Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darlings. For today’s post, I have decided to share my analysis of the poem The Lady of Shalott by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. I have long adored this Arthurian poem about the ill-fated Lady whose heart was overcome by love for Sir Lancelot! She has long been the inspiration for many lovely works of art by the Pre-Raphaelites. My favorite paintings of the Lady of Shalott are the ones by Waterhouse, technically not a Pre-Raphaelite artist, but one who painted in the Pre-Raphaelite style decades after the original Brotherhood! I will be analyzing the 1832 version of the poem, this was a poem Tennyson re-wrote at different times, so I have chosen to analyze this early version of the text. The analysis will be stanza-by-stanza with the bold text being my thoughts. I accessed the text of the poem from poetryfoundation.org. Without further ado, here’s my analysis!
The Lady of Shalott (1832)
BY ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
Part I
On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And thro’ the field the road runs by
To many-tower’d Camelot;
The yellow-leaved waterlily
The green-sheathed daffodilly
Tremble in the water chilly
Round about Shalott.
~THE FIRST STANZA SETS THE TONE FOR THE POEM, TELLING THE READER ABOUT THE LOCATION AND SETTING OF SHALOTT. THE READER LEARNS THAT SHALOTT IS NEAR A RIVER AND ABUNDANT FIELDS, NOT FAR FROM CAMELOT, THE COURT OF KING ARTHUR!
Willows whiten, aspens shiver.
The sunbeam showers break and quiver
In the stream that runneth ever
By the island in the river
Flowing down to Camelot.
Four gray walls, and four gray towers
Overlook a space of flowers,
And the silent isle imbowers
The Lady of Shalott.
~IN THE SECOND STANZA THE READER MEETS THE TITULAR LADY OF SHALOTT. SHE IS CONFINED IN A TOWER SURROUNDED BY THE RIVER, TREES, AND MANY FLOWERS. THIS IS HER SOLITARY LIFE, MUCH LIKE THE FAIRYTALE RAPUNZEL.
Underneath the bearded barley,
The reaper, reaping late and early,
Hears her ever chanting cheerly,
Like an angel, singing clearly,
O’er the stream of Camelot.
Piling the sheaves in furrows airy,
Beneath the moon, the reaper weary
Listening whispers, ‘ ‘Tis the fairy,
Lady of Shalott.’
~THE THIRD STANZA IS A LOVELY INTRODUCTION TO HOW THE LADY OF SHALOTT IS PERCEIVED BY THE COMMUNITY. SHE IS SEEN AS AN ETHEREAL AND OTHERWORLDLY FAERY WOMAN, TRAPPED IN HER TOWER BY A WICKED CURSE!
The little isle is all inrail’d
With a rose-fence, and overtrail’d
With roses: by the marge unhail’d
The shallop flitteth silken sail’d,
Skimming down to Camelot.
A pearl garland winds her head:
She leaneth on a velvet bed,
Full royally apparelled,
The Lady of Shalott.
~IN THE FOURTH STANZA THE DESCRIPTION OF HER BEAUTIFUL ABODE IS GIVEN. WHILE SHE IS TRAPPED AND CURSED TO REMAIN FOREVERMORE IN HER TOWER, SHE IS STILL GIVEN ROYAL APPAREL AND A BEAUTIFUL HOME. THE DESCRIPTIONS OF ROSES SURROUNDING THE TOWER LEND TO THE HIGHLY ROMANTIC FIGURE THAT IS THE LADY OF SHALOTT!
Part II
No time hath she to sport and play:
A charmed web she weaves alway.
A curse is on her, if she stay
Her weaving, either night or day,
To look down to Camelot.
She knows not what the curse may be;
Therefore she weaveth steadily,
Therefore no other care hath she,
The Lady of Shalott.
~IN THE FIFTH STANZA, THE EXPLANATION OF HER CURSE IS GIVEN. THE LADY OF SHALOTT MUST WEAVE AWAY NIGHT AND DAY AND IS NOT SURE WHAT HER CURSE IS, ONLY THAT THERE IS ONE. SHE SEEMS CAREFREE AT THIS POINT, HAPPY TO SIMPLY WEAVE AND WEAVE ALL DAY LONG.
She lives with little joy or fear.
Over the water, running near,
The sheepbell tinkles in her ear.
Before her hangs a mirror clear,
Reflecting tower’d Camelot.
And as the mazy web she whirls,
She sees the surly village churls,
And the red cloaks of market girls
Pass onward from Shalott.
~IN THE SIXTH STANZA, THE FIRST MENTION OF THE MIRROR APPEARS. SHE CANNOT LOOK OUT HER WINDOW, AND MUST ONLY WEAVE HER TAPESTRIES BY LOOKING AT CAMELOT AS IT APPEARS THROUGH HER WINDOW IN THE MIRROR. IT IS PLAINLY STATED THAT SHE KNOWS LITTLE ABOUT STRONG EMOTIONS, JUST CONTENT TO CONTINUE HER WEAVING OF THE WEB, AS IT IS CALLED. THE REFERENCE TO WEAVING AND WEBS REMINDS ME OF THE GREEK FATES (WHO CONTROL THE LIFE OF THE PERSON, STRING OF LIFE), ARACHNE (GREAT GREEK MYTHIC WEAVER WHO WAS TRANSFORMED INTO A SPIDER WHEN SHE CHALLENGED ATHENA), THE NORNS (THE NORSE WEAVERS OF FATE), AND EVEN THE WELSH ARIANRHOD (THE SILVER WHEEL OF FATE IN WELSH CELTIC LORE).
Sometimes a troop of damsels glad,
An abbot on an ambling pad,
Sometimes a curly shepherd lad,
Or long-hair’d page in crimson clad,
Goes by to tower’d Camelot:
And sometimes thro’ the mirror blue
The knights come riding two and two:
She hath no loyal knight and true,
The Lady of Shalott.
~IN THE SEVENTH STANZA, IT IS STATED THAT SHE SEES MANY PEOPLE IN HER MIRROR AS SHE WEAVES IMAGES OF CAMELOT. THE LADY OF SHALOTT HAS SEEN MANY KNIGHTS BUT DOES NOT KNOW LOVE OF HER OWN.
But in her web she still delights
To weave the mirror’s magic sights,
For often thro’ the silent nights
A funeral, with plumes and lights
And music, came from Camelot:
Or when the moon was overhead
Came two young lovers lately wed;
‘I am half sick of shadows,’ said
The Lady of Shalott.
~IN THE EIGHTH STANZA, THIS IS THE FAMED QUOTE OF THE LADY SPEAKING ABOUT BEING ‘HALF SICK OF SHADOWS’ DUE TO HER WITNESSING NEWLYWEDS VERY MUCH IN LOVE. IT IS THE FIRST SIGN OF THE LADY OF SHALOTT BEING HOPELESSLY LOVELORN, WISHING THAT SHE TOO COULD HAVE A GREAT LOVE!
Part III
A bow-shot from her bower-eaves,
He rode between the barley-sheaves,
The sun came dazzling thro’ the leaves,
And flam’d upon the brazen greaves
Of bold Sir Lancelot.
A red-cross knight for ever kneel’d
To a lady in his shield,
That sparkled on the yellow field,
Beside remote Shalott.
~IN THE NINTH STANZA, THE READER FINALLY MEETS SIR LANCELOT WHO HAS APPEARED AS A RED-CROSS KNIGHT COME INTO SHALOTT.
The gemmy bridle glitter’d free,
Like to some branch of stars we see
Hung in the golden Galaxy.
The bridle bells rang merrily
As he rode down from Camelot:
And from his blazon’d baldric slung
A mighty silver bugle hung,
And as he rode his armour rung,
Beside remote Shalott.
~IN THE TENTH STANZA, LANCELOT IS DESCRIBED AS EXPLORING THE AREA OF SHALOTT HAVING COME FROM CAMELOT.
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 from Camelot.
As often thro’ the purple night,
Below the starry clusters bright,
Some bearded meteor, trailing light,
Moves over green Shalott.
~IN THE ELEVENTH STANZA, THERE IS MORE DESCRIPTION OF LANCELOT EXPLORING SHALOTT.
His broad clear brow in sunlight glow’d;
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 from Camelot.
From the bank and from the river
He flash’d into the crystal mirror,
‘Tirra lirra, tirra lirra:’
Sang Sir Lancelot.
~IN THE TWELFTH STANZA, LANCELOT IS DESCRIBED AS BEING IN A GOOD MOOD AND SINGING A SONG WHEN HE IS FIRST SIGHTED IN THE MIRROR OF THE LADY.
She left the web, she left the loom
She made three paces thro’ the room
She saw the water-flower bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She look’d down to 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.
~IN THE THIRTEENTH STANZA, THE LADY OF SHALOTT HAS LEFT HER WEAVING UPON HER LOOM TO LOOK AND SEE LANCELOT IN PERSON THROUGH THE WINDOW INSTEAD OF SIMPLY THROUGH THE MIRROR. AS SHE DID, THE MIRROR CRACKED AND THE LADY KNEW SHE HAD ENACTED HER CURSE IN THE WORST WAY! SHE HAD LEFT HER WEAVING BECAUSE AS SOON AS SHE SAW LANCELOT SHE FELL HOPELESSLY AND HELPLESSLY IN LOVE WITH THE KNIGHT, NOW SHE IS ABOUT TO PAY THE CONSEQUENCES FOR LEAVING HER LOOM.
Part IV
In the stormy east-wind straining,
The pale yellow woods were waning,
The broad stream in his banks complaining,
Heavily the low sky raining
Over tower’d Camelot;
Outside the isle a shallow boat
Beneath a willow lay afloat,
Below the carven stern she wrote,
The Lady of Shalott.
~IN THE FOURTEENTH STANZA, THE LADY IS GATHERING HERSELF INTO A BOAT, READYING HERSELF TO SAIL TO CAMELOT.
A cloudwhite crown of pearl she dight,
All raimented in snowy white
That loosely flew (her zone in sight
Clasp’d with one blinding diamond bright)
Her wide eyes fix’d on Camelot,
Though the squally east-wind keenly
Blew, with folded arms serenely
By the water stood the queenly
Lady of Shalott.
~IN THE FIFTEENTH STANZA, THE LADY OF SHALOTT IS DESCRIBED AS BEING ROBED IN A WHITE DRESS AS SHE SAILED WITH HER EYES FIXED ON CAMELOT, WHERE HER BELOVED LANCELOT RESIDED.
With a steady stony glance—
Like some bold seer in a trance,
Beholding all his own mischance,
Mute, with a glassy countenance—
She look’d down to Camelot.
It was the closing of the day:
She loos’d the chain, and down she lay;
The broad stream bore her far away,
The Lady of Shalott.
~IN THE SIXTEENTH STANZA, THE LADY OF SHALOTT’S RIDE IN HER BOAT IS DESCRIBED AS STEADY AND STONY, AS SHE MUTELY GLIDES DOWN THE RIVER.
As when to sailors while they roam,
By creeks and outfalls far from home,
Rising and dropping with the foam,
From dying swans wild warblings come,
Blown shoreward; so to Camelot
Still as the boathead wound along
The willowy hills and fields among,
They heard her chanting her deathsong,
The Lady of Shalott.
~IN THE SEVENTEENTH STANZA, THE LADY OF SHALOTT IS DESCRIBED AS SINGING HER DEATHSONG, KNOWING THAT WHEN THE MIRROR CRACKED DUE TO HER LOVE OF LANCELOT, SHE WAS DOOMED TO DIE AS SHE SAILED TO CAMELOT!
A longdrawn carol, mournful, holy,
She chanted loudly, chanted lowly,
Till her eyes were darken’d wholly,
And her smooth face sharpen’d slowly,
Turn’d to tower’d Camelot:
For ere she reach’d upon the tide
The first house by the water-side,
Singing in her song she died,
The Lady of Shalott.
~IN THE EIGHTEENTH STANZA, THE LADY OF SHALOTT DIES AS SHE CONTINUES SINGING HER SONG UNTIL HER LAST BREATH.
Under tower and balcony,
By garden wall and gallery,
A pale, pale corpse she floated by,
Deadcold, between the houses high,
Dead into tower’d Camelot.
Knight and burgher, lord and dame,
To the planked wharfage came:
Below the stern they read her name,
The Lady of Shalott.
~IN THE NINETEENTH STANZA, THE LADY OF SHALOTT IS FOUND IN HER BOAT HAVING DIED OF A LOVELORN BROKEN HEART AND AN ENACTED HEINOUS CURSE.
They cross’d themselves, their stars they blest,
Knight, minstrel, abbot, squire, and guest.
There lay a parchment on her breast,
That puzzled more than all the rest,
The wellfed wits at Camelot.
‘The web was woven curiously,
The charm is broken utterly,
Draw near and fear not,—this is I,
The Lady of Shalott.’
~IN THE FINAL STANZA, THE COURT OF CAMELOT IS MOURNING THE LADY OF SHALOTT, A BEAUTIFUL LIFE LOST FAR TOO SOON!
~I hope you have enjoyed reading my stanza-by-stanza analysis of Tennyson’s The Lady of Shalott. Do you agree with my interpretation? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is one of Waterhouse’s less famous paintings of the Lady, as the one in her boat is the most famous. I found the image on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady_of_Shalott_(painting).
Tarot Note: I have a page offering tarot and oracle readings for those interested in these services! I am very happy to be offering these readings to my treasured readers at White Rose of Avalon! Link to page: https://whiteroseofavalon.life/tarot-and-oracle-readings/
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