Page 358 - DENG405_BRITISH_POETRY

Unit 30: Tennyson, Arnold and Yeats

The 1857 Moxon edition of Tennyson’s works was illustrated by William Holman Hunt and Dante Notes
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, is an apt illustration
of the mythology of the weaving arts. This work is now in the collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum
Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut.
John William Waterhouse painted three episodes from the poem. In 1888, he painted the Lady
setting out for Camelot in her boat; this work is now in the Tate Gallery. In 1894, Waterhouse painted
the Lady at the climactic moment when she turns to look at Lancelot in the window; this work is
now in the City Art Gallery in Leeds. In 1915, Waterhouse painted “I Am Half-Sick of Shadows,”
Said the Lady of Shalott, as she sits wistfully before her loom; this work is now in the Art Gallery of
Ontario.
Because of the similarity in the stories, paintings of Elaine of Astolat tend to be very similar to
paintings of the Lady of Shalott. The presence of a servant rowing the boat is one aspect that
distinguishes them.

Analysis
Part I
The poem begins with a description of a river and a road that pass through long fields of barley and
rye before reaching the town of Camelot. The people of the town travel along the road and look
toward an island called Shalott, which lies further down the river. The island of Shalott contains
several plants and flowers, including lilies, aspens, and willows. On the island, a woman known as
the Lady of Shalott is imprisoned within a building made of “four gray walls and four gray towers.”
Both “heavy barges” and light open boats sail along the edge of the river to Camelot. But has anyone
seen or heard of the lady who lives on the island in the river? Only the reapers who harvest the
barley hear the echo of her singing. At night, the tired reaper listens to her singing and whispers
that he hears her: “Tis the fairy Lady of Shalott.”
Part II
The Lady of Shalott weaves a magic, colorful web. She has heard a voice whisper that a curse will
befall her if she looks down to Camelot, and she does not know what this curse would be. Thus, she
concentrates solely on her weaving, never lifting her eyes.
However, as she weaves, a mirror hangs before her. In the mirror, she sees “shadows of the world,”
including the highway road, which also passes through the fields, the eddies in the river, and the
peasants of the town. Occasionally, she also sees a group of damsels, an abbot (church official), a
young shepherd, or a page dressed in crimson. She sometimes sights a pair of knights riding by,
though she has no loyal knight of her own to court her. Nonetheless, she enjoys her solitary weaving,
though she expresses frustration with the world of shadows when she glimpses a funeral procession
or a pair of newlyweds in the mirror.
Part III
A knight in brass armor (“brazen greaves”) come riding through the fields of barley beside Shalott;
the sun shines on his armor and makes it sparkle. As he rides, the gems on his horses bridle glitter
like a constellation of stars, and the bells on the bridle ring. The knight hangs a bugle from his sash,
and his armor makes ringing noises as he gallops alongside the remote island of Shalott.

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