It’s obvious that the story takes place during the reign of King Arthur – we can glean this from his mentions of “Camelot”. In the first several stanzas of his poem, Tennyson tells us about the Lady herself – when and where she lives, what she does, etc. At a time when Tennyson himself was undergoing inner turmoil dealing with his writings, he wrote this poem in part to describe the conflict between an artist’s work…and the world. While most readers assume this to be a simple story about ill-fated love, it actually has a much deeper meaning. In the last stanza, Lancelot approaches the Lady’s remains and, noticing her beauty, offers up a short prayer for her. Her body floats down to Camelot in a small boat, causing a great fear to settle on the royal court. At the middle of the poem, the Lady falls in love with Sir Lancelot upon seeing him ride down the road however, her love is not returned, and she dies soon after. The mysterious woman, known only as “the Lady of Shalott”, weaves constantly on her loom while glancing into a magical mirror by her side in the mirror she catches glimpses of people passing by the road beneath her tower. The poem, loosely based on the tale of Elaine of Astalot and Sir Lancelot, goes on to describe a fairy-like woman living in a tower on an island near Camelot. These are the opening lines in Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s famous poem, “The Lady of Shalott”. “ On either side the river lie, long fields of barley and of rye…”
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