Vivien – Alfred Tennyson (1877)

S$447.00

Vivien – Alfred Tennyson (1877)

S$447.00

Title: Vivien
Author: Lord Alfred Tennyson, Gustave Dore (illus)
Publisher: Edward Moxon & Co, 1877. Very scarce.
Condition: Hardcover, full leather. Wear and soiling to boards, interior is very good, light foxing. The Illustrations are magnificent.

Very big book – shipping overseas will cost extra.

A storm was coming, but the winds were still,
And in the wild woods of Broceliande,
Before an oak, so hollow, huge and old
It looked a tower of ivied masonwork,
At Merlin’s feet the wily Vivien lay.

The only stand-alone edition of this poem about Merlin the wizard being seduced by Vivien. A giant leather-bound hard cover – 1.5 feet tall.

About the book (from The Camelot Project):

In Tennyson’s version, told in the “Merlin and Vivien” idyll, the tradition of Merlin’s blinding love of Vivien continues. In this tale Vivien is the one who seduces Merlin into loving her. Imagery is used throughout the idylls to convey examples of the bestiality inherent in the forces existing outside of the court, which Arthur is attempting to overcome. This bestiality is particularly evident in Vivien’s character. She is associated with serpents, rats, and spiders as she lures Merlin into her trap. Vivien does nothing to redeem herself within Arthur’s court as her character does in Malory’s version. Vivien’s character is viewed by some critics as being “associated with the betrayal of love… and all things French” (Eggers 144). Vivien clearly represents the opposite of Arthur, who for Tennyson is the blameless British king. In Tennyson’s scheme of the true and the false, she represents the false at its most unredeemable.