"Pelleas could only stare. Is Guinevere herself so beautiful? he wondered. The lady's violet eyes were wide and luminous; her skin seemed lit by a dawn from some unclouded heaven. Her limbs bore the grace of full womanhood, and yet her form was slender and her hand delicate. She might have seemed no more than a lovely plaything, but those eyes, deep and mocking, hinted at something sharper."

In Pelleas and Ettarre, Alfred, Lord Tennyson presents a tragic episode from the larger tapestry of Idylls of the King. Set during the twilight of King Arthur's reign, this idyll explores themes of unrequited love, disillusionment, and the gradual moral decay of the Round Table. This prose retelling is intended to prepare the general reader or student for a reading of Tennyson's verse, however, it is a complete and enjoyable narrative in itself.