The Mirror By Shalott Analysis

The poem, which is written in four parts, tells the story of a Lady, who is cursed and imprisoned on the secluded island of Shalott. She is forbidden from venturing out in the world and also from glancing outside the window. She spends her days weaving a tapestry as reflected by her mirror that is illustrative of the outside world. The lady later defies her custom when she hears the voice of Sir Lancelot as he rides outside. She is captivated enough to break her custom and looks outside through the window (line 51). She departs from the island using a boat but the curse sets in and she dies. An interpretation of the poem reveals the relationship between ‘life’ and ‘art’. The poem deals with the conflict between the interiority and exteriority …show more content…
Every day, she works on her tapestry and people on the outside can hear her sing blissfully though they have never seen her (line 35). What the lady views as reality is dictated by the reflections relayed by the mirror. However, what she perceives is not real as mirrors show images that are different from the reality. Moreover, the reflections she observes cannot harm her as would real objects. Her artistic imaginations further alter the reflected scenes of the Camelot countryside as she incorporates them into her tapestry (Line 65). As such, the lady symbolizes the artist who is engraved in her artistic version of her reflected (indirect) experience with the experience of life itself. It is this isolation from the real experience of life that leads the Lady to respond to a gesture of passion that leads to her death. When the mirror cracks, it symbolizes the loss of her artistic capabilities. The lady, therefore, represents the artist, and her fate represents the destruction of the artist occasioned primarily by the necessity to interact directly with the outside …show more content…
The mirror represents not the outside world but the thoughts and dreams of the Lady. The mirror mostly appears dark save for the small image of two lovers at the center (line 46). Taking the lady to represent the artist, the poet suggests that art reflects the life and attitude of the artist, both in his secluded life and the outside world. Moreover, the flowers symbolize the fleeting and fragile life of the artist when she decides to explore the outside world, and is contrasted with the solitude but fulfilling life she was in before she was prompted to venture outside (line