One of my favorite poems ever written, "The Lady of Shalott" is a poem that has excellent imagery and is written with some of the most affective word choice. Tennyson sets the scene with the reader understanding that Camelot is near. With Camelot as a setting the reader calls upon their already known information about Camelot, King Arthur and magic. So when the reader learns that she is in the tower is is not a surprise.
In part 2 of "The Lady of Shalott" the reader learns of the curse that has been placed on her. The curse states that she can not look to Camelot. This section of the poem reminds me of what many parents do their children by forbiding them to experience life. They hold on so tight that the child rebells and really do not understand that with life comes certain consequences for certain actions until it is too late. We, the reader, finds learns that she, Lady of Shalott, has grown tired of being in the tower not being able to experience life like those that she sees in her mirror.
Part 3, comes another reason of why she chooses to look to Camelot. She sees Sir Lancelot in all of his knightly glory. She basically falls in love instantly. Before her decision was made, she paced the room and with courage she looks to Camelot and the curse fell upon her. At this point I am left wondering why such a curse had been cast upon her? Was it by her doing?
In the final part, we find that she is decending from the tower and before the spell has takes her, she wants to experience life outside just once. While in the boat the towns' people hear her sing before she dies.
Reading this poem, I am left with a feeling of a life not lived. Why would such a curse befall her? Maybe Lancelot answered it best with his line "She has a lovely face;/ God in his mercy lend her grace,/ The Lady of Shalott." Could it be that he beauty was her curse?
Tony,
ReplyDeleteGlad you got the chance to write about this poem, since it is your favorite! You might consider writing about it again, and in greater length, in your research paper.
Good comments and questions here, although I think too often you rely on paraphrase for support, rather than quotations. Please try in your subsequent posts to quote and discuss more of the text, and to go deeper and in more detail in your discussion. I think you are on the write path, but those changes will help your blog be even more successful!
You can tell that this is your favorite poem by the way you have written about it. I never got the connection you made about parents keeping children from doing things, and casing them to rebel. Looking at it from that point of view gives a whole new perspective on it for me. It does seem as if she rebels against the curse, she finds love and goes after it regardless of the consequences. But her fate is a common one, one many have done before in the past. Who wouldn’t risk it all for true love?
ReplyDeleteI like that you raised the question of why was the Lady of Shalott cursed in the first place. I believe aspect is usually forgotten, and it brings other questions along with it like: did she ever deserve to be cursed? There are so many unanswered questions about the lady of Shalott. Thus, leaving the audience with their own opportunity to invent who the lady could have been.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to agree with Lauren. It's really interesting that you bring up the question of why she was cursed, and suggest that the curse was beauty. I would suggest that the curse is her tower. Yes, it protects her, but such protection comes at the price of experience and knowledge.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the curse was metaphorical. I have heard it said that we start dying as soon as we're born. Maybe the Lady of Shallot metaphorically was born when she left her tower to begin life, and began dying.
ReplyDeleteI liked that you related the issue of isolation to parents. This was definitely not an outlook I had considered when analyzing this poem. I felt like the this poem showed human intuition cannot be controlled no matter how hard one tries. It is human nature to long for a companion in life and the Lady of Shallot wanted just that. Eventually, a life of solitude became boring to her and she yearned for more. Very good analysis! I really enjoyed reading this one!
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