Lord Alfred Tennyson’s poem “The Lady of Shalott” is an exemplar of the poetic ability of famous writers to reflect the physical and emotional elements of a story within the music and aesthetics of poetry. In this essay I will examine the technical and aesthetic elements that create this famous ballad. While paraphrasing this poem, I will analyze how those elements create the extreme success of the poem. Through close analysis of Tennyson’s poem, I will reveal these elements that have made “The Lady of Shalott” an extensively studied, timeless and respected piece of literature. “The Lady of Shalott” is a ballad about, as it may be argued, the confined nature of women. Composed of nineteen isometric stanzas presented in four parts, the poem
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For example Tennyson writes the first few lines in stanza one with unrounded vowels [“lie… rye… sky… by” (I. 1-4)], highlighting the open, free world that surrounds, yet is denied to, the Lady of Shalott. Meanwhile, the second half of this stanza, which introduces the small island of Shalott, indulges in rounded vowels [“go… below… below” (I. 6-8)]. This contrast in closed and open sounds symbolizes the contrast of the open and closed worlds, of freedom and confinement. Another example of this musical technique can be found in stanza two. While describing the solitary confinement of the Island of Shalott, Tennyson describes a quite setting that is only interrupted by the “quiver” of the trees and the “shiver” of the breeze (I. 10, 11). The repetition of these /r/ sounds create a vibrating-like sound within the music, accentuating the small, quick, eerie sounds of the silent …show more content…
Stanza ten uses diction of literally musical words to recall the musical nature of the Lady. For example while Sir Lancelot rides, his “bridle bells [ring] merrily” and “his blazon’d baldric [sings]” (III. 85, 87). This musical description, along with other fairytale-prince descriptions of Sir Lancelot, serves as an almost-alibi for the Lady’s breaking of her curse to follow him later in the poem. Even the writer Tennyson seems to agree, as he breaks his perfect repetition of the words “Camelot” and “Shalott” for the first time in the poem, replacing “Shalott” with “Lancelot”. Just as Tennyson breaks the perfect repetition in his poem, the Lady of Shalott must break the rules of her confinement to Shalott.
The last stanza of Part Three narrates the Lady’s decision to break the curse and follow the knight Sir Lancelot. The first for lines are characterized by anaphora with the repetition of the word “she” (III. 109-113). For the first time in the poem, the Lady’s passive nature becomes active; in each line she acts and makes decisions. In a very parallel way, the second half of the stanza narrates the consequences for this sudden action. The mirror she looked in for so long “[cracks]” (III. 115), and a flood of hard /c/ and /k/ sounds follow, to illustrate musically the cracking, or breaking, of the
For example Tennyson writes the first few lines in stanza one with unrounded vowels [“lie… rye… sky… by” (I. 1-4)], highlighting the open, free world that surrounds, yet is denied to, the Lady of Shalott. Meanwhile, the second half of this stanza, which introduces the small island of Shalott, indulges in rounded vowels [“go… below… below” (I. 6-8)]. This contrast in closed and open sounds symbolizes the contrast of the open and closed worlds, of freedom and confinement. Another example of this musical technique can be found in stanza two. While describing the solitary confinement of the Island of Shalott, Tennyson describes a quite setting that is only interrupted by the “quiver” of the trees and the “shiver” of the breeze (I. 10, 11). The repetition of these /r/ sounds create a vibrating-like sound within the music, accentuating the small, quick, eerie sounds of the silent …show more content…
Stanza ten uses diction of literally musical words to recall the musical nature of the Lady. For example while Sir Lancelot rides, his “bridle bells [ring] merrily” and “his blazon’d baldric [sings]” (III. 85, 87). This musical description, along with other fairytale-prince descriptions of Sir Lancelot, serves as an almost-alibi for the Lady’s breaking of her curse to follow him later in the poem. Even the writer Tennyson seems to agree, as he breaks his perfect repetition of the words “Camelot” and “Shalott” for the first time in the poem, replacing “Shalott” with “Lancelot”. Just as Tennyson breaks the perfect repetition in his poem, the Lady of Shalott must break the rules of her confinement to Shalott.
The last stanza of Part Three narrates the Lady’s decision to break the curse and follow the knight Sir Lancelot. The first for lines are characterized by anaphora with the repetition of the word “she” (III. 109-113). For the first time in the poem, the Lady’s passive nature becomes active; in each line she acts and makes decisions. In a very parallel way, the second half of the stanza narrates the consequences for this sudden action. The mirror she looked in for so long “[cracks]” (III. 115), and a flood of hard /c/ and /k/ sounds follow, to illustrate musically the cracking, or breaking, of the