Lord Tennyson - The Lady of Shalott

This poem is based on Arthurian and Medieval writings, The Lady of Shalott is a tragic character tha has a curse brought upon her that she knows not where it came from. Instead she just weaves her basket and looks into her doomed mirror.

She knows not what the curse may be,

And so she weaveth steadily,

And little other care hath she,

The Lady of Shalott.

In this poem's quote, she again, doesn't know what the curse it, but she looks on to the road leading to Camelot and sees the people passing by, being an everlasting overseer of the road and never being able to socially participate, else the curse will have her.

But who hat seen her wave her hand?
Or at the casement seen her stand?
Or is she known in all the land,
The lady of Shalott?

She sees all these people pass on the road to Camelot, and she may recongnize them and see their lives pass, but they have no idea who The lady of Shalott is!

She remains like this, passing the time weaving, until one day she sees Sir Lancelot, "From the bank and from the river he flash'd into the crystal mirror, "Tirra, lirra," by the river, sang Sir Lancelot." She is smitten by him and, "She left the web she left the loom, she made three paces thro' the room, she saw the water-lily bloom, she saw the helmet and the plume, she look'd down to Camelot. Out flew the web and floated wide'; The mirro crack'd from side to side; "THe curse is come upon me," cried the Lady of Shalott" And as she cried this she realized that she will die or have a great hurt come upon her. This is the choice she made when she decided to gaze upon Sir Lancelot, instead of through the mirror, but in real life, with her own eyes. She races after Sir Lancelot, writing her name on the boat that she has ridden to go to Camelot, and dies before reaching what she so desires.

"Who is this? And what is here?"

And in the lighted palace near

Died the sound of royal cheer;

And they crossed themselves for fear,

All the Knights at Camelot;

But Lancelot mused a little space

He said, "She has a lovely face;

God in his mercy lend her grace,

The Lady of Shalott."

Lancelot sees her and says, "she has a lovely face", and we take this to mean, if she were alive, she would have gotten what she wants, and we cannot predict or tell the future, especially in a ficticious poem, But I think things would have gone differently if she had lived from her journey to Camelot.


My own experiences are not this dramatic. But I do wonder, What-If? Like what-if I had gone to a different school, or what If I had talked to the pretty girl in 10th grade. Would I have a different life? Or would I be looking destroying my own mirror and ruining my life by changing my routine. I see a lot of Plato's The Cave, in this poem. The man looking onto the world of shadows is not satisified by his own life and wants more wants to see the real thing. But when he gets out, he is blinded by the light. What I am getting at, was she ready to leave the cursed mirror, maybe that was all that could contain her "sickness" or "curse", if she had not left the mirror, she would be alive. But if she stayed she would be in agony and misery forever.