The Poem
“The Lady of Shalott,” in both its original form of 1832 and in the revision of 1842, is divided into four separate narrative sections, each containing from four to six stanzas of nine lines each. The meter is predominately iambic tetrameter with an insistent and unusual rhyme structure involving double couplets and a triplet in each refrain. Alfred, Lord Tennyson took the poem’s title and a few of its incidents from an anonymous medieval Italian novella variously identified as Donna di Scalotta or Novella LXXXI in the Cento Novelle Antiche (c. 1321). As is usual with Tennyson, this source is so altered in his retelling as to be largely unimportant for interpretation. What Tennyson retains from his source is simply a story of a lady’s desperate love for the greatest of Arthurian knights, Lancelot, a love which ends in the lady’s death.
The poem opens with a description of a riparian landscape: a river flowing between fields of grain down to Camelot and the sea; within this river, an island; within this island, a castle; and within the castle, the Lady of Shalott. There are enclosures within enclosures. About the island, ships sail and barges drift, but the Lady of Shalott remains unseen within the walls. Only her voice is sometimes heard by reapers at dawn; listening to her strange song, they refer to the mysterious lady as a “fairy.”
This lady, the reader learns, weaves a tapestry of all the sights of the outside world that are reflected before her in a mirror hanging upon her wall. She will not look out at the world itself, only at its “shadows,” for she has received a mysterious warning that if she looks to the city of Camelot, she will fall victim to a curse. The curse comes. Great Lancelot eventually rides by the window, and his splendid image in her mirror tempts the lady to look upon the man himself. As she does so, the tapestry rends, and the mirror shatters. Despairingly, in the midst of a blowing storm, the lady boards a small boat and drifts toward Camelot and death singing a final dirge. When the boat comes to Camelot bearing her silent corpse, all but Lancelot are terrified at this strange apparition. Lancelot, for whom she died loving, simply observes (almost flatly observes), “She has a lovely face/ God in his mercy lend her grace.”
The narrative has the simplicity of a fairy tale, and, as in a fairy tale, causes and motivations are mysterious and obscure. The origin of the curse is never explained, and the lady has learned of it only by a strangely disembodied “whisper.” Again, as in fairy tales, the transparency of the narrative surface hints at greater depths. The lady confesses after seeing a pair of lovers reflected in her mirror that she is “half sick of shadows,” but her vision of the lovers is preceded by a vision of a funeral—significantly, for one later recognizes that her sickness among shadows ends finally with her death among realities. “The Lady of Shalott” remains one of Tennyson’s most evocative and disturbing poems.
Historical Context
Arthurian Legend
The character Tennyson refers to as the Lady of Shalott is inspired by Elaine
of Astolat, a figure from the legend of King Arthur. Traditionally, she was
known only as "demoiselle d'escalot," the fair maid of Astolat. It was Sir
Thomas Malory who named her "Elaine" in his 1485 book Le Morte
d'Arthur. Tennyson wrote about her as Elaine, the Lily Maid of Astolat, in
The Idylls of the King, published in 1885. However, in his poem "The
Lady of Shalott," he took creative liberties, leaving her unnamed and changing
"Astolat" to the archaic "Shalott." In both versions, the character dies of
unrequited love for Sir Lancelot and floats down the river in a barge, to be
marveled at by the common people going about their daily lives.
The legends of King Arthur and his knights are mythical, although numerous researchers have proposed theories about the historical existence of these figures. The legends began appearing during the Middle Ages, spanning the fifth to the fifteenth centuries. The earliest mention of a King Arthur is found in a seventh-century Welsh text. Arthurian stories were told across Europe, especially in France. The first continuous narrative of the legend, featuring most of the knights, supporting characters, and specific episodes familiar to twenty-first-century readers, appeared in the Historia Regum Britannie ("History of the Kings of Britain") by the English writer Geoffrey of Monmouth, published around 1139. This book identified the Arthur of Camelot as a sixth-century king, son of Uther Pendragon, who kept counsel with his court of knights at a round table and was married to Guinevere. Other historians have speculated that there were other kings named Arthur who could have inspired the legends.
Lancelot, the brave knight mentioned in this poem, does not appear in the earlier legends. He first emerges in the late twelfth century, in Le Chevalier de Charette by Chrétien de Troyes and Lanzelot by Ulrich von Zatzikhofen. This character quickly became an essential part of the myth, beloved for embodying the qualities of courage and chivalry that suit the tales.
According to legend, Lancelot is born "Galahad" but has his name changed early in life when his family is killed by a fire. He later has a son named Galahad with Elaine of Corbenic, who is different from Elaine of Astolat. He is raised by "The Lady of the Lake," a mystical figure said to have given Arthur the sword, Excalibur, which establishes him as king. Her influence leads to Lancelot being established as a knight of the Round Table on his eighteenth birthday. There, he proves to be the most valiant knight but also becomes treacherous: he and Arthur's wife, Guinevere, fall in love and have an affair.
The sexual relationship between Lancelot and Guinevere ultimately leads to the downfall of Camelot's court. Upon discovering the affair, Arthur orders Guinevere's execution for treason. Lancelot, along with his army, attacks to rescue Guinevere, resulting in the death of many knights. Eventually, Guinevere is returned to Arthur, and Lancelot flees to France to establish a rival court. Over time, the hostility between Arthur and Lancelot diminishes, and Lancelot returns to Camelot before Arthur's death to seek forgiveness. He then retreats to live a solitary, monastic life at his castle.
Romanticism
In the context of literary movements, Tennyson is primarily linked with the
Victorian era. Queen Victoria admired his work and named him Poet Laureate of
Britain, a position he held from 1850 to 1892. However, the first version of
this poem was published in 1833, during Tennyson's twenties. Its themes and
sensibilities are more closely aligned with the Romantic movement, which was
flourishing at that time.
Although no single category can encapsulate the sensibilities of all artists from a particular period, identifying philosophical movements and grouping thinkers with similar ideas can help capture the prevailing mood of an era. Romanticism dominated the late eighteenth century and continued well into the nineteenth century. It was a reaction against the Enlightenment, which emphasized rationality and political equality as the most logical form of governance. Key Enlightenment thinkers such as Thomas Jefferson and Jean-Jacques Rousseau were pivotal in promoting democracy over monarchical rule, influencing the motivations behind the American and French Revolutions. The Enlightenment fostered intellectual philosophy and Neo-Classical art, characterized by the logic, order, and balance of classical Greek art, coinciding with explorations of Greek and Roman ruins in Greece and Italy.
Many historians mark the beginning of the Romantic Period around 1800, when William Wordsworth introduced a new theory of poetry in his Preface to Lyrical Ballads. The Preface outlines key Romantic traits: a focus on emotion as the source of creativity, a preference for subjectivity, a deep reverence for nature as a symbol of spiritual truth, and a commitment to giving voice to the oppressed and rural populations. Wordsworth described poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings … recollected in tranquility." Thus, poetry becomes the expression of human emotion as it is remembered and continues to resonate. In the wake of the French Revolution, English writers like William Blake and Samuel Coleridge shared similar Romantic sensibilities.
The second phase of Romanticism, spanning from 1805 to the 1830s, introduced additional writers linked to the movement, most notably John Keats, Percy Shelley, and Lord Byron (born George Gordon). While emphasizing emotion, these writers also maintained an earlier fascination with national history and folklore. Sir Walter Scott authored historical novels featuring legendary English figures, John Keats (along with several others) reimagined the Robin Hood legends, and Tennyson concentrated on the stories of the Knights of the Round Table.
Another significant aspect was an interest in the occult and morbidity. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Frankenstein serves as a prime example, as do the nightmarish visions found in the poetry of American writer Edgar Allan Poe.
Expert Q&A
"The Lady of Shalott" and Victorian Literature
"The Lady of Shalott" is a quintessential example of Victorian literature, embodying themes of isolation, the conflict between art and life, and the constraints placed on women. The poem reflects Victorian anxieties about industrialization and societal change, while also exploring the romantic idealization of the past through its Arthurian setting.
Forms and Devices
The most striking formal aspect of this poem is its remarkably vivid images. “The Lady of Shalott” was a favorite with Victorian painters and illustrators, who understandably delighted in picturing the crisis of the curse with its sprung tapestry and cracking mirror. Those images, and that of the lady’s funeral barge at the poem’s close, have been admired by many modern critics as early examples of poetic symbolism. While the magic mirror and tapestry belong to the machinery of legend and fairy tale, they seem more than props in Tennyson’s hands. The lady’s mirror, for example, reflects not only the outside world but also the condition of the lady herself as an outsider. Both the lady and the mirror capture images within frames, the mirror in its glass, the lady in her tapestry. This identification is pushed even further at the poem’s close when the lady is described as having a “glassy countenance” as she gazes toward Camelot. Having preferred realities to shadows, having rejected the mirror’s vision for her own, she becomes a mirror herself; her countenance now mirrors her coming death.
Tennyson’s careful insistence on referring to the tapestry as a “web” suggests the idea of entanglement that is certainly part of the lady’s condition. The insect connotations of “web” are also admissible, for this web is very much made from the lady’s own substance: When it is disturbed, she dies. The careful texturing of these images reinforces, deepens, and extends their more conventional associations. The island’s isolation and the temporal significance of the river current also gain by their participation in a symbolic pattern of such complexity. It is the combination of suggestive images with a relatively discontinuous, seemingly naïve narrative that lends this poem its disquieting power. The poem anticipates the modern understanding of dreams as symbol systems suspended in masking narratives. As in dreams, the narrative line is deceptively simple; the deeper significance is encoded in symbol. Since the poem is essentially about the power of dream and symbol, of image over life, its symbolic images embody the poem’s theme rather than express it, which is very nearly the essence of modern poetic symbolism.
The collective effect of the symbol system in “The Lady of Shalott” is a powerful sense of narcissistic introversion. The Lady’s attempt to break out of her insularity fails because she is incapable of escaping her enslavement to images. The image of Lancelot himself had been cast into her mirror from the river surface and is nothing more than another representation of the reality she cannot reach. Trapped in the immobility of her island world of images, cut off from the world of transition and change—of life, love, and death—the lady rebels against her condition by casting herself adrift into the temporal tyranny of the river current. It pulls her into the world of living men and women, but she dies in transit, singing her own death song in a funeral barge emblazoned with her own name; her isolation is never broken.
The rhyme scheme of the poem is also a means for reinforcing the sense of inescapable isolation, for it is one of the most repetitive and insistent rhyme schemes to be found in serious English poetry. The sequence aaaabcccb is repeated throughout the poem, and all but one stanza end with the lady’s name as the final rhyme. The obsessive repetition of the name drives home her own repetitive obsessions. Images and metrical organization work together to create claustrophobia, a terrified sense of compulsive ritual that is wearying and inescapable.
Literary Style
"The Lady of Shalott" is a ballad. Although there is no fixed format for a ballad, it generally refers to a poem or song that narrates the story of an individual or group, often with details that make them seem larger than life.
The poem is organized into four numbered sections, each building up to a climax before concluding, much like a story. This structure helps to engage the reader, creating a sense of anticipation about what will happen next. Each section is divided into stanzas, which function like paragraphs in prose. Parts I and II contain four stanzas each, Part III has five stanzas, and Part IV includes six stanzas. The shorter early sections help maintain the reader's attention.
Each stanza follows a consistent format: nine lines with a rhyme scheme of aaaabcccb. This means that the final sounds of the first four lines (denoted as the a sound) rhyme; lines 5 and 9 rhyme (the b sound); and lines 6, 7, and 8 rhyme with each other. Unlike some poets who downplay or hide rhymes, Tennyson emphasizes them by making most lines end-stopped—punctuation halts the flow of words. This strong focus on rhymes gives the poem the feel of an ancient tale, reminiscent of times before printing, when news was shared orally and rhymes aided memorization.
The poem's lines are written in iambic tetrameter. An "iamb" is a unit of poetry (known as a "poetic foot") consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. For instance, in the first line, the syllables "eith," "side," "riv," and "lie" are more heavily accented than the preceding syllables. Iambic poetry mirrors the natural rhythm of English speech, making the poem's structure barely noticeable. "Tetrameter" indicates that each line has four feet ("tetra" is Greek for "four"), resulting in a total of eight syllables per line.
Expert Q&A
Mood and Tone in "The Lady of Shalott"
The mood and tone in "The Lady of Shalott" shift dramatically throughout the poem. Initially, the mood is pensive and somber, reflecting the Lady's isolation as she views the world through a mirror. This changes to one of wonder and awe with the introduction of Sir Lancelot, whose brightness and light alter the tone to one of danger and inevitability. The mood becomes more self-aware as the Lady chooses her fate, breaking away from her isolation, ultimately embracing her tragic destiny.
The weather's reflection of the tone and mood in "The Lady of Shalott."
The weather in "The Lady of Shalott" reflects the tone and mood by shifting from a tranquil, idyllic setting to a darker, more ominous atmosphere. Initially, the calm weather mirrors the lady's isolated but serene existence. As the poem progresses and she defies her curse, the weather becomes stormy, symbolizing the impending doom and tragic mood of her fate.
Compare and Contrast
- 1842: Books and magazines are a major source of
entertainment. Many middle-class individuals are acquainted with mythic tales,
as they have been preserved in literature for generations.
Today: King Arthur's Court is still somewhat familiar, but most people recognize it through movies or theme park recreations.
- 1842: The English countryside is largely open and
unpolluted. While cities like London are crowded and polluted, those who have
visited the countryside can easily envision the landscapes Tennyson describes.
Today: The English countryside is mostly divided into walled fields and farm tracks. Urban air pollution has decreased since coal burning is now illegal in cities.
- 1842: Alfred Tennyson, a young and struggling poet, had to
stop writing at one point because he couldn't afford his bills.
Today: Alfred, Lord Tennyson, is regarded as a significant writer, and his works are studied in English literature courses.
- 1842: Scientists do not understand the microbiological
causes of death, making it more mysterious. Poets use rich metaphors to explore
the causes of sudden death.
Today: Microbiology explains many symptoms caused by viruses and fungi, and science measures correlations between physical health, longevity, and psychological and emotional well-being.
Media Adaptations
- A 1995 videocassette titled "The Lady of Shalott": A Poem and Its Readers is available from Films for the Humanities & Sciences. It includes a reading of the poem along with reactions from various individuals.
- In 1970, Encyclopedia Britannica Films produced a 16 mm film called The Lady of Shalott, featuring a recitation by Cecil Bellamy, accompanied by music and visuals related to the poem.
- "The Lady of Shalott" is part of a Caedmon recording of The Poetry of Tennyson, read by Dame Sybil Thorndike and Sir Lewis Casson. This recording, made in 1972, is also available on audiocassette.
- A four-album collection released by Allyn & Bacon in 1955, titled Master Recordings in English Literature, includes this poem, read by V. C. Clinton-Baddeley.
- A two-album set named Narrative Poetry, part of the London Library of Recorded English series, features this poem. Released by Columbia in 1980, it includes readings by Cecil Trouncer, Julian Randall, John Laurie, and V. C. Clinton-Baddeley.
- The second entry in the Argo series, The English Poets from Chaucer to Yeats, focuses on Tennyson. This recording, produced in collaboration with the British Council and Oxford University Press, features selections from Tennyson read by Frank Duncan, Michael Horndurn, and David King.
- "The Lady of Shalott" is portrayed in a fantasy painting by John William Waterhouse in 1875. This artwork became available as a commercial poster from Shorewood Fine Arts Reproductions in 1999.
Bibliography and Further Reading
Sources
Jump, John D. Tennyson: "In Memoriam," "Maud," and Other Poems. J. A.
Dent and Sons Ltd., 1974, pp. vii—xx.
Noyes, Arthur. "Tennyson and Some Recent Critics," in Some Aspects of Modern Poetry. Hodder & Stoughton, 1924, pp. 133-76.
Saintsbury, George. "Tennyson," in Corrected Impressions: Essays on Victorian Writers. Dodd Mead & Company, pp. 21-30.
Shaw, W. David. "Rites of Passage: 'The Lady of Shalott' and 'The Lotus-Eaters,'" in Tennyson: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Elizabeth A. Francis. Prentice-Hall, 1980, pp. 19-27.
Whitman, Walt. "A Word about Tennyson," in Critic (New York), Vol. 10, January 1887, pp. 1-2.
Further Reading
Amis, Kingsley. Introduction to Tennyson. Penguin Books, 1973, pp.
7-19. Students who struggle with academic texts will find Amis's concise
exploration of Tennyson's life and significance accessible. Despite being one
of the most humorous novelists of the twentieth century, Amis delivers a
respectful and affectionate essay on Tennyson's poetry.
Buckley, Jerome Hamilton. Tennyson: The Growth of a Poet. Harvard University Press, 1960. This work, blending biography and criticism, offers insights into Tennyson's psychological state during the writing of his poem.
Foakes, R. A. "The Commitment to Metaphor: Modern Criticism and Romantic Poetry," in British Romantic Poets: Recent Revelations. New York University Press, 1966, pp. 22-32. Although Foakes does not focus specifically on Tennyson, he discusses the impact of Romanticism on subsequent poetry, allowing readers to infer Tennyson's place within this framework.
Hollander, John. "Tennyson's Melody," in Alfred Lord Tennyson, edited by Harold Bloom. Chelsea House Publishers, 1985, pp. 103-26. Hollander's detailed analysis of the sound in Tennyson's poetry, including "The Lady of Shalott," is rich and comprehensive.
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