eventually leads to disaster. But it is this very tension between the flawed knight struggling with his own weaknesses as he confronts evil that gives Idylls of the King its compelling qualities. Some of the most dramatic scenes in the poem concern the vicissitudes of love and the daunting ethical challenges such love poses for a knight: jealousy, betrayal, and adultery.
Tennyson's vision of glorious quests, Christian valor, doomed love, manly jousts, and bitter destiny have dazzled readers for well over 100 years. These endlessly inspiring, timeless lines of verse are not only entertaining, but enlightening as well. The timeless Idylls will no doubt continue to enthrall mankind for centuries to come.
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Critic reviews
What listeners say about Idylls of the King
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- TheNameless
- 29-06-19
Tennyson's epic poem is ruined by the narration!
Charlton Griffin narrates like he's on stage in a huge theatre, projecting to the back of the upper circle. This would be fine if he weren't, essentially, talking directly in your ear! His over-dramatic, over-emphasised and overblown style quickly sucked all the pleasure from Tennyson's words and I was forced to give up.
It's a huge shame that he's the narrator for so many classic texts, especially since there's no other version available for many of them. No matter how great the text, I won't buy anything else he narrates.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Angelcritique
- 11-10-18
Theatrical narrative style
I was looking forward to hearing this book.... wanting to let the narrative wash over me... somewhat disappointing that this narrator chooses to deliver it in an outdated theatrical style..... even mis-pronouncing the title of the book.... it's 'Idylls' with the 'i' as in 'ink'..... not..... 'I' as in 'I am'.....
if the narrator converses like this in his everyday life ...... it can't earn him friends......
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mary Yelland
- 28-07-17
Intellectually satisfying
The narrator is very much up to the considerable challenge of his job here. However the track engineering is a bit flawed - some long unexplained silences and unnecessary 'mood' music in places which is confusing. Apart from that I enjoyed it and will be re-listening to this soon.
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