ALFRED TENNYSON Flowing down to Camelot. Four gray walls, and four gray towers, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, (1st Baron Tennyson) (1809–1892) was Overlook a space of flowers, born in Lincolnshire. Though he could trace his lineage back to And the silent isle imbowers King Edward III, Tennyson was the son of a rector. He was The Lady of Shalott. educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and published his first work of verse in 1830. His popularity continued to grow through By the margin, willow-veil'd the 1830s as he melded aspects of Romanticism with a keen interest Slide the heavy barges trail'd boats in ancient literature and mythology (especially Greek and Celtic). By slow horses; and unhail'd Tennyson was succeeded Wordsworth as Poet Laureate in 1850; The shallop flitteth silken-sail'd small boat with oars and sail the income allowed him to marry Emily Sellwood with whom he Skimming down to Camelot: had two sons. But who hath seen her wave her hand? Or at the casement4 seen her stand? Tennyson is often caricatured as a booster of the English Colonial Or is she known in all the land, Empire and an intellectual lightweight compared to the Great The Lady of Shalott? English Romantics such as Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge and Keats. However, he was a master of the poetic structure, meter, Only reapers, reaping early rhythm and imagery. Like Browning, he was also a master of the In among the bearded barley,5 dramatic monologue—capable of creating keen psychological Hear a song that echoes cheerly portraits of his subjects. He was also a highly effective narrator in From the river winding clearly, verse—best exemplified by his Idylls of the King (1856-1888), his Down to tower'd Camelot: epic retelling of Arthurian legends. His elegy for his friend Arthur And by the moon the reaper weary, Hallam In Memorium A.H.H. (1850) is considered one of the finest Piling sheaves in uplands airy, of the genre in English. Listening, whispers "'Tis the fairy Lady of Shalott". THE LADY OF SHALOTT1 PART II PART I There she weaves by night and day A magic web with colours gay. On either side the river lie She has heard a whisper say, Long fields of barley and of rye,2 A curse is on her if she stay That clothe the wold and meet the sky; open range To look down to Camelot. And thro' the field the road runs by She knows not what the 'curse' may be, To many-tower'd Camelot; And so she weaveth steadily, And up and down the people go, And little other care hath she, Gazing where the lilies blow The Lady of Shalott. Round an island there below, The island of Shalott. And moving thro' a mirror clear6 That hangs before her all the year, Willows whiten, aspens quiver,3 Shadows of the world appear. Little breezes dusk and shiver There she sees the highway near Thro' the wave that runs for ever Winding down to Camelot: By the island in the river There the river eddy whirls, And there the surly village-churls, peasants 1 According to Thomas Malory's Morte' D'Arthur, Elaine of And the red cloaks of market girls, Astolat falls in love with Lancelot after he defeats all of Arthur's Pass onward from Shalott. knights in a joust at her father's Castle Astolat (Shallot). Lancelot receives a thigh wound which Elaine helps to heal at Sometimes a troop of damsels glad, Astolat, but realizing her unrequited love for him, Lancelot An abbot on an ambling pad, saddle leaves her. She dies of grief ten days later. According to her Sometimes a curly shepherd-lad, final wishes her body is placed in a boat and floats down the Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad, Thames River from Astolat to Camelot, Arthur's legendary Goes by to tower'd Camelot; castle. 2 Barley is a grain used for animal grain or fermented into ale; rye 4 A casement is a window, often recessed, with sashes that open is a grass used for feed or fermented into whiskey. and shut; it is also a tunnel or opening in a military fortification. 3 Willow trees are associated with sorrow (particularly the 5 Ready to be reaped. “Weeping Willow”; the leaves of aspen trees quiver in the wind 6 A weaver would traditionally work from the rear of a fabric and —evocative of the Lady's emotional state. use a mirror to see the pattern or design on the front . And sometimes thro' the mirror blue From the bank and from the river The knights come riding two and two: He flashed into the crystal mirror, She hath no loyal knight and true, "Tirra lirra," by the river The Lady of Shalott. Sang Sir Lancelot. But in her web she still delights She left the web, she left the loom; To weave the mirror's magic sights, She made three paces thro' the room, For often thro' the silent nights She saw the water-lily bloom, A funeral, with plumes and lights, She saw the helmet and the plume, And music, went to Camelot: She look'd down to Camelot. Or when the moon was overhead, Out flew the web and floated wide; Came two young lovers lately wed; The mirror crack'd from side to side; "I am half-sick of shadows," said "The curse is come upon me," cried The Lady of Shalott. The Lady of Shalott. PART III PART IV A bow-shot from her bower-eaves, In the stormy east-wind straining, He rode between the barley sheaves, cone-shaped bundles The pale yellow woods were waning, The sun came dazzling thro' the leaves, The broad stream in his banks complaining, And flamed upon the brazen greaves shin-guard type armor Heavily the low sky raining Of bold Sir Lancelot. Over tower'd Camelot; A redcross knight7 for ever kneel'd Down she came and found a boat To a lady in his shield, Beneath a willow left afloat, That sparkled on the yellow field, And round about the prow she wrote front of a boat Beside remote Shalott. 'The Lady of Shalott.' And down the river's dim expanse-- The gemmy bridle glitter'd free, Like some bold seër in a trance, Like to some branch of stars we see Seeing all his own mischance-- Hung in the golden Galaxy. With a glassy countenance dazed? The bridle bells rang merrily Did she look to Camelot. As he rode down to Camelot: And at the closing of the day And from his blazon'd baldric8 slung She loosed the chain, and down she lay; A mighty silver bugle hung, The broad stream bore her far away, And as he rode his armour rung, The Lady of Shalott. Beside remote Shalott. Lying, robed in snowy white All in the blue unclouded weather That loosely flew to left and right-- Thick-jewell'd shone the saddle-leather, The leaves upon her falling light-- The helmet and the helmet-feather Thro' the noises of the night Burn'd like one burning flame together, She floated down to Camelot; As he rode down to Camelot. And as the boat-head wound along As often thro' the purple night, The willowy hills and fields among, Below the starry clusters bright, They heard her singing her last song, Some bearded meteor,9 trailing light, The Lady of Shalott. Moves over still Shalott. Heard a carol, mournful, holy, His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd; Chanted loudly, chanted lowly, On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode; polished Till her blood was frozen slowly, From underneath his helmet flow'd And her eyes were darken'd wholly, His coal-black curls as on he rode, Turn'd to tower'd Camelot; As he rode down to Camelot. For ere she reach'd upon the tide The first house by the water-side, 7 A likely reference to the Red-Cross Knight, hero of Edmund Singing in her song she died, Spenser's Elizabethan epic poem The Fairie Queen. The Lady of Shalott. 8 A baldric is a belt worn partly around the waist and up over one shoulder. It is used to carry a sword, weapon, or in this case a Under tower and balcony, bugle. By garden-wall and gallery, 9 Perhaps a comet, an ominous sign. A gleaming shape she floated by, Life to the lees12: all times I have enjoy'd Dead-pale between the houses high, Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those Silent into Camelot. That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when Out upon the wharfs they came, Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades13 Knight and burgher, lord and dame, middle-class Vext the dim sea: I am become a name; And round the prow they read her name, For always roaming with a hungry heart 'The Lady of Shalott' Much have I seen and known; cities of men And manners, climates, councils, governments, Who is this? and what is here? Myself not least, but honour'd of them all;14 And in the lighted palace near And drunk delight of battle with my peers, Died the sound of royal cheer; Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy. And they cross'd themselves for fear, I am a part of all that I have met; All the knights at Camelot: Yet all experience is an arch wherethro' But Lancelot mused a little space; Gleams that untravell'd world, whose margin fades He said, "She has a lovely face; For ever and for ever when I move.