The Lady of Shalott
The Lady of Shalott | |
---|---|
by Alfred Tennyson | |
Written | May 1832, revised in 1842 |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Genre(s) | Arthurian literature |
Form | Ballad |
Meter | Iambic tetrameter with isolated lines in iambic trimeter[1] |
Rhyme scheme | Aaaabcccb |
Publication date | 1832 & 1842 |
Lines | 180 (1832) 171 (1842) |
Full text | |
The Lady of Shalott at Wikisource |
"The Lady of Shalott" is a lyrical
Background
Like Tennyson's other early works, such as "
Story
The first four stanzas of the 1842 second version of the poem describe a pastoral setting. The Lady of Shalott lives in an island castle in a river which flows to Camelot, but the local farmers know little about her.
And by the moon the reaper weary,
Piling sheaves in uplands airy,
Listening, whispers, "'Tis the fairy
Lady of Shalott."
Stanzas five to eight describe the lady's life. She suffers from a mysterious curse and must continually weave images on her loom without ever looking directly out at the world. Instead, she looks into a mirror, which reflects the busy road and the people of Camelot who pass by her island.
She knows not what the curse may be,
And so she weaveth steadily,
And little other care hath she,
The Lady of Shalott.
The reflected images are described as "shadows of the world", a metaphor that makes it clear they are a poor substitute for seeing directly ("I am half-sick of shadows").
Stanzas nine to twelve describe "bold Sir Lancelot" as he rides by and is seen by the lady.
All in the blue unclouded weather
Thick-jewell'd shone the saddle-leather,
The helmet and the helmet-feather
Burn'd like one burning flame together,
As he rode down to Camelot.
The remaining seven stanzas describe the effect on the lady of seeing Lancelot; she stops weaving and looks out of her window toward Camelot, bringing about the curse.
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. She dies before arriving at the palace. Among the knights and ladies who see her is Lancelot, who thinks she is lovely.
"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."
Themes
One of Tennyson's biographers found the Arthurian material is "introduced as a valid setting for the study of the artist and the dangers of personal isolation".[7][8]
Feminist critics see the poem as concerned with issues of women's sexuality and their place in the Victorian world, arguing that "The Lady of Shalott" centres on the temptation of sexuality and her innocence preserved by death.[9] Christine Poulson discusses a feminist viewpoint and suggests: "the Lady of Shalott's escape from her tower as an act of defiance, a symbol of female empowerment." Based on Poulson's view, escaping from the tower allows the Lady of Shalott to emotionally break free and come to terms with female sexuality.[9]
The depiction of death has also been interpreted as sleep. Poulson says that sleep has a connotation of physical abandonment and vulnerability, which can either suggest sexual fulfillment or be a metaphor for virginity. Fairy tales, such as "Sleeping Beauty" or "Snow White", have traditionally depended upon this association. So, as related to the Lady of Shalott, Poulson says: "for in death [she] has become a Sleeping Beauty who can never be wakened, symbols of perfect feminine passivity."[9]
Cultural influence
Art
Tennyson's early poetry, with its medievalism and powerful visual imagery, was a major influence on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB). According to scholar Anne Zanzucchi, "in a more general sense, it is fair to say that the Pre-Raphaelite fascination with Arthuriana is traceable to Tennyson's work".[5] In 1848, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Holman Hunt made a list of "Immortals", artistic heroes whom they admired, especially from literature, some of whose work would form subjects for PRB paintings, notably including John Keats and Tennyson.[10] "The Lady of Shalott" was particularly popular with the Brotherhood, which shared Tennyson's interest in Arthuriana; several of the Brotherhood made paintings based on episodes from the poem. Two aspects, in particular, of "The Lady of Shalott" intrigued these artists: the idea of the lady trapped in her tower and the dying girl floating down the river towards Camelot.[9]: 173
In
Literature
"The Lady of Shalott" has been adapted in various ways in later works of literature.
Quotes from the poem have been included in many novels, including Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), Eric Frank Russell's Next of Kin (1959), Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961),[16] Connie Willis' To Say Nothing of the Dog (1997), and Meg Cabot's Avalon High (2005). In some novels, the poem is also referenced within the plot by characters, as in Nancy Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate (1949),[17] Bel Kaufman's Up the Down Staircase (1965), David Benedictus's Floating Down to Camelot (1985), Diana Wynne Jones' Hexwood (1993), Libba Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty (2003), and Jilly Cooper's Wicked! (2006).
Its various lines have been turned into book titles by authors such as Jessica Anderson (Tirra Lirra by the River, 1978), Sharyn McCrumb (Sick of Shadows, 1984), Robin Klein (All in the Blue Unclouded Weather, 1991), and Alan Bradley (I Am Half-Sick of Shadows, 2011). It also inspired the title of Elizabeth Bishop's poem "The Gentleman of Shalott" (1946).
Music
The first musical setting of the poem was probably a work for mezzo-soprano soloist, chorus and orchestra by the English composer Cyril Rootham, composed in 1909–1910. The only known performance of Rootham's op 33 The Lady of Shalott was given in the School Hall at Eton College on 18 September 1999, with the Broadheath Singers and the Windsor Sinfonia conducted by Robert Tucker. In 1957–1958, Arthur Bliss (once a pupil of Cyril Rootham) composed a 40-minute ballet suite titled The Lady of Shalott.
Olivier Messiaen composed a piece for solo piano La dame de Shalott in 1917 based on Tennyson's poem as his first composition; however, this piece is unpublished. It has been recorded at least twice. In 1946, Phyllis Tate composed a setting of Tennyson's The Lady of Shalott, written for the 10th anniversary of the BBC Third Programme. Danish composer Bent Sørensen created a piece for viola solo, based on Waterhouse's painting The Lady of Shalott.
Canadian singer
The poem has been furthermore referred to or quoted in various ways in modern music. For instance, folk duo the Indigo Girls refer to the Lady of Shalott in "Left Me a Fool" from their 1987 album Strange Fire and Swedish pop band The Cardigans quotes it "Give Me Your Eyes", a bonus track on Super Extra Gravity. British musician and singer Richard Thompson took the title for his 1994 album Mirror Blue from the poem.
Television
The poem forms the backbone of voice-over for the episode "Tracie's Story" (2012) of Accused. In My Mother and Other Strangers (2016), Tennyson's poem plays an important role.[19]
The poem has been also often quoted in whole or in part within other television films and series. Examples of that include the Upstairs, Downstairs episode "The Understudy" (1975), The Buccaneers episode "Invasion" (1995), the Endeavour episode "Girl" (2013), and the Tales of the City episode "She Messy" (2019), as well as the BBC film An Englishman Abroad (1983).
See also
- Weaving (mythology)
References
- ^ ""The Lady of Shalott" Construction". mseffie.com.
- ^ "The Lady of Shalott by Lord Alfred Tennyson". www.online-literature.com.
- ^ "Il Novellino". Liber Liber.
- JSTOR 2917812.
- ^ a b Zanzucchi, Anne. "Alfred Lord Tennyson". The Camelot Project. University of Rochester. Retrieved 10 January 2008.
- ^ "Lancelot and Elaine | Robbins Library Digital Projects".
- ISBN 978-0-8240-4377-3
- ISBN 978-0-8240-4377-3
- ^ ISBN 1-85928-314-4.
- ^ Roe, Dinah (15 May 2014). "The Pre-Raphaelites". Discovering Literature: Romantics & Victorians. British Library.
- ^ "Lady of Shalott". Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.
- ^ ""'I am half sick of shadows,' said The Lady of Shalott"". Art Gallery of Ontario.
- ^ "Camelot Garden (キャメロット・ガーデン Kyamerotto Gāden?)". Bessatsu Hana to Yume. Hakusensha. 2008. (one-shot)
- ^ "Kaori Yuki Creates Camelot Garden One-Shot Manga". Anime News Network. 28 January 2008. Retrieved 1 March 2009.
- ^ Fram, Noah (6 July 2021). "Half Sick of Shadows". BookPage. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
- ^ Spark, Muriel (1961). The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Print ed.). London: MacMillan and Company Limited. pp. 4, 23–24.
- ^ Mitford, Nancy (1954). Love in a Cold Climate (Print ed.). London: Penguin Books. p. 138.
- ^ The Band Perry (2010). "If I Die Young". YouTube. Republic Nashville Records. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021.
- ^ Rampton, James (9 November 2016). "Hattie Morahan interview: 'There were a few hitches, I was pregnant during the shoot'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022.
Further reading
- Thomas L. Jeffers, "Nice Threads: Tennyson's Lady of Shalott as Artist", Yale Review Vol. 89, No. 4 (Fall 2001), 54–68. .
- Thomas L. Jeffers, "Tennyson's Lady of Shalott and Pre-Raphaelite Renderings: Statement and Counter-Statement", Religion and the Arts 6:3 (September 2002), 231–256. .
External links
- Side-by-side comparison of the 1833 and 1842 versions of Tennyson's poem (provided by The Camelot Project at the University of Rochester)
- Tennyson's The Lady of Shalott: an overview
- The Lady of Shalott set to music (from the 1990 concept album Tyger and Other Tales)
- Lady of Shalott public domain audiobook at LibriVox
- The Lady of Shalott at BBC Poetry Season