described directly. This heightens vague and dim atmosphere
that surrounds her. Lancelot, on the other hand, is constantly
surrounded by images of dazzling light and clear, ringing sound.
In the "unclouded" sky a "dazzling" sun "[sparkles]", "[flames]"
and "[glows]" upon his "clear brow"; his "gemmy bridle"
glitters like "a branch of stars" in the "golden galaxy"; on his
"blazon'd baldric" a "silver bugle" rests; his armour and his
bridle bells "[ring] merrily"; his "thickjewled" saddle shines
and his helmet and feather "[burn] like one flame together."
He is compared to a meteor surrounded by "starry clusters
bright" that is "trailing light" and blazing through the dark
"purple night." It is this sharp contrast between the two that
so strongly attracts the Lady as an escape from her world
of shadows.
The Lady of Shalott is a 180 line narrative poem
divided into four sections of nine-line stanzas. It
is almost entirely composed in iambic tetrameter, except
the last line of each stanza which is written in iambic
trimeter. The rhyme scheme of the poem is aaaabcccb.
The fifth and ninth lines of almost every stanza end with
"Camelot" and "Shalott" respectively. This constant and
insistent repitition helps establish the monotony and weariness
of the Lady's perpetual task. This repetition is only interrupted
by the word "Lancelot" (twice; in the fifth line of the
ninth stanza and in the ninth line of the twelfth stanza).
It is symbolic of how the Lady's newborn love for Lancelot
brings an end to her servitude and allows her to escape from
her tower of shadows.
Lancelot's refrain "tirra lirra" is a direct allusion to
Autolycus' song in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale
in which he refers to "tumbling in the hay" with his "aunts"
(prostitutes). It serves to highlight the Lady's repressed
emotions and sexual tensions.
