The Lady of Shalott Group

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ashi
ashi
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Graduate School

Explain Tennyson's use of 'nature' in "The Lady of Shalott?"

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Posted by ashi on Sunday August 30, 2009 at 8:13 AM and tagged with aspen, lily, nature, sorrow, the lady of shalott, whiteness, willow.

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  1. lit24
    lit24 Teacher
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    eNotes Editor

    The first section of Alfred Lord Tennyson's  poem "The Lady of Shalott" (1832 and 1842) describes very vividly the natural surroundings of the castle on "the island of Shalott" in which the Lady of Shalott has been shut up for the rest of her life.

    The island is in the midst of a river which flows down  to the town of Camelot.  The 1832 version describes the bright and beautiful flowers surrounding the castle:

    "The yellowleavèd waterlily,

    The greensheathèd daffodilly,
    Trembled in the water chilly,
    Round about Shalott."

    However, in the 1842 version Tennyson removed these colourful and bright flowers and substituted them with ordinary white 'lily' and 'white willows' and 'aspen.' This is because, the overall mood and tone of the poem is sombre and elegiac and bright colours would be inappropriate. Tennyson foregrounds the lack of colour by merely remarking that there was "a space of flowers" within the castle without adding any colour to the flowers.

    The 'willow' is traditionally associated with weeping and mourning.This is apt because the beautiful lady of Shalott has been killed by the ill effects of the unknown curse. The whiteness of the willow, the lily and the aspen are symbolic of the virginity and chasteness of the young, beautiful and innocent Lady of Shalott who has been tragically killed by the curse for no fault of her own.

    The description of the natural surroundings in and around the castle on island of Shalott are objectively presented by the narrator of the story to symbolise the mood and tone of the poem. The picturesque beauty of the surroundings is not presented subjectively through the eyes of the Lady of Shalott because she cannot be distracted from her task of eternally weaving in order to escape her doom.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/lady-shallot/critical-overview
    http://www.enotes.com/lady-shallot/essays-criticism
    http://www.enotes.com/lady-shallot/themes

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    Posted by lit24 on Sunday August 30, 2009 at 8:06 PM