"The Lady of Shalott" is a Victorian ballad by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892). Like his other early poems – "Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere" and "Galahad" – the poem recasts Arthurian subject matter loosely based on medieval sources.
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Tennyson wrote two versions of the poem, one published in 1833, of twenty stanzas, the other in 1842 of nineteen stanzas. It was loosely based on the Arthurian legend of Elaine of Astolat, as recounted in a thirteenth-century Italian novella titled Donna di Scalotta (No. lxxxii in the collection Cento Novelle Antiche), with the earlier version being closer to the source material than the later.[1] Tennyson focused on the Lady's "isolation in the tower and her decision to participate in the living world, two subjects not even mentioned in Donna di Scalotta."[2]
The first four stanzas describe a pastoral setting. The Lady of Shalott lives in an island castle in a river which flows to Camelot, but little is known about her by the local farmers.
Stanzas five to eight describe the lady's life. On her loom, she weaves scenes of life, but she suffers from a mysterious curse, and must do it without looking directly out at the world. Instead, she looks into a mirror which reflects the busy road and the people of Camelot which pass by her island.
The reflected images are described as "shadows of the world," a metaphor that makes clear that they are a poor substitute for seeing directly. She says to herself, "I am half-sick of shadows." This is the turning point of the poem, as she is tempted more than ever to look at the world outside by the passing Sir Lancelot. [[Stanzas nine to twelve describe "bold Sir Lancelot" as he rides by, and is seen by the lady.
The remaining seven stanzas describe the effect on the lady of seeing Lancelot; she stops weaving and looks out her window toward Camelot, bringing about the curse.
She leaves her tower, finds a boat upon which she writes her name, and floats down the river to Camelot. She dies before arriving at the palace. Among the knights and ladies who see her is Lancelot, who thinks she is lovely.
According to scholar Anne Zanzucchi, "[i]n a more general sense, it is fair to say that the pre-Raphaelite fascination with Arthuriana is traceable to Tennyson's work".[2] Tennyson's biographer Leonée Ormonde finds the Arthurian material is "Introduced as a valid setting for the study of the artist and the dangers of personal isolation".
Some consider "The Lady of Shalott" to be representative of the dilemma that faces artists, writers, and musicians: to create work about and celebrate the world, or to enjoy the world by simply living in it. Feminist critics see the poem as concerned with issues of women's sexuality and their place in the Victorian world. The fact that the poem works through such complex and polyvalent symbolism indicates an important difference between Tennyson's work and his Arthurian source material. While Tennyson's sources tended to work through allegory, Tennyson himself did not.
Critics such as Hatfield have suggested that The Lady of Shalott is a representation of how Tennyson viewed society; the distance at which other people are in the lady's eyes is symbolic of the distance he feels from society. The fact that she only sees them through a window pane is significant of the way in which Shalott and Tennyson see the world—in a filtered sense. This distance is therefore linked to the artistic licence Tennyson often wrote about.
The poem was particularly popular amongst artists of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who shared Tennyson's interest in Arthuriana; several of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood made paintings based on episodes from the poem.
The 1857 Moxon's edition of Tennyson's works was illustrated by William Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Hunt depicted the moment when the Lady turns to see Lancelot. Rossetti depicted Lancelot's contemplation of her 'lovely face'. Neither illustration pleased Tennyson, who took Hunt to task for depicting the Lady caught in the threads of her tapestry, something which is not described in the poem. Hunt explained that he wanted to sum up the whole poem in a single image, and that the entrapment by the threads suggested her "weird fate". The scene fascinated Hunt, who returned to the composition at points throughout his life, finally painting a large scale version shortly before his death. He required assistants, as he was too frail to complete it himself. This deeply conceived evocation of the Lady, ensnared within the perfect rounds of her woven reality, is an apt illustration of the mythology of the weaving arts. This work is now in the collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut.
John William Waterhouse painted three episodes from the poem. In 1888, he painted the Lady setting out for Camelot in her boat; this work is now in the Tate Gallery. In 1894, Waterhouse painted the Lady at the climactic moment when she turns to look at Lancelot in the window; this work is now in the City Art Gallery in Leeds. In 1915, Waterhouse painted "I Am Half-Sick of Shadows," Said the Lady of Shalott, as she sits wistfully before her loom; this work is now in the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Because of the similarity in the stories, paintings of Elaine of Astolat tend to be very similar to paintings of the Lady of Shalott. The presence of a servant rowing the boat is one aspect that distinguishes them.
The verse containing the words "the mirror crack'd from side to side" gave the title to one of Agatha Christie's detective stories (published in 1962) and parts of the poem are referred to several times throughout it.
A stanza is located at the beginning of each chapter in the book, Avalon High by Meg Cabot.
The poem is referenced in Jilly Cooper's 2006 novel Wicked! where the phrase The curse is upon me is given a humorous re-interpretation in an English Literature class scene.
Patricia A. McKillip uses an adaption of the poem as a primary theme of her novel The Tower at Stony Wood, published in 2000.
In the novel One of our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde, The Lady of Shalott possesses a mirror that allows characters in the Book World to see into the real world ("the Outland").
The book 'Song of the Sparrow' by Lisa Ann Sandell is a retelling of her story.
Alan C. Bradley chose the title for his book "I am Half-sick of Shadows" from the poem.
The poem is discussed and quoted in Libba Bray's novel, A Great and Terrible Beauty.
Miss Jean Brodie, in Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, reads the poem out loud to her class.[3]
Canadian singer Loreena McKennitt adapted the poem to music, and featured it on her 1991 album, The Visit.
The song titled "Shalott" by Emilie Autumn tells the poem from her own perspective, where she quotes the Lady of Shalott as saying "But then, I could have guessed it all along, 'cause now some drama queen is gonna write a song for me." She uses imagery from the poem, and quotes it directly: "I'm half sick of shadows".
The ballad is also referenced in the song "If I Die Young" by American country band The Band Perry, in the video Kimberley Perry is shown mimicking the Lady of Shallot and holding a book of Tennyson poetry. The video ends showing the book opened up to "The Lady of Shalott".
Popular folk duo the Indigo Girls reference the Lady of Shalott in the song "Left Me a Fool". Lamenting the lack of depth and substance she finds when getting to know a beautiful lover, the singer sings "you remind me of Shalott, only made of shadows, even though you're not."
Dutch gothic metal bend Autumn also reference the Lady of Shalott in the song "Who Has Seen Her Wave Her Hand" from their 2002 album When Lust Evokes the Curse.
French composer Olivier Messiaen wrote a piece for solo piano La dame de Shalotte in 1917 based on Tennyson's poem.
Composer Jon Parr Vijinski wrote a symphonic tone poem entitled "The Lady of Shalott" (2001). His use of thematic material, complex harmonies, and rich orchestral colour seek to link the story to its mediaeval source, and the spirit of chivalry - such as de Troyes, von Eschenbach and Malory.
The country music video, If I Die Young, by The Band Perry has clear visual references to the Lady of Shalott. Lead vocalist Kimberly Perry holds a book of poems by Tennyson as she lies in a boat, floating down a river like the Lady of Shalott. As her recumbent form within the boat drifts downstream, Perry sings:
Sink me in the river, at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song
The boat in the Perry video is similar to some illustrations, such as the image by W. E. F. Britten. The very last scene of the video shows a close-up of two pages of the poem.[4]
In the television adaptation of Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables, Anne Shirley reads various stanzas of the poem and acts out the Lady of Shalott's tragic end as she floats down the river; lines from Tennyson's "Lancelot and Elaine" are also referenced. In the book, the poem enacted is consistently "Lancelot and Elaine".
In the ITV series Lewis (Inspector Lewis in the US), episode titled "Old, Unhappy, Far Off Things", DS Hathaway quotes the line "Out flew the web and floated wide".
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