lady of shalott

What story did Tennyson say was his source?

Donna di Scalotta/La Damigella di Scalot

What is Donna di Scalotta?

The italian novela

What story was similar, but Tennyson said he hadn't read it?

Le Morte d'Arthur

What is Le Morte d'Arthur?

The English story

Who wrote Le Morte d'Arthur?

Thomas Malory

Lady of Shalott is similar to what character?

Elaine of Astolat

What story is Elaine of Astolat in?

Le Morte d'Arthur

Other names for Elaine of Astolat?

Elaine the White, Elaine the Lily Maid of Astolat

What aspects of the character of Elaine make her somewhat similar to the Lady of Shalott?

Kills herself in a tower after Lancelot rejects her

Parents put her body in boat

Send boat to Camelot to be found by Lancelot

Lily in hand

What legends are associated with the Lady of Shalott?

Arthurian legends

What genre is the Lady of Shalott?

Tragedy

How is the Lady of Shalott a tragic story?

The lady dies

She doesn't deserve her fat

Lancelot doesn't love her

She never breaks her isolation

Graceful acceptance of death

How did the Lady of Shalott gracefully accept her death?

She sang

Why was the Lady of Shalott singing?

She knew she was going to die so she sang her own funeral song

What type of story is the Lady of Shalott?

Ballad - story telling

What types of allegories are in the Lady of Shalott?

Victorian woman and artist

Allegory of Victorian woman

Lady of Shalott as representation of women in Victorian era

Role of women: beautiful, quiet, dedicated to womanly tasks

Expectation they stay in domestic sphere

Social death (not literal death) if entering a public (i.e. man's) world

Allegory of artist

Lady of Shalott as an artist

Real world detrimental to creation of art

Artist needs isolation

Why do artists have to be isolated when they are creating their art?

Outside influence and criticism can impact artists so great art had to be made in isolation

S: Artist/Victorian women

Lady of Shalott

S: Temptation/conflict of the real and the artistic

Lancelot

S: Art

Web

S: Unique artistic view, not reality

Mirror

S: Male, real world, industry

Camelot

S: Feminine, isolated

Shalott

S: Sadness

Willow

S: Feminine purity

Water lily

S: Sexual awakening

Blooming water lily

Where does "Tirra Lirra" come from?

Winter's Tale by Shakespeare

S: Her world, repetition of 4 and grey, shadows

Grey

S: Death shroud, mourning, purity, innocent, virginity, wedding

White dress

What is the only colorful thing in the Lady of Shalott's home?

Her art

When did the color white begin to symbolize weddings?

After Queen Victoria got married in white

S: Color of sadness

Blue

S: Many, and bright (crimson, red, purple, yellow, gold, bronze, coal-black)

Camelot/Lancelot

How do we know that blue is the color of sadness in the story?

The mirror turns blue when the Lady of Shalott sees the knights

What works are alluded to in the Lady of Shalott?

Plato's The Cave

Homer's The Odyssey

Lancelot, Camelot, etc.

What is Plato's The Cave about?

People living in a cave and seeing the world through the shadows that are cast into the cave

What is Homer's The Odyssey about?

Penelope is waiting for her husband but he won't be home for a very long time so she said she would remarry once she finishes her weaving, but she would take it apart every night and restart in the morning

R: River taking Lady of Shalott's body to Camelot + weather changing

Nature untamed

R: The curse

Supernatural/mysterious

R: Camelot, Lancelot, knights, damsels in distress

Literature of the Middle Ages

R: Lady of Shalott's emotions

Emotion

R: Lady of Shalott

Focus on the individual

R: Look at Lancelot

Spontaneity

R: Making an attempt at freedom by leaving the tower

Desire for radical change

What is Tennyson trying to emphasize when he says "4 grey walls, 4 grey towers"?

The isolation of Lady of Shalott

What does imbowers mean?

Shelters, protects, imprisons, safe but trapped

What connotation does the word "imbowers" have?

Positive and negative

What does the web say about the Lady of Shalott?

They she is both the spider making the web, and the prey

What is significant about shadows?

Not real, can't interact, isolation

What are some of the words used to describe Lancelot which tell us a lot about his character?

Sun, dazzling, brazen, bold, sparkled, gemmy, glittered, rang, rung, merrily, thick-jeweled, burning, glowed, flashed

What types of meter are in the Lady of Shalott?

Iambic tetrameter, trochaic tetrameter, iambic trimeter, trochaic trimeter, catalexis

How many feet are in tetrameter? How many syllables?

4; 8

How many feet are in trimeter? How many syllables?

3; 6

What is catalexis?

Unfinished foot

What is trochaic?

Stressed, unstressed

What is iambic?

Unstressed, stressed

What is the rhyme scheme of the story, except for 1 section?

aaabcccb

What is the theme of Lady of Shalott?

Reality (industry) vs. Art

The real kills the artistic

How does Tennyson exemplify this theme?

His years of silence

What is the tone of the story?

Sympathy/empathy

How is the poem different based on which allegorical view you take?

Sympathy: Victorian women

Empathy: artistic

Who is the subject of the poem?

Lady of Shalott

What tone was Tennyson going for?

Empathetic tone - he was never a woman

Where does the deeper thematic message come from?

The artistic allegorical standpoint - you need to be isolated to create great art

Regarding the Victorian women standpoint, Tennyson just states the reality of the situation