Here comes the answer to the question you've been asking yourself the minute you decided to read this text:
The word “idyll” comes from the Greek word eidyllion, which means, "little picture.” Cute, right? The first idylls, written by the Greek poet Theocritus in the 3rd century BC, were just that: little word-paintings, meant to evoke a picture, in words, of scenes from Greek life. They were all about things like shepherds and shepherdesses, harvest festivals, and other scenes from rustic agricultural life—subjects literary types today call pastoral. Idylls are supposed to give you a warm, fuzzy feeling, since they deal with people living an uncomplicated, innocent, and overall happy existence. In other words, they idealize the country life, kind of like today's country-and-western-songs.
From Greece to Camelot
Tennyson’s Idylls of the King borrow the little picture aspect of the idyll in that they present the story of the rise and fall of Camelot in twelve short narrative poems. Each one focuses on a different aspect of the story, like a miniature portrait of the events at hand. Okay, we realize that at over a thousand lines, some of these idylls don’t seem so short. But take our word for it: compared to other narrative poems, like Beowulf, Paradise Lost, or The Faerie Queene, they kind of are.
Also, Tennyson opens some of the idylls with a portrait-like image, like the one of Vivien lying at Merlin’s feet in the woods of Broceliande, or Elaine guarding Lancelot’s shield high up in her lonely tower. Then he expands on the hows and whys of these little portraits to structure the idyll.
The Catch
On the other hand, Tennyson’s use of the term “idyll” to describe these poems is a bit ironic considering just how un-idyllic his Camelot is. Arthur tries to create an ideal world that adheres to principles of truth, justice, and the order of law—one in which the happy shepherds and shepherdesses of those Greek idylls might not seem so out of place. But his dream quickly dissolves into broken vows, cynicism, and violence. Though these idylls may be a little sentimental (this is Tennyson, after all) there’s nothing warm, fuzzy, or simple about them.