Full Answer
Is the Lady of Shalott a real story?
"The Lady of Shalott" is a lyrical ballad by the 19th-century English poet Alfred Tennyson and one of his best-known works. Inspired by the 13th-century Italian short prose text Donna di Scalotta, the poem tells the tragic story of Elaine of Astolat, a young noblewoman stranded in a tower up the river from Camelot.
Who is the Lady of Shalott based on?
of Elaine of AstolatLord Alfred Tennyson's four-part poem is based on the Arthurian Legend of Elaine of Astolat, who died for that love that surpassed all human understanding. Its recounted version was in the 13th-century Italian book Donna di Scalotta but the poem is an 18th Century work.
What is the Lady of Shalott real name?
Elaine of AstolatThe character Tennyson calls the Lady of Shalott is based on Elaine of Astolat, one of the figures from the legend of King Arthur. Traditionally, she was identified only as “demoiselle d'escalot,” the fair maid of Astolat. It was Sir Thomas Malory who gave her the name “Elaine” in his 1485 book Le Morte d'Arthur.
What is the meaning behind the Lady of Shalott?
The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Lord Tennyson is a popular ballad that illustrates the isolation of a woman in a tower far from what she wants to live and experience. She lives a life imprisoned by a curse she knows no consequence for and so hesitates to live her life the way she would have liked.
What killed the Lady of Shalott?
The curse is invoked, her death ensues as she sings “her last song”, and she floats dead into Camelot where all the knights “cross'd themselves for fear.” So, what exactly has happened here? The Lady it seems feels “let down,” as it were, by her world and the things in it which, she believes, have become inadequate.
Why is the Lady of Shalott locked in a tower?
Answer and Explanation: In Tennyson's The Lady of Shalott, the Lady of Shalott is locked in a tower because there is a curse upon her that prevents her from looking out into the world.
What happens to the Lady of Shalott after she leaves Shalott?
What happens to the Lady of Shalott after she leaves Shalott? She floats down the river in a boat. Along the way she dies. When her body arrives in Camelot, the other knights are afraid of her, but Sir Lancelot thinks she is lovely and says a prayer for her.
What did Sir Lancelot say when he saw the Lady of Shalott?
He said, "She has a lovely face; God in his mercy lend her grace, The Lady of Shalott."
Who does the Lady of Shalott break her curse for?
When the Lady of Shalott was motivated to leave the castle because “Of bold Sir Lancelot” (Tennyson, 3), an internal power was unlocked inside of her – she had the power to break the curse.
Why is the mirror so important to the Lady of Shalott?
The mirror allows her to create reflections of the world without having to taint the purity of her artistic vision with outside influences. When the curse is activated and her weaving flies off the loom and her mirror breaks, the implication is that her artistry was linked with her isolation.
Why did she not look down on Camelot?
The reason why the lady of Shalott cannot leave her tower or even look directly out of the window is that she is under a curse that forbids her from looking through the window to Camelot.
What is ironic about Lancelot's observation of the Lady?
What is ironic about the situation when the Lady sees Lancelot? The situation is ironic because the Lady risked all of her life's work and her life itself for Lancelot, a man that she does not even know. It is ironic that his appearance had such a strong effect on her, while he did not even notice her.
What did Sir Lancelot say when he saw the Lady of Shalott?
He said, "She has a lovely face; God in his mercy lend her grace, The Lady of Shalott."
What is the message of the Lady of Shalott painting?
The chain symbolises her oppression and incarceration – as The Lady of Shallot loosens it, she seals her fate. Draped over the boat is a tapestry, representing the tapestry woven by The Lady during her imprisonment, depicting scenes relevant to Tennyson's text.
Who is the hero in the poem the Lady of Shalott?
Answer and Explanation: Although there is no true hero in The Lady of Shalott, the protagonist is the Lady herself, named Elaine in other, earlier versions of the story. Elaine has a mysterious curse upon her.
What will set off the Lady of Shalott's curse?
The speaker has revealed that the Lady of Shalott lives on an island near Camelot, unknown to anyone except the reapers who hear her sing. She will be cursed if she looks down to Camelot so she does nothing but weave.
What is the Lady of Shalott about?
It depicts a scene from Tennyson's poem in which the poet describes the plight and the predicament of a young woman, loosely based on the figure of Elaine of Astolat from medieval Arthurian legend, who yearned with an unrequited love for the knight Sir Lancelot, isolated under an undisclosed curse in a tower near King Arthur 's Camelot. Waterhouse painted three versions of this character, in 1888, 1894 and 1915.
What is the painting of the Lady of Shalott?
The painting has the precisely painted detail and bright colours associated with the Pre-Raphaelites. It pictures the titular character of Tennyson's poem , also titled The Lady of Shalott (1842). In the poem, the Lady had been confined to her quarters, under a curse that forbade her to go outside or even look directly out of a window; her only view of the world was through a mirror. She sat below the mirror and wove a tapestry of scenes she could see by the reflection. After defying the curse by looking out the window at Camelot, the Lady has made her way to a small boat. This is the moment that is pictured in Waterhouse's painting, as the Lady is leaving to face her destiny. She is pictured sitting on the tapestry she has woven.
Who wrote the poem The Lady of Shalott?
The Lady of Shalott (1842) by Alfred, Lord… | Poetry Foundation
What does "goes by to tower'd camelot" mean?
Goes by to tower'd Camelot; And sometimes thro' the mirror blue. The knights come riding two and two: She hath no loyal knight and true, The Lady of Shalott. But in her web she still delights. To weave the mirror's magic sights, For often thro' the silent nights. A funeral, with plumes and lights.
What is the meaning of the Lady of Shalott?
H. Hutton (1826-97) argued that the poem’s meaning (if it can be said to have a ‘meaning’ in the straightforward sense) is that we must turn away from the world of illusion, however comforting that world may be, in favour of the real world – even if it ends up destroying you. As Hutton wrote, the poem ‘has for its subject the emptiness of the life of fancy, however rich and brilliant’.
How many stanzas are there in The Lady of Shalott?
Tennyson’s poem ‘The Lady of Shalott’ exists as both a 20-stanza poem published in 1832, and the revised version of 19 stanzas – which is the one readers are most familiar with – which was published in 1842. The poem, partly inspired by Arthurian legend (hence the presence of the knight, Lancelot) and partly by the epic sixteenth-century poem The ...
Why does Lady of Shalott weave all day?
W. Croker, saw the whole poem as constituting an extended pun on the word ‘spinster’: the Lady of Shalott weaves or spins all day, because she is unmarried and locked away from the rest of the world, including the world of love embodied by Camelot and Lancelot. It’s a nice idea, but even if we acknowledge that the word spinster is an undercurrent to the poem, is that really all it is about?
Who inspires the Lady of Shalott to leave the safety of her tower and descend into the ‘real’ world?
After all, it is Lancelot, that dashing knight and adulterer, the queen’s paramour in Arthurian legend, who inspires the Lady of Shalott to leave the safety of her tower and descend into the ‘real’ world. Love is about taking risks: we are not fully alive without it, but we know that it has the power to destroy us, too.
Who painted the scene in the poem "The Lady of Shalott"?
However, William Holman Hunt also painted a scene from the poem – namely the crucial moment when the Lady of Shalott turns away from her mirror and looks out of her window down at Lancelot (and, in doing so, bringing down the mysterious ‘curse’ upon herself).
Who inspired the painting of Lady of Shalott?
Tennyson’s poem inspired several paintings, and a number of artists who formed the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood later in the 1840s would go on to paint scenes from ‘The Lady of Shalott’.
What does "goes by to tower'd camelot" mean?
Goes by to tower’d Camelot; And sometimes thro’ the mirror blue. The knights come riding two and two: She hath no loyal knight and true, The Lady of Shalott. But in her web she still delights. To weave the mirror’s magic sights, For often thro’ the silent nights. A funeral, with plumes and lights.
Where is the Lady of Shalott?
Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “The Lady of Shalott” is a poem that tells the story of a cursed lady imprisoned in a tower on the island of Shalott near the city of Camelot. Through her curse, she is unable to look outside of her window into the real world. As a result, she is forced to live a life where she weaves a tapestry all day every day unable to see the world except through the reflection of her mirror. Although the tale seems to focus on an unattainable love, a much more Victorian understanding is unraveled when one focuses on the role of the lady of Shallot.
What is the woman's curse in The Lady of Shalott?
In the first stanza of the second part of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “The Lady of Shalott” a woman is introduced, described as unattainable, composed, and dedicated to her womanly tasks – all of which an ideal Victorian woman should embody. She is described as being “cursed.” However, the reason for her curse is unknown to readers, as the woman herself does not even known the reason. Despite the passing of knights on horseback, priests, etc., the lady “still delights [in her web] / To weave the mirror’s magic sights,” showing how dedicated she is to fulfilling her tasks (which is weaving the beautiful world around her).
Why is Lady of Shallot considered the ideal woman?
Up until this point in the poem, the lady of Shallot is considered the ideal woman because she is isolated from society’s temptations, making her a very innocent individual. However, when Lancelot comes to the scene, she is no longer the innocent woman she once was because she is tempted by her desire to see the real Lancelot – that is, Lancelot from outside of her window, not from the reflection in her mirror. From this point forward, she exits her tower, entering a world where evil lurks.
Who is the man who passes by the Lady of Shallot's tower?
Despite the “perfection” to which the lady seems to embody, her downfall becomes evident when a man by the name of Sir Lancelot passes by her tower. Depicted as the most dashing and chivalrous of all knights, the lady of Shallot cannot help but look away from her mirror to see the image of the great knight from outside of her window.
Overview
The Lady of Shalott is a painting of 1888 by the English painter John William Waterhouse. It is a representation of the ending of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's 1832 poem of the same name. Waterhouse painted three versions of this character, in 1888, 1894 and 1915. It is one of his most famous works, which adopted much of the style of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, though Waterhouse was painting s…
Description
The Lady of Shalott an 1888 oil-on-canvas painting, is one of John William Waterhouse's most famous works. It depicts a scene from Tennyson's poem in which the poet describes the plight and the predicament of a young woman, loosely based on the figure of Elaine of Astolat from medieval Arthurian legend, who yearned with an unrequited love for the knight Sir Lancelot, isolated under …
Tennyson's poem
According to Tennyson's version of the legend, the Lady of Shalott was forbidden to look directly at reality or the outside world; instead she was doomed to view the world through a mirror, and weave what she saw into tapestry. Her despair was heightened when she saw loving couples entwined in the far distance and she spent her days and nights aching for a return to normal. One day the Lady's mirror revealed Sir Lancelot passing by on his horse. When she impetuously took …
Other versions
Tennyson's verse was popular with many of the Pre-Raphaelite poets and painters and was illustrated by such artists as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Maw Egley, and William Holman Hunt. Throughout his career, Waterhouse was preoccupied with the poetry of both Tennyson and John Keats. Between 1886 and 1915 Waterhouse painted three episodes from the poem, as well as La Belle Dame sans Merci (1893) from the poem by John Keats.
See also
• The Lady of Shalott (1905), a painting by William Holman Hunt
Sources
• Casteras, Susan. The Victorians: British Painting, 1837–1901. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1997.
• Poulson, Christine, The Quest for the Grail: Arthurian Legend in British Art, 1840–1920, 1999, Manchester University Press, ISBN 0719055377, 9780719055379, google books
External links
• Waterhouse at Tate Britain