Mrs. Armstrong
English 262-02
25 April 2016
The Lonesome Lady of Shalott “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” Prudish and narrow-minded are excellent terms that describe how the people from the Victorian era are portrayed. The Victorian era was a time when the legs of a table had to be concealed under cloth so that it was not suggestive in any way. Alfred, Lord Tennyson was a prominent author in the Victorian era. By the age of forty-one, Tennyson became the most popular poet of the Victorian era. “The Lady of Shalott” is a famous poem written by Tennyson that expresses a great deal of isolation. In Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s lonely “The Lady of Shalott,” Tennyson uses the characteristics …show more content…
The Lady in “The Lady of Shalott” is completely separated from society as she has been put under a curse that restricts her from taking part in the outside world. She sits in her isolated tower weaving a colorful web and the only glimpse of society that she is able to see is through a mirror that hangs from her wall as Tennyson states, “And moving through a mirror clear/ That hangs before her all the year,/ Shadows of the world appear” (Greenblatt 2027). The Lady is content with being alone and weaving her web, but she becomes frustrated because she is unable to take part in the beautiful world around her. Tennyson uses vivid imagery to describe the world around the Lady such as: “lilies blow”, “fields of barley and rye”, and “willows whiten” (Greenblatt 2026). The Lady will never be able to experience the beautiful world around …show more content…
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