Jump to navigation Jump to search This article is about the lyrical ballad. The Lady of Shalott” is a lyrical ballad by the 19th-century English poet Alfred Tennyson and shallot substitute of his best-known works.

Like Tennyson’s other early works, such as “Sir Galahad”, the poem recasts Arthurian subject matter loosely based on medieval sources. The first four stanzas of the 1842 second version of the poem describe a pastoral setting. The Lady of Shalott lives in an island castle in a river which flows to Camelot, but the local farmers know little about her. Stanzas five to eight describe the lady’s life.

She suffers from a mysterious curse and must continually weave images on her loom without ever looking directly out at the world. Instead, she looks into a mirror, which reflects the busy road and the people of Camelot who pass by her island. Stanzas nine to twelve describe “bold Sir Lancelot” as he rides by and is seen by the lady. As he rode down to Camelot. She leaves her tower, finds a boat upon which she writes her name, and floats down the river to Camelot. She dies before arriving at the palace. Among the knights and ladies who see her is Lancelot, who thinks she is lovely.