Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the husband of Elizabeth Siddal, wrote a book called ‘Poems’ that was a great success, but also received some famous criticism. In 1851, Rossetti moved to a country house to escape the critics in the city who had given him bad publicity.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti was one of the founders of the pre-Raphaelite brotherhood along with six other artists; William Holmen Hunt, John Everret Millais, William Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, Thomas Woolmer and F.G. Stevens, the pre-Raphaelite brotherhood tried to get art out of the state they thought it was in. They believed that the only true art came from Raphael, the Italian painter, which is where they got their name.
The pre-Raphaelite artists found a rich source of pictorial inspiration in the ‘Lady of Shallot’. It attracted them by the way it emphasized the melancholy of the more sorrowful aspects of love, such as unrequited love, particularly the embowered or isolated woman; the woman dying for love, and gives up everything for love; special tainted or cursed woman and the dead woman of unique beauty.
In part one of the narrative poem ‘The Lady of Shallot’ Tennyson sets the scene. He starts the poem by describing the setting straight away in the first stanza.
“ On either side of the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And thro’ the field the road rund by
To many-tower’d Camelot;”
There is a lot of detail on setting the scene that tells us it is important and the description Tennyson gives creates a pastoral panorama. This stanza is also an example of how Tennyson uses clever techniques such as long vowel sounds and assonance to dwell on what he is saying, however at the same time he uses rhyming couplets to make the poem flow more quickly.
In the first stanza Tennyson also uses a technique of having a short sentence in the middle of the stanza that ends with the word ‘Camelot’ and a short sentence at the end that ends with the word ‘Shalott’ and this is carried on in every stanza through out the poem.
“To many-tower’d Camelot”
“The island of Shalott”
This technique of having two shorter sentences than the others in the stanza and always ending them with the same word shows that they are important lines in the poem and emphasises the link between Camelot and the Lady of Shalott. It also helps to give an idea of everything leading to Camelot physically and emotionally. This can also be seen when it says
“And up and down the people go”
It is showing us that everyone is going to Camelot and passing the Lady of Shalott, which is the first time, we get a sense that she is isolated.
The second stanza is similar to the first in the way that it continues to set the scene and also gives the reader the impression of the Lady of Shalott’s isolation
“Willow whiten, aspens quiver,
Little breezes dusk and shiver
Thro’ the wave that runs forever
By the island in the river”
Here Tennyson uses assonance and caesura to give heavy emphasis on the pastoral setting. In this particular section he also uses certain words related to movement such as quiver, breezes, shiver and runs, these words help to show that the Lady of Shalott herself is isolated but movement surrounds her. In the next part of this stanza Tennyson goes on to talk about how the Lady of Shalott is trapped in her tower which effectively contrasts the previous sense of movement in the pastoral setting around her.
“Four grey walls, and four grey towers,
Overlook a space of flowers,
And the silent isle imbowers”
In the first line of this section the intonation falls on ‘grey’ that brings to mind connotations such as dull, bland and lifeless. From this extract of the poem the reader also gets the impression of imprisonment because the tower that the Lady of Shalott is in is like a prison, which she is trapped in.
“Enigmatic” would be a good word to describe the Lady of Shalott’s character because she is mysterious and she is hidden away. One of the techniques used by Tennyson to give the reader a sense of mystery are the questions used as a rhetorical device
“But who hath seen her wave her hand?
Or at the casement seen her stand?”
By using these questions Tennyson manages to create interest and a sense of mystery.
In the following stanza (stanza 4) Tennyson continues to make the reader aware of the theme of mystery
“Listening, whispers “ ‘Tis the fairy
The Lady of Shalott” “
The mention of whispers in this quote implies that something is being hidden and this quote is also another example showing the Lady of Shalott’s mysterious character because the people around her think she is magical and she is so quiet that they think she is unreal which is why she is referred to as a “fairy”.
After setting the scene in part one, part two goes on to mention the curse which the Lady of Shalott has on her, which only allows her to look at things outside through her mirror at a distance and if she were to look directly out of her window to Camelot then she would break the curse. The first stanza of part two starts by describing what she does in the tower
“There she weaves by day and night”
This at the time was a traditional past time of women and it shows how she perfectly embodies the Victorian image of the ideal women because she is dedicated to her womanly tasks as well as being spiritual, mysterious, virginal and embowered.
When describing the tapestry the Lady of Shalott is weaving, Tennyson uses a juxtaposition of the grey towers previously mentioned and the colours of her tapestry
“A magic web with colours gay.”
This is an example of antithesis used by Tennyson and also creates a sense of voyeurism because the Laudanum makes her grey on the outside however she is colourful on the inside.
Tennyson then goes on to say in the next stanza how her life is full of shadows and she is not engaging with people
“Shadows of the world appear”
Here Tennyson is again relating back to the addiction because he is using the shadows to create an image of how she is only half aware of everything that is caused because of her addiction to Laudanum. The Lady Of Shallot sees things through her mirror and embroiders them on her tapestry, this shows how she is voyeuristic because she is observing things but not taking part in it however she is still getting something out of it.
In the last stanza Tennyson uses emotive language to describe how the Lady of Shallot is feeling
“But in her web she still delights
To weave the mirror’s magic sights”
Here Tennyson is cleverly trying to bring her to life by emotion.
The first time in the poem when the Lady of Shalott speaks she says
“I am half sick of shadows”
This targets the reader’s sense of pathos because she wants to be able to engage with people properly but she can’t which shows how she unhappy with her lifestyle and she herself is becoming like a shadow because of the life she’s leading. This use of direct speech is also an example of Tennyson bringing the Lady of Shalott to life and because the rest of the play is mainly narrative it stands out to give a greater impact on the reader.
In part three of ‘The Lady of Shalott’ we are introduced to Sir Lancelot. The reader is aware of Sir Lancelot’s importance because in the first stanza that we are introduced to him his name has replaced the word Camelot that had been at the end of every first short sentence in previous stanzas. Tennyson also uses many words in the semantic field of light such as ‘dazzling’, ‘flamed’ and ‘sparkled’, which also reflects the importance of his character to the poem and shows that he is associated with light. The description of Lancelot is very detailed and a clear impression of Lancelot can be gained.
“The gemmy bridle glitter’d free
Like to some branch of stars we see.”
From the description of Lancelot we get the impression that he is upper class and rich and that he perhaps enjoys showing off with his gold armour. Tennyson’s use of verbs such as ‘glitter’d’ makes it seem more realistic and helps to produce a clearer image of Sir Lancelot. It is found that Lancelot is attractive, handsome, bold and has coal black hair. Another example of when the reader is made aware of Sir Lancelot’s splendour and wonder is when Tennyson describes him as
“Some bearded meteor, trailing light,”
By describing him as a meteor that is a harbinger in fate it is a way of showing that Lancelot has a huge impact on the Lady of Shalott’s fate. It is also an example of one of the themes of this poem that is medievalism because of the medieval belief in fate.
Tennyson tries to portray Lancelot as having no worries and being really happy
“ ‘Tirra Lirra’ by the river
Sang Sir Lancelot”
From this we see how Lancelot is the antithesis of the Lady of Shalott because it is a huge contrast of her lonely, unhappy character.
In the next stanza there is a change in the tone of the writing
“She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces thro’ the room”
The previous stanza has a lot of imagery however this is very monosyllabic and also uses caesura.
Although there is no direct contact or communication between Lancelot and the Lady of Shalott, he could be blamed for her death because his beauty tempted her to look directly down to Camelot and break the curse.
In the first stanza of part four there is a contrast to the words of the semantic field of light used previously to describe Lancelot.
“In the stormy east-wind straining,
The pale-yellow woods were waning”
The word waning has connotations of death that starts to darken the mood making the contrast of light more obvious. Tennyson also foreshadows the tragic end of the Lady of Shalott by using autumnal imagery because it is associated with the leaves dying and falling to the ground that symbolises her death.
Tennyson also adds to the dark mood by using pathetic fallacy describing the stormy weather condition outside of the tower to create an atmosphere
“Heavily the low sky raining”
From this we can also see that the nature seems to reflect the Lady of Shalott’s fate.
In the next stanza there is again a sense of pathos
“Like some bold seer in a trance
Seeing all his own mischance”
Here Tennyson describes the gradual deterioration of her actions making the reader realise that at this point she is moribund.
In the very last stanza of the poem the Lady of Shalott is finally given the status she deserves
“And in the lighted place near
Died the sound of the royal cheer”
She is stopping the royal cheer because they are so interested in her and she has finally had an impact on the place she had been longing to go to. Another way in which the Lady of Shalott id finally given the status she deserves is when Lancelot finally notices her and says
“She has a lovely face;
God in her mercy lend her grace,
The lady of Shalott”
This is an ironic ending because the Lady of Shalott has loved Lancelot most of her life and he has only just noticed her and he would have probably loved her too but now she is dead.
Something very distinctive about Tennyson’s poetic structure is the sharp separation he achieves between the sections in the poem. Instead of telling the story in a straightforward form he prefers to progress through a series of emotions, visions and actions.
‘The Lady of Shalott’ is a very mysterious poem because you never actually find out how or why she was cursed or who cursed her. The ending is also unexpected because you would expect it to lead to a happy ending and that the Lady of Shalott would be freed from the curse.
