Gazing out her window, she admires the vast scenery that surrounds her. It seems as though the Lady of Shalott was waiting for someone – a knight perhaps. Time is on her hand as she describes vividly about the road to Camelot; the river and the village that it goes by. The Lady of Shalott watches the knights go by "two and two" but they were not the one she desires. She periodically glances at her mirror, hoping that someday "the curse" will break and that particular someone will come. Miraculously one day, a knight by the name of Lancelot rides down that road to Camelot. She left her tower and flowers bloomed, but the curse was still upon her. The mirror cracked. The love she had for Lancelot is something that she did not experience in her lifetime. With four stanzas describing Lancelot's physiques, the Lady of Shalott describes him as charming, handsome, and bold. It seems though as if Sir Lancelot fell in love with another individual. The impact of this devastated her. Leaving that night to a boat, she sings a song and dies.
This was a great read, and I think that the relationship between the Lady of Shalott and Sir Lancelot would have been successful if they had given it a chance. Seeing, as she had never experienced this kind of emotion with any other knight, the love that she had for Lancelot is truly pure. The curse that Tennyson puts on her character made her imprisoned to her tower. The first few stanzas shows how much she wants to see the actual world beyond her four grey walls. Within the first few stanzas, Tennyson uses imagery that the Lady of Shalott sees outside her tower. She hopes one day that she can turn those images into reality.
This poem has value to society. An individual's mind can alter by how they interact with society. Since the Lady of Shalott is "trapped" within her tower, she doesn't have the opportunity to see much of the world. The critical struggle within the Lady of Shalott is parallel to the artist's struggle.
The structure of the poem has no particular rhyming pattern. However, most of the stanzas end with the line "Lady of Shalott." It is significant because it reminds the reader the emotions and actions the Lady of Shalott feels. The poem is a bit confusing at first; I had to take it slow. It doesn't mean that I think it's not a good poem, but there is more analyzing and interpreting in this particular piece than any other pieces we've read so far this term.
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