The Lady of Shalott is a fascinating poem characterized with several elements of romanticism. Romanticism is often characterized as the ‘Renaissance of wonder’. It is also considered as synonymous with medievalism. Some critics find melancholy, some addition of strangeness to beauty, some liberalism, as the main features of romanticism. The Lady of Shalott is undoubtedly a romantic poem in the tradition of Coleridge, Keats and Southey.
The very theme of the poem, The Lady of Shalott has a romantic touch. It describes in pathetic terms the helpless fortune of The Lady of Shalott, who is fated to live a lonely life . She is confined to a room in a deserted palace, always looking into a mirror to have a glimpse of what is happening in the world outside. If ever she dared to peep out of the window, she would meet her end. Thus the Lady of Shalott is leading a very miserable lonely life. The poet has brought out the melancholy element in the following lines:
Or when the moon was overhead,
Came two young lovers lately wed:
‘I am half sick of shadows,’ said
The Lady of Shalott.
The lady is quite lonely and nobody is there to share her grief. Only the reapers are there, but the Lady cannot peep out:
Only reapers, reaping early
In among the bearded barley,
Hear a song that echoes cheerly
From the river winding clearly
Down to tower'd Camelot.
The poem is full of exquisite descriptions of Nature. For example, the following scene of the fields at the sun - rise:
A bow - shot from her bower - eaves,
He rode between the barley - sheaves,
The sun came dazzling thro’ the leaves,
And flamed 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.
Love of Nature was a marked feature of Romanticism. Tennyson gives natural description in the manner of the romantic poets. The poem, The Lady of Shalott begins with such a description:
Willows whiten, aspens quiver,
Little breezes dusk and shiver
Thro’ the wave that runs for 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.
The poem abounds in such expressions and epithets as were used by poets like Keats and Shelley. The poet's use of such expressions as ‘the lillies blow,’ ‘willows whiter,’ ‘aspens quiver,’ ‘little breezes dusk and shiver,’ ‘the wave that runs for – ever, a space of flowers,’ ‘bearded barley,’ ‘the river winding,’ ‘the moon,’ ‘the reaper weary,’ ‘uplands airy,’ ‘the river eddy whirls,’ ‘the silent nights,’ ‘bower – eaves,’ ‘the barley – sheaves,’ ‘the leaves,’ ‘the yellow field,’ ‘remote Shalott,’ ‘some branch of stars,’ ‘the golden Galaxy,’ ‘the blue unclouded weather,’ ‘burning flame,’ ‘the purple night,’ ‘the starry clusters bright,’ ‘Some bearded meteor trailing light,’ ‘sunlight,’ the bank and the river,’ ‘the water - lily bloom,’ ‘the stormy east - wind straining,’ ‘the pale yellow woods,’ ‘the broad streams,’ ‘the low sky,’ ‘the willowy hills and fields, the tide,’ ‘the water – side,’ ‘garden - wall and gallery,’ denotes the poet's haunting passion for Nature and for lovely scenes and sights.
The element of the supernatural is yet another romantic element in the poem. The whole atmosphere in the poem is mysterious. The Lady's confinement in the lonely palace is full of supernatural awe and fear. The lady is shown weaving a mysterious web:
There she weaves by night and day
A magic web with colours gay,
She has heard a whisper say,
A curse is on her if she stay
To look down to Camelot.
She knows not what the curse may be,
And so she weaveth steadily,
And little other care hath she,
The Lady of Shalott.
The Lady's work of weaving the ‘magic web’ creates a mysterious sense of the supernatural. The Lady is not expected to peep out of the window, lest she should be doomed. But she does it and the mysterious curse comes upon her:
She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces thro’ the room,
She saw the water - lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She look'd down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror cracked from side to side;
“The curse is come upon me’, cried
The Lady of Shalott.
Romanticism is also known for love of the past. The Lady of Shalott recreates the past. The poet narrates the tale of the past. Its subject matter is medieval. It deals with the unrequited love of Elaine, here named as the Lady of Shalott and Sir Lancelot, the valiant and dazzling knight of the Arthurian romances. The unfulfilled love of the lady and the knight is the fittest subject of a romantic poem.
Thus it is apt to say that “The Lady of Shalott” is romantic in theme and its treatment. It abounds in all the elements of a truly romantic poem.
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