Tennyson’s “Merlin and Vivien” The Manipulative Evil Known as one of Victorian England’s finest poets, Lord Alfred Tennyson epitomized the agony and despondency of the degradation of one’s character. His masterpiece, The Idylls of the King, explicates the grand scheme of corruption of the Authurian age while simultaneously paralleling Tennyson’s own internal struggles. A most intriguing chapter of The Idylls, “Merlin and Vivien” portrays the manipulative Vivien, identified as pure evil …showed first 75 words of 1656 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1656 total…Cited Culler, Dwight. The Poerty of Tennyson. London: Yale UP, 1997. 238-239. Hain, Donald. Tennyson’s Language. Toronto: Toronto UP, 1991. 144-148. Hellstrom, Ward. On the Poems of Tennyson. Gainsville: University of Florida Press, 1972. 117-118. Kincaid, James. The Major Poems of Tennyson: The Comic and Ironic Patterns. London: Yale UP, 1975. 177-182. Marshall, George. A Tennyson Handbook. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1963. 140-141. Reed, John. Perception and Design in Tennyson’s Idylls of the King. Athens: Ohio UP, 1969. 48-58.