Comparing Lady Of Shalott By Tennyson And Waterhouse

Many artists create works of art based off of poetry because it provides the audience with a visual image. By having a visual image with the poem, it becomes easier to analyze art and poetry together because the reader can use both works to explore the author’s purpose. In 1842 Tennyson wrote the “Lady of Shalott,” and in 1888 John Waterhouse painted a picture illustrating Tennyson’s character, the Lady of Shalott. Although Tennyson and Waterhouse use different mediums, they both illustrate the position of a nineteenth century woman and Waterhouse uses images from the poem to recreate the mood. The main focus in John Waterhouse’s painting is the woman in the boat. The boat has a lantern hanging off the front and inside the boat are a few candles, a quilt that she wove spread out across the edge of the boat with the edges dragging the surface of the water. She is holding a chain in her hand to keep her from floating away. The woman is very pale, has red hair, and is wearing a medieval style dress with a white headband. She has a confused or lost look on her face. On the left side of the painting up on the river bank is a dark forest. A mountain lies on the horizon on the right side of …show more content…
In Waterhouse’s painting the boat has chains attached to it, which shows she does not have much freedom. The chains represent how society keeps her from expressing her passions. Like the painting, in the poem Tennyson uses chains to illustrate society's control over the Lady. He shows this by writing, ”She loosed the chain, and down she lay” (line 133). By laying down the chains, the Lady is letting go of her restraints and setting herself free. Aside from using chains to show how society traps her, Tennyson keeps the lady locked in a tower and is excluded from the outside world. Her being trapped in the tower shows that she has no