Introduction of the Poem:
“The Lady of Shalott” was first published in the volume of 1833. It was published again in the Volume of 1842, in a much revised and improved form. The changes which Tennyson made show that the poet's art has matured considerably, and he has acquired full control over his material. The poem shows that Tennyson was preoccupied even as early as 1833 with the cycle of stories which centre round the legendary figure of King Arthur. Some critics have suggested that some Italian romance is the source of the poem.
It might be that Tennyson was familiar with some Italian, version of the story, but more probably the immediate source of Tennyson must have been Sir Thomas Malory's Morte D, Arthur with which Tennyson was familiar. Later on in the Idylls of the Kings he used this very material for another story entitled, Elaine, the linly Maid of Astolat. Elaine also dies of love for Sir Lancelot. The poem is a pure fantasy, entirely the result of the poet's imagination working on a legend which fascinated him at the time.
Theme of the Poem:
There is certainly a hidden moral significance of the poem. The story reveals that the life of isolation, cut off from reality is bound to result in frustration. Shadows do not give permanent satisfaction. There is always an inner urge to share the rest life with the real people. The message of the poem seems to be that real life is full of problems, struggles and worries. Therefore, there is always a tendency among people to escape the reality of life and live a life of unreality for personal consolation and satisfaction. But people do not succeed in doing so far a long time. The day - dreams are shattered as soon as they come in contact with outside reality.
Summary of the Poem:
The poet describes the natural beauty of Shalott. It was a silent island on the bank of a river. The river flowed round long field of barley and of rye. Through the fields there was a road to Camelot. Camelot was a prosperous town with high towered buildings. The road was never at quiet. People came from Camelot and went to Camelot on this road. As they moved on the road, their eyes fell on the white lilies growing near the island of Shalott.
There were trees of willow that looked white for the wind turned over their leaves exposing the white underpart. The light leaves of aspen trembled and quivered in the slightest breeze. In darkness light breeze blew over waves flowing down to Camelot. The Lady of Shalott was confined into her palace with four grey walls and four gray towers amid a large field of flowers.
The river bank was shadowed by willow trees. Slow horses dragged the heavily loaded boats. There were silken - sailed open boats but they had none to welcome them. They floated down to Camelot. The Lady of Shalott had become a myth. Nobody had seen her waving her hand or standing at the window. All talked about her but nobody knew anything about her.
It was true that nobody had seen her but all farmers had heard her sweet song. When reapers worked in barley – fields, they heard the song echoing from the river flowing down to Camelot. When the reapers worked through moonlight, their tiredness was removed by the song sung by the Lady of Shalott. They believed the Lady was a fairy whose song might only be heard.
The Lady of Shalott kept herself busy by weaving a magic web all the time. She had heard a supernatural prophecy that she would die if she looked towards Camelot. She did not know the cause of the curse. So she remained busy weaving all the time. She had absorbed her mind so greatly in this task that she had forgotten all the other cares of human life.
The Lady had a mirror hanging before her. In it she saw reflection of all the people going on the road. In the mirror even the whirlpools of the river were reflected. Sometimes ill - natured villagers passed on the road and their figures were reflected in the mirror. Girls, too in their bright coloured dresses passed on that road leading from Shalott to Camelot.
All worldly activities had their clear reflection in the mirror. Sometimes she saw in the mirror the images of a group of happy girls who passed in a gay mood on that road. Sometimes she saw abbot (the head of a monastery) on a horseback going leisurely towards Camelot. Sometimes she saw a shepherd - lad with curly hair or a young servant with long hair going on the road in bright red dress. Sometimes there passed a procession of Knights but the Lady of Shalott knew that none of them was loyal and true.
The Lady took delight in her weaving of the web. Whatever was reflected in the mirror, she wove in the web. If a funeral procession passed in the road, its sight was reflected in the mirror and she wove it in the web. Likewise she wove a marriage procession with its bright dresses, lights and merry - making. One night in the full moon she saw a pair of young lovers already married. These shadows finally disgusted her. She was fed up with constant and always looking at the reflection or shadows in her mirror. She yearned for the reality of the outside world. (The call of life is irresistible and more so to a girl brought up in isolation and seclusion and she was tired of those shadows).
At a very short distance from roof of the Lady's chamber, there passed the brave Knight Lancelot who was faithful and true. He rode between the bundles of reaped barley. In sun rays his armour of brass shone bright like flames of fire. He was a chivalrous knight who was ever willing to help women in distress. The picture of a woman whom he worshipped was carved on his shield. He was riding towards Camelot.
Sir Lancelot was no ordinary Knight. The bridle of his horse was studded with gems. It looked like a group of stars shining bright. The bridle had small bells that produced a ringing sound when the horse was in movement. The Knight's belt shone bright. A silver bugle hung on it. When the Knight rode the armour produced sound that seemed to be musical.
In clear weather, the blue sky was providing a suitable background to the diamond studded leather - seat on Sir Lancelot's horse. Sir Lancelot's helmet and its plume shone bright enough to look like flame on fire or as if it were a group of bright stars in a purple night having a Comet below it going from Shalott to Camelot . (It is a beautiful picturesque simile. Sir Lancelot riding by Shalott with his armour shining in the sun is being likened to a meteor with a trail of bright light shooting across the sky.)
Sir Lancelot's face shone bright in sunlight. The shoes of his horse were bright. Sir Lancelot's dark black curls made his shining helmet look brighter. From the river bank his image was reflected in the mirror hanging before The Lady of Shalott. She saw how Sir Lancelot rode singing in joy.
The Lady of Shalott was so greatly upset that she left the web as well as the wearing - frame. She took three long steps in the room to relieve the mental tension. She saw the water - lily. Only the hamlet and its plume of Sir Lancelot came in her view when she looked towards Camelot. The magic web floated in the air and disappeared. The mirror was cracked into pieces. The Lady of Shalott cried that the curse was fallen on her for she had looked towards Camelot.
In the heavy storm caused by the east wind it was difficult to see yellow woods. The waves in the river were making irritating sound under heavy rains. When the Lady came down the tower she found a boat in the river beneath a tree. On the front part of the boat she wrote her identity ‘The Lady Shalott’.
The Lady of Shalott looked towards Camelot with a great sense of satisfaction like a saint who does not give importance to his physical misfortune. She was like a prophetess who knew what misfortune was going to befall her. But she looked calm and composed. She bore no expression of fear at her face. It was sunset when she loosed (untied) the chain of the boat and sailed it to Camelot. The fast waves took the boat away.
At this time, The Lady of Shalott was in a snow white dress. It was loose and fluttered in stormy wind. Leaves from trees fell on her lightly in the silent night when the boat was taking her to Camelot. The boat moved with waves passing through hills and fields. People living in nearby area heard her last song.
People heard a mournful holy song being sung sometimes in a high and sometimes in a low tone. It was her last song in which she died like a swan. Her blood froze and eyes became blind. When she entered Camelot in the boat, she was already dead. The boat was floating under high towered buildings, garden walls and gallery. She looked attractive though dead. All came to see her lying dead in the boat. She was attended by Knights, the rich, and lords as well. They read her name written on the boat.
People, who gathered, were highly astonished and puzzled. With great wonder, they asked one another who the lady was because they had never seen and heard of the Lady of Shalott. Nobody knew anything about that Lady whose dead body got a royal welcome. King Arthur and his Knights were enjoying in the palace nearby. They put an end to their merry making as they heard of the death of the Lady of Shalott. When the Knights made the sign of cross to avert evil, Lancelot —all unknowing that he was the innocent cause of her death—saw only her loveliness. Then he remarked that she had a lovely face. He prayed to God to bless her with his mercy.
Critical Appreciation of the Poem:
Introduction:
“The Lady of Shalott” is a charming poem of tender pathos and tragedy which recalls to our mind Tennyson's another poem Mariana. It first appeared in the 1833 volume, and published in 1842 in a revised form. It is one of Tennyson's master pieces. Its story is drawn from an Italian novelette, Donra de Scalatta. It does not present any story with any plot. Its artistic value lies in the succession of arresting pictures and in the musical quality of the short simple stanzas. The mystical element does not permeate the entire poem. In it, the poet depicts the life of a lonely girl.
Thought-Content:
The Lady of Shalott is a narrative poem in four parts. The first part of the poem gives us the scenic background to the story. The island of Shalott lies in a pleasant river which flows down to the City of Camelot, the Capital of King Arthur. On both sides of the river are spread fields of barley and of rye. Beautiful lily flowers grow there. The mysterious Lady of Shalott lives all alone in her stately mansion. The people who work in the fields have often heard her sing. But nobody has ever seen her, for she never stands at the window and waves her hand.
The mystery surrounding the Lady of Shalott is suggested in Part I and in the second part we are told further about this strange lady. A mysterious whisper had told the lady that a curse would befall her, if she ever looked out towards Camelot. So she has a mirror hanging before her, and she looks the scenes and sights of the outside world reflected in this mirror. Day and night she weaves these scenes and sights into a magic web. Sometimes she sees young lovers passing by and then she sadly exclaims, “I am half - sick shadows”. In this way suggestion is thrown out that she is sexually frustrated.
Time passed. One day Sir Lancelot, one of the knights of Arthur's Round Table, passes close by the mansion of the Lady of Shalott. The Lady sees his reflection in the mirror. Fascinated, she looks out. At once the web flows out, and the mirror cracks from side to side. The Lady knows that the curse has befallen her.
Part IV describes the death of the Lady of Shalott. Her end is pathetic. She lies down in a boat, which is carried by the water of the river to Camelot. There the people come in large numbers to look at her. They find that she is dead. Lancelot, too, looks at her and muses over her beauty.
Poem, A Medieval Romance:
The Lady of Shalott is a medieval romance and the poet has created the medieval atmosphere with light, skilful touches. The language has the simplicity of the medieval ballad - makers and there are frequent repetitions, in the manner of the ballad - makers. The Middle Ages were times of chivalry, knight - errantry, woman worship and magic and witchcraft. The setting is medieval, King Arthur and his knights living in Camelot have been brought in. Sir Lancelot wears a blazoned baldric with the figure of a Knight kneeling before his lady, and the Lady of Shalott regrets that she has no Knight, true and loyal. The supernatural element has also been brought in through the mysterious curse on the lady, the magic web which she weaves, and the way in which the curse befalls her and she dies.
An Interesting Narrative Poem:
The Lady of Shalott is one of the finest and most interesting narrative poems in the English language, and is to be read and enjoyed as such. The narrative is swift and straight - forward with no digressions. The poem is to be enjoyed for its beautiful, vivid pictures, which pass before the mind's eye in quick succession. There are a number of pictures: the river and the highroad and the fields; the castle on the island, and the room with the lady weaving her magic web, and the moving scene outside reflected in the mirror; Sir Lancelot riding by, and the lady leaving her room to look after him from the window; the broken web and the cracked mirror; the Lady of Shalott, “robed in snowy white,” floating down the stream in her boat and singing her last song, and then gliding “dead – pale”, between the houses of Camelot, while, “knight and burgher, lord and dame,” come out upon the wharfs to look at her and Sir Lancelot is stricken with wondering pity. Exquisite and telling similes and metaphors are used to vivify the narrative and to make the readers see with their mind's eye the scene which is being described. One of the most beautiful word pictures in the poem is the one in which Sir Lancelot is likened to a meteor shooting across the sky.
All in the blue unclouded weather
Thick jewell'd shown the saddle leather,
The helmet and the helmet - feather
Burn'd like one burning flame together,
As he rode down to Camelot,
As often thro’ the purple night,
Below the starry clusters bright
Some bearded meteor, trailing light,
Moved over still Shalott.
The image has been admired by all readers of Tennyson. Throughout, as the narration proceeds, Nature is shown in sympathy with the human actors. It changes in harmony with human moods and emotions. Thus in the beginning, before the curse befalls the Lady, nature is bright and beautiful. The lady is peaceful and happy, and so in harmony with her, nature, too, is gay and well lit. But when the curse befalls her and she is to die, nature, too, changes, and becomes dark and gloomy:
In the stormy east - wind straining,
The pale yellow woods were waning,
The broad stream in his banks complaining.
Heavily the low sky raining.
The tragedy of the Lady of Shalott is thus reflected in Nature, and is in this way intensified.
Music and Melody:
The poem is to be enjoyed for its story, for its vivid pictures, and for its music. The language is simple as well as musical. Music has been created through the use of a number of skilful devices. There is artistic use of alliteration as in, “Four gray walls, and four gray towers”, and in, “Only reapers, reaping early”. There is also artistic use of medial rhymes as in, “Long fields of barley, and of rye” or in, “Chanted loudly, chanted lowly”. At other times there is skilful manipulation of liquid consonants, ‘I’, ‘m’, ‘n’, etc., as in the following:
Hung in the golden galaxy,
The bridal bells rang merrily
There might be a false rhyme here and there, but on the whole Tennyson's rhyming is perfect and justifies the praise of the critic who writes, “Nowhere did Tennyson excel the haunting music of the poem.”
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