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"The Lady of Shalott" is a romantic poem by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892). Like other early poems— "Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere," and "Galahad"— the poem recasts Arthurian subject matter loosely based on medieval sources and takes up some themes that would become more fully realized in Idylls of the King where the tale of Elaine is recounted.
The poem (of which Tennyson wrote two versions: one in 1833, of twenty verses, the other in 1842 of nineteen verses) is commonly believed to have been loosely based upon a story from Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur concerning Elaine of Astolat, a maiden who falls in love with Lancelot, but dies of grief when he cannot return her love. However, Tennyson himself said that the poem was based on a thirteenth-century Italian novelette entitled Donna di Scalotta, which focuses on the lady's death and her reception at Camelot rather than her isolation in the tower and her decision to participate in the living world, two subjects not mentioned in "Donna di Scalotta" .
The Lady of Tennyson's poem lives in a tower on the island of Shalott, in a river near Camelot. She is under a curse: if she looks directly at Camelot, some unknown doom will befall her. Thus she watches the world through a mirror, and weaves what she sees in a magic web. The shadowy glimpses of life beyond the tower tempt her to look, although she knows that to do so will bring the curse to its unknown end. One day, however, seeing Lancelot in her mirror, she realises more than ever how sick she is of her life, of seeing the world only through shadows and reflections.
- On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode;
- From underneath his helmet flow'd
- His coal-black curls as on he rode,
- As he rode down to Camelot.
- From the bank and from the river
- He flashed into the crystal mirror,
- "Tirra lirra," by the river
- Sang Sir Lancelot.
She finally succumbs to temptation and looks directly out when Sir Lancelot rides past the tower singing, and as she looks towards Camelot:
- Out flew the web and floated wide-
- The mirror crack'd from side to side;
- "The curse is come upon me," cried
- The Lady of Shalott.
She leaves her tower, finds a boat upon which she writes her name, and floats down the river to Camelot, chanting a mournful song, dying as she sings. She arrives frozen to death, and among the knights and ladies who see her is Lancelot:
- "Who is this? And what is here?"
- And in the lighted palace near
- Died the sound of royal cheer;
- And they crossed themselves for fear,
- All the Knights at Camelot;
- But Lancelot mused a little space
- He said, "She has a lovely face;
- God in his mercy lend her grace,
- The Lady of Shalott."
"In a more general sense, it is fair to say that the pre-Raphaelite fascination with Arthuriana is traceable to Tennyson's work" (Zanzucchi). Tennyson's biographer Leonée Ormonde finds the Arturian material is"introduced as a valid setting for the study of the artist and the dangers of personal isolation".
Some consider "The Lady of Shalott" to be representative of the dilemma that faces artists, writers, and musicians: to create work about and celebrating the world, or to enjoy the world by simply living in it.
Illustrations of the poem
The poem was particularly popular amongst artists of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who shared Tennyson's interest in Arthuriana; several of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood made paintings based on episodes from the poem. In the 1857 Moxon edition of Tennyson's works, it was illustrated by both William Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Hunt depicted the moment when the Lady turns to see Lancelot. Rossetti depicted Lancelot's contemplation of her 'lovely face'. Neither illustration pleased Tennyson, who took Hunt to task for depicting the Lady caught in the threads of her tapestry, something which is not described in the poem. Hunt explained that he wanted to sum up the whole poem in a single image, and that the entrapment by the threads suggested her "weird fate". The scene fascinated Hunt, who returned to the composition at points throughout his life, finally painting a large scale version shortly before his death. He required assistants as he was too frail to complete it himself. This deeply conceived evocation of the Lady, ensnared within the perfect rounds of her woven reality (illustration, above left), is an apt illustration of the mythology of the weaving arts.
In 1894, the poem inspired John William Waterhouse to paint the Lady of Shalott adrift in her funeral boat (illustration, above right). He also painted a variant of Hunt's composition.
The poem also inspired Anne Shirley, in Anne of Green Gables, to board a rowing boat. The poem was also performed in an abridged format by Celtic artist Loreena McKennitt in her album The Visit.
External links
- John William Waterhouse's painting of the Lady of Shalott
- The complete 1842 poem
- Side-by-side comparison of the 1833 & 1842 versions of Tennyson's poem (provided by The Camelot Project at the University of Rochester)
- The story as found in Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur
- "Lancelot and Elaine"
- Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott": an overview (includes e-text)
- Anne Zanzucchi, "Alfred Lord Tennyson"
- Elizabeth Nelson, "The Embowered Woman: Pictorial Interpretations of 'The Lady of Shalott'"
- Why the Lady of Shalott was Cursed by Alice Bowen
Reference
- Ormonde, Leonée, 1993. Alfred Tennyson: A Literary Life. (New York: St. Martin's Press)