"The Lady of Shalott" - review

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“The Lady of Shalott”

        The poem “The Lady of Shalott” is about the Lady of Shalott who is on the island of Shalott and in the castle. She loves Sir Lancelot but they cannot be together because if she stops weaving a curse will be upon her and she will die, but she cannot stop loving Lancelot who has not seen her before, therefore she stops weaving and goes out the castle down to Camelot in a boat where she dies.  

        Tennyson uses key elements like imagery and style which he uses effectively to put across his views. Some effective imagery in the poem is mostly movement as in section one there is a considerable amount of movement words, making it seem like there is a lot happening,

“And through the field the road run by”

This is emphasised by the number of people there are in the poem like the “market girls” and the “village churls”, movement imagery also implies there is a lot going on,

“Up and down the people go”

        The use of colours has also been used very much and it has an effect on the mood and the atmosphere created,

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“Hung in the golden galaxy, the bride bells rang merrily”

The gold colour makes you feel happy and cheerful contrary to the pale yellow in the following quote which makes it all dark and gloomy by using words such as “complaining”.

“The pale yellow woods were waning, the broad stream in his banks complaining.”

The atmosphere in each section differs and is sometimes affected by the weather, in section 1 it is mysterious and suspicious as you do not know who she is or where she came from. However in section 4 the atmosphere is created ...

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