''The Lady of Shalott''

- as an artist and as a subject for artists.

''The Lady of Shalott'', one of the most popular works of Alfred, Lord
Tennyson, was first published in 1833, as a different version of the actual poem,
which was published later in 1842. The poem is a ballad and it was based on an
Italian book from the thirteenth century called ''Donna di Scalotta'', which focuses
on the death of The Lady of Shalott in the Arthurian legend of Elaine of Astolat.

The poem brings together some of the most significant themes approached in
the Victorian Era, such as: the position of woman within the society, the theme of
love, the existence of supernatural elements, the relationship between man and
nature, and religion. However, most critics agree that the main interpretation of the
poem is the conflict between art and life, illustrating the position of the artist in the
society and his isolation from the rest of the world, through the symbol of the
Lady of Shalott herself. Tennyson uses woman as a metaphor for the soul of the
artist, but she has no given name, particularly because she is an allegorical figure.

The poem begins with a quiet description of the scenery: a river that lies
through ''long fields of barley and of rye'' (line 2), and a road that leads toward the
castle of Camelot, the legendary home of King Arthur and his knights. In the midst
of the river, there's an island surrounded by lilies, called the island of Shalott. By
using all these details to describe the landscape, the poet builds the locational
context in which the artist can be found, a calm and peaceful surrounding,
propitious for creating his art. The river can be interpreted as a symbol for
inspiration: ''Thro' the wave that runs for ever / By the island in the river / Flowing
down to Camelot.'' (lines 12-14). The wave of inspiration is flowing fluently into
the art produced by the artist, while he is sitting in the middle of it, as the poem
presents the towers in the middle of the river, in which the main character is
situated. ''Four grey walls, and four grey towers, / Overlook a space of flowers''
(lines 15-16) is the concrete location of the Lady of Shalott, who has been locked
there for no given reason; the latter line illustrates the weaving together of the
natural and the manmade. Lines 17-18 (''And the silent isle imbowers / The Lady
of Shalott.'') properly introduces for the first time the Lady of Shalott. The key
word here is ''imbowers'', which stands for shutting up in a bower, that was the
private room of a medieval lady. This is the perfect exemplification for the
enclosure, restriction of the arist in his art, almost imprisoned in his workshop,
separated from the outside world and the ordinary life.

The Lady is in charge with a loom. Her business is to weave into a great
tapestry what she sees outside the window through a mirror, she is not allowed to
look straight out the window down the river at Camelot whatsoever, because she
has been cursed. The Lady is a symbol for the contemplative artist, who isolates
himself from the bustle going on outside in the world. The tragic edge of the poem
is given by the inability of the Lady to break out of the loneliness, as compared to
the inability of the artist to do so. In his work called ''Tennyson’s Poetics: the Role
of the Poet and the Function of Poetry'', Ine Heyerick argues that ''the most
important aspect that this art poem reveals about Tennyson’s poetics, is his internal
struggle between ‘artistic detachment’ and ‘social responsibility’.'' He goes on
explaining that: ''Tennyson dramatizes the conflict between the isolated artist and
the society that expects and demands more involvement from this artist. The art
poem starts out with a depiction of the artist-figure, initially safe and secluded in
his/her own mind and world. All of a sudden, however, the artist comes in touch
with or is reminded of the outer world, i.e. ‘society’, and is forced to reconsider
his/her decision to isolate him-/herself.''

The whole poem is built around reflections, while the main symbol is the
mirror. The Lady weaves her ''magic web'' by the reflections in the mirror from the
outside world reflected in the window. She sees all sorts of people passing, people
belonging to different social classes and knights who ''come riding two and two''
(line 61), but these only intensify the oppressive feeling of seclution that won't set
her free. The Lady does not only desire to not be lonely anymore, but also she is
waiting for her lover to come and rescue her, (''She hath no loyal knight and true, /
The Lady of Shalott.''). This strong desire of hers triggers the curse to veil the
Lady of Shalott and kill her, as she sees Sir Lancelot riding near the river, and
leads to her first attempt to break free and communicate with somebody who
belongs outside the four grey walls she is stuck between. The succession of
reflections continues as she does not see the real image of the knight, but only a
reflection in the river of him. This reflection is illustrated by the form of the lines
and the words Tennyson uses when the knight arrives: ''From the bank and from
the river / He flash'd into the crystal mirror, / 'Tirra lirra,' by the river / Sang Sir
Lancelot.'' (lines 105-109), as the rhyme of ''river'' is still ''river'', underlining the
idea of reflection, (there's also a possible association with Plato's Cave theory).
This signifies that the artist is aware of the appearances of the people he sees; we
only see images of people, but not what it is inside them, just like reflections in the
river / mirror. The Lady was in love with the way Sir Lancelot looked glowing in
the sunlight, thinking that it reflects the inner side of him, but little did she know
that a simple look at him would lead her to death.

The artist is being put in a similar position when it comes to escaping. He has
to either risk it all for being part of the society and give up on his artistic side, or
remain in his silent process of creation and not make any contact with the outside
world. In this way, the artist can never be completely fulfilled, since he can only
choose one of the alternatives. Leaving the tower does not mean that the Lady
abandons art entirely, she only forsakes her art as the web is being torn from the
loom. She continues to provide a form of art, by the songs she keeps singing,
''which reflects the complexities and contradictions of human life, since it is both
loud and low, both mournful and holy, the result of her entrance into life and the
accompaniment of her voyage to death. Thus the poem perhaps suggests that,
despite the appeal of solitary detachment, the artist cannot achieve full self-
realization without participation in the tumult of human life.''[1], as Muriel
Mellown says. Tennyson seems to imply, since the poem ends with the death of
the Lady of Shalott, that interiority and exteriority cannot be reconciled for the
sensitive artist. Even the final words of Sir Lancelot, when he sees the Lady of
Shalott dead: ''She has a lovely face'', imply the association of her face with an
object of art that is ''lovely''.

Tennyson's poem inspired many artists throughout the years, especially the
pre-Raphaelites, who made paintings based on episodes from the poem, turning
''The Lady of Shalott'' into an object for artists. They were fascinated in particular
by the idea of the woman trapped inside a tower and also the figure of the floating
girl who is dying, while sailing down the Camelot. William Holman Hunt and
Dante Gabriel Rossetti tried to depict ''The Lady of Shalott'', both of them
capturing scenes in which Sir Lancelot has an important contribution through the
plot, but failed, as Lord Tennyson was not pleased with neither of the illustrations.
The paintings of ''The Lady of Shalott'' seem to resemble very much with paintings
of Elaine of Astolat, due to the similarity of the stories. However, the most famous
painting of ''The Lady of Shalott'' was made by John William Waterhouse in 1888,
who painted two other episodes from the poem (one that includes Lancelot as well,
and one that is titled ''"I Am Half-Sick of Shadows," Said the Lady of Shalott'').

The poem was a go-off not only for the painters, but also for writers, whose
works were alluded to the poem or even used famous lines in their works, like
Oscar Wilde, in ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' (1890), when Sibyl Vane exclaims:
''I have grown sick of shadows!''. In 1962, Agatha Christie titled one of her novels
after the poem's line 115: "The mirror crack'd from side to side", and there were
many other refferences to the poem by various artists in literature and later, even in
music.

To conclude, ''The Lady of Shalott'' by Alfred, Lord Tennyson is a genuine

masterpiece, which aquires two different, but connected roles: as an artist and as a
subject for artists. The first one is portrayed particularly through the idea of
reflections and the symbol of the mirror, and represents the isolation of the artist in
society, the sacrifice and loneliness he has to go through, in order to create his art;
the second one illustrates the importance of the poem, the achievement of the poet
to become a source of inspiration for others that followed. Thus we can say that
the poem itself is a mirror in the history of literature, for it has been inspired by
earlier creations and has inspired further artists to create.

Bibliography:
·0 ‘’The Lady of Shalott’’ (1842) BYALFRED, LORD TENNYSON © 2017
Poetry Foundation; https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-
poets/poems/detail/45360#poem
[1]
·1 Muriel Mellown, "The Lady of Shalott: Overview" in Reference Guide to
English Literature, 2nd ed., edited by D. L. Kirkpatrick, St. James Press,
1991. (sixth paragraph)
·2 Ine Heyerick, ''Tennyson’s Poetics: the Role of the Poet and the Function
of Poetry'', 2012 - 2013, pdf version available online at:
http://lib.ugent.be
·3 Friedlander ER (1999) Enjoying "The Lady of Shalott" by Alfred
Tennyson Retrieved Dec. 25, 2003 from http://www.pathguy.com/shalott.htm

·4 Thomas L. Jeffers, "Nice Threads: Tennyson’s Lady of Shalott as

Artist,” Yale Review 89 (Fall 2001), 54–68.
·5 Thomas L. Jeffers, “Tennyson’s Lady of Shalott and Pre-Raphaelite
Renderings: Statement and Counter-Statement,” Religion and the
Arts 6:3 (2002), 231-242