Page 359 - DENG405_BRITISH_POETRY

British Poetry

Notes In the “blue, unclouded weather,” the jewels on the knight’s saddle shine, making him look like a
meteor in the purple sky. His forehead glows in the sunlight, and his black curly hair flows out
from under his helmet. As he passes by the river, his image flashes into the Lady of Shallot’s mirror
and he sings out “tirra lirra.” Upon seeing and hearing this knight, the Lady stops weaving her web
and abandons her loom. The web flies out from the loom, and the mirror cracks, and the Lady
announces the arrival of her doom: “The curse is come upon me.”
Part IV
As the sky breaks out in rain and storm, the Lady of Shalott descends from her tower and finds a
boat. She writes the words “The Lady of Shalott” around the boat’s bow and looks downstream to
Camelot like a prophet foreseeing his own misfortunes. In the evening, she lies down in the boat,
and the stream carries her to Camelot.
The Lady of Shalott wears a snowy white robe and sings her last song as she sails down to Camelot.
She sings until her blood freezes, her eyes darken, and she dies. When her boat sails silently into
Camelot, all the knights, lords, and ladies of Camelot emerge from their halls to behold the sight.
They read her name on the bow and “cross...themselves for fear.” Only the great knight Lancelot is
bold enough to push aside the crowd, look closely at the dead maiden, and remark “She has a
lovely face; God in his mercy lend her grace.”
Form
The poem is divided into four numbered parts with discrete, isometric (equally-long) stanzas. The
first two parts contain four stanzas each, while the last two parts contain five. Each of the four parts
ends at the moment when description yields to directly quoted speech: this speech first takes the
form of the reaper’s whispering identification, then of the Lady’s half-sick lament, then of the Lady’s
pronouncement of her doom, and finally, of Lancelot’s blessing. Each stanza contains nine lines
with the rhyme scheme AAAABCCCB. The “B” always stands for “Camelot” in the fifth line and
for “Shalott” in the ninth. The “A” and “C” lines are always in tetrameter, while the “B” lines are in
trimeter. In addition, the syntax is line-bound: most phrases do not extend past the length of a
single line.
Commentary
Originally written in 1832, this poem was later revised, and published in its final form in 1842.
Tennyson claimed that he had based it on an Old Italian romance, though the poem also bears
much similarity to the story of the Maid of Astolat in Malory’s Morte d’Arthur. As in Malory’s
account, Tennyson’s lyric includes references to the Arthurian legend; moreover, “Shalott” seems
quite close to Malory’s “Astolat.”
Much of the poem’s charm stems from its sense of mystery and elusiveness; of course, these aspects
also complicate the task of analysis. That said, most scholars understand “The Lady of Shalott” to
be about the conflict between art and life. The Lady, who weaves her magic web and sings her song
in a remote tower, can be seen to represent the contemplative artist isolated from the bustle and
activity of daily life. The moment she sets her art aside to gaze down on the real world, a curse
befalls her and she meets her tragic death. The poem thus captures the conflict between an artist’s
desire for social involvement and his/her doubts about whether such a commitment is viable for
someone dedicated to art. The poem may also express a more personal dilemma for Tennyson as a
specific artist: while he felt an obligation to seek subject matter outside the world of his own mind
and his own immediate experiences—to comment on politics, history, or a more general humanity—
he also feared that this expansion into broader territories might destroy his poetry’s magic.
Part I and Part IV of this poem deal with the Lady of Shalott as she appears to the outside world,
whereas Part II and Part III describe the world from the Lady’s perspective. In Part I, Tennyson
portray the Lady as secluded from the rest of the world by both water and the height of her tower.
We are not told how she spends her time or what she thinks about; thus we, too, like everyone in the
poem, are denied access to the interiority of her world. Interestingly, the only people who know

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