"Your Harlot Roofs": Women, Individualism, and the Towers of Idylls of the King.
This essay examines the role of women in Tennyson's Idylls of the Kin g, focusing especially on the significance of towers within the poem. I argue that Tennyson rereads these structures' usual coding as glorified medieval backdrops as sites of confinement, which thus prompt rebellion. The towers re...
| Publicado en: | Victorian Poetry Vol. 63; no. 2; pp. 164 - 196 |
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| Autor principal: | |
| Formato: | Literary Criticism |
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Johns Hopkins University Press
Summer2025
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=194992153&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 194992153 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00425206 VCP jtl: Victorian Poetry issn: 00425206 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Summer2025 vid: 63 iid: 2 pid: 226 pub: Johns Hopkins University Press artinfo: ui: 194992153 10.1353/vp.2025.a994073 ppf: 164 ppct: 32 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 937KB tig: atl: "Your Harlot Roofs": Women, Individualism, and the Towers of Idylls of the King. aug: au: David, Monica su: Patriarchy Individualism Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron, 1809-1892 Imaginary places Women's writings Gender role Poetry (Literary form) Victorian (Literary period) sug: subj: Patriarchy Individualism Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron, 1809-1892 Imaginary places Women's writings Gender role Poetry (Literary form) Victorian (Literary period) keyword: Alfred architecture gender Idylls of the King individualism Lord Tennyson women ab: This essay examines the role of women in Tennyson's Idylls of the Kin g, focusing especially on the significance of towers within the poem. I argue that Tennyson rereads these structures' usual coding as glorified medieval backdrops as sites of confinement, which thus prompt rebellion. The towers reflect societal pressures on women and embody their individual struggles against the patriarchal ideals iconized by Camelot. The women of the Idylls , such as Enid, Elaine, and Isolt, critique the chivalric codes by reinterpreting and resisting their prescribed roles, activity that plays out through their interactions with the poems' complex spaces. Through their experiences, the poem places a gendered individualism against the monolithic cultural narratives of heroism. This essay argues that the enclosed spaces of the towers foster a rich inner life for the women, allowing them to undermine Camelot's stability through nuanced, but profound, acts of defiance. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Literary Criticism src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Victorian Poetry is the property of Johns Hopkins University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Victorian Poetry holder: Johns Hopkins University Press dt: @attributes: year: 2025 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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